4816. morek

Lexical Summary

morek: Softness, tenderness, weakness

Original Word: מֹרֶךְ
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: morek
Pronunciation: mo-rek
Phonetic Spelling: (mo'-rek)
KJV: faintness
NASB: weakness
Word Origin: [perhaps from H7401 (רָכַך - tender)]

1. softness, i.e. (figuratively) fear

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance

faintness

Perhaps from rakak; softness, i.e. (figuratively) fear -- faintness.

see HEBREW rakak

NAS Exhaustive Concordance

Word Origin
perhaps from rakak
Definition
weakness
NASB Translation
weakness (1).

Brown-Driver-Briggs

מֹ֫רֶךְ noun [masculine] weakness (Kö^{ii. 1,98}); — Leviticus 26:36 I will send ׳מ into (ב) your heart (i.e. make you timid, fearful, compare √ 1a, רַךְ 2).

Topical Lexicon

Concept and Sense

מֹרֶךְ describes a debilitating inner faintness that produces panic, cowardice, and complete loss of resolve. It is not mere nervousness but an overwhelming, paralyzing terror that rules a person from within, leaving the will incapacitated.

Canonical Placement

The word appears in the covenant sanctions of Leviticus 26, where the Lord details the consequences of persistent covenant infidelity. “I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a wind-blown leaf will pursue them, and they will flee as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, though no one is pursuing them” (Leviticus 26:36). Here מֹרֶךְ is the internal counterpart to external calamity—an invisible judgment planted in the heart itself.

Historical Outworking

1. Exilic Terror: The Babylonian conquest (2 Kings 25; Lamentations 1) and later Roman dispersion vividly display the prophecy. Surviving Judeans experienced continual dread, scattered in foreign lands, distrustful of every sound, convinced that pursuit waited around every corner.
2. Diaspora Experience: Jewish writings from the intertestamental period, as well as later rabbinic reflections, recall chronic insecurity—evidence of מֹרֶךְ operating across generations whenever covenant faithfulness waned.

Theological Significance

• Retributive Justice: מֹרֶךְ manifests God’s just response to obstinate rebellion. The absence of external attackers in the text underscores that divine judgment can be executed through the conscience itself (compare Proverbs 28:1).
• Inverted Courage: Whereas Israel was called to be “strong and courageous” (Joshua 1:9), disobedience reverses that calling; the courage meant for advancing God’s purposes becomes terror that scatters His people.
• Spiritual Antithesis: God gives “a spirit not of fear, but of power, love, and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7). מֹרֶךְ therefore stands in direct opposition to the Spirit-wrought confidence later revealed in Christ.

Practical Ministry Applications

1. Diagnosis of Fear: Believers counseling the anxious should discern whether dread springs from natural frailty, demonic assault, or the heart searching judgment of a holy God.
2. Call to Repentance: When communities display irrational panic and moral paralysis, Leviticus 26 invites leaders to consider corporate repentance as a pathway to restored courage (Leviticus 26:40-45).
3. Assurance in Christ: The New Covenant answers מֹרֶךְ with perfect love that “drives out fear” (1 John 4:18). Teaching on union with Christ equips saints to resist covenant-breaking terror and walk in boldness (Hebrews 10:19-22).

Related Biblical Motifs

• The “melting heart” (Deuteronomy 28:65; Joshua 2:11) portrays similar inward collapse.
• The “spirit of stupor” (Isaiah 29:10; Romans 11:8) depicts another form of divine inner judgment.
• Conversely, the “heart of flesh” promised in Ezekiel 36:26 signals covenant renewal that dispels מֹרֶךְ.

Christological Fulfillment

At the cross Christ endured absolute terror and abandonment (Mark 14:34-36; 15:34) without succumbing to faintness, breaking the curse for all who trust Him. His resurrection secures the indwelling Spirit who fortifies believers against every manifestation of מֹרֶךְ, enabling fearless witness “even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

Forms and Transliterations

מֹ֙רֶךְ֙ מרך mō·reḵ morech mōreḵ

Englishman's Concordance

Leviticus 26:36
HEB: בָּכֶ֔ם וְהֵבֵ֤אתִי מֹ֙רֶךְ֙ בִּלְבָבָ֔ם בְּאַרְצֹ֖ת
NAS: I will also bring weakness into their hearts
KJV: [alive] of you I will send a faintness into their hearts
INT: may be left bring weakness their hearts the lands

1 Occurrence

Strong's Hebrew 4816
1 Occurrence

mō·reḵ — 1 Occ.