2188. zeah

Lexical Summary

zeah: Sweat

Original Word: זֵעָה
Part of Speech: Noun Feminine
Transliteration: ze`ah
Pronunciation: zay-AH
Phonetic Spelling: (zay-aw')
KJV: sweat
NASB: sweat
Word Origin: [from H2111 (זוַּע - tremble) (in the sense of H3154 (יֶזַע - sweat))]

1. perspiration

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance

sweat

From zuwa' (in the sense of yeza'); perspiration -- sweat.

see HEBREW zuwa'

see HEBREW yeza'

NAS Exhaustive Concordance

Word Origin
from the same as yeza
Definition
sweat
NASB Translation
sweat (1).

Brown-Driver-Briggs

[זֵעָה] noun feminine sweat (Late Hebrew זִיעָה (Levy), better זֵיעָה (Jastr); Aramaic דֵּיעְתָּא, ) — בְּזֵעַת אַמֶּיךָ תּאֹכַל לֶחֶם Genesis 3:19 (J).

יִזְרָח, יִזְרַחְיָה see below זרח above

יִזְרְעֶאל see below זרע above

יחבה see חֻכָּה below חבב.

Topical Lexicon

Definition and Context

זֵעָה denotes the physical perspiration that accompanies strenuous effort. In the narrative of Genesis it is directly connected with the entrance of sin into human experience, fixing sweat as a visible sign of the curse on the ground and on human labor.

Biblical Occurrence

Genesis 3:19 is the sole occurrence: “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return” (Berean Standard Bible). Spoken to Adam after the fall, the word ties everyday labor and bodily exertion to humanity’s mortality.

Themes of Toil and Mortality

1. Inevitable Labor. Sweat highlights the shift from effortless provision in Eden (Genesis 2:9-16) to burdensome work outside the garden.
2. Human Frailty. Linked to “dust,” it reminds every generation that life is finite (Psalm 90:3-10).
3. Dependence on God. Though labor is now arduous, it is still God who grants “seed to the sower and bread for food” (Isaiah 55:10).

Contrasts and Parallels in Scripture

• The priests of Ezekiel’s millennial vision are instructed to wear linen “so that they will not perspire” (Ezekiel 44:18), symbolizing service free from the curse’s burden.
• Jesus Christ, bearing the full weight of the curse, prays in Gethsemane until “His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:44), a direct echo of Genesis 3:19 that anticipates His redemptive work.
• In the New Covenant believers are still called to “labor, doing what is good” (Ephesians 4:28), yet they do so empowered by grace, not merely by the strength of the flesh (Colossians 1:29).
• The consummation of redemption promises a realm where “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:4), implicitly ending sweat-laden toil forever.

From Curse to Redemption

Sweat signals both the reality of sin’s consequences and the hope of deliverance. Adam’s sweat earned bread from a cursed ground; Christ’s sweat precedes the breaking of bread that signifies His body given for many (Matthew 26:26-28). By His resurrection He secures a future in which the ground itself is renewed (Romans 8:19-22).

Ministry Reflections

• Work is honorable yet fallen; it should be pursued diligently (Proverbs 14:23) while remembering that ultimate rest is found in Christ (Matthew 11:28-30).
• Servants of God labor “night and day” (1 Thessalonians 2:9), but spiritual fruitfulness depends on the Spirit, not mere perspiration (Galatians 5:16-25).
• Pastoral care should affirm the dignity of ordinary work, offer hope amid exhausting conditions, and point believers to the coming Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:9-11).

Thus זֵעָה is more than a physiological detail; it is a theological marker tracing the storyline from Eden’s lost ease to the promised restoration of all things in Christ.

Forms and Transliterations

בְּזֵעַ֤ת בזעת bə·zê·‘aṯ bəzê‘aṯ bezeAt

Englishman's Concordance

Genesis 3:19
HEB: בְּזֵעַ֤ת אַפֶּ֙יךָ֙ תֹּ֣אכַל
NAS: By the sweat of your face You will eat
KJV: In the sweat of thy face
INT: the sweat of your face will eat

1 Occurrence

Strong's Hebrew 2188
1 Occurrence

bə·zê·‘aṯ — 1 Occ.