Original Word: דַּוָּי
Part of Speech: Adjective
Transliteration: davvay
Pronunciation: dav-vah'ee
Phonetic Spelling: (dav-voy')
KJV: faint
NASB: faint
Word Origin: [from H1739 (דָּוֶה - faint)]

1. sick
2. (figuratively) troubled

faint

From daveh; sick; figuratively, troubled -- faint.

see HEBREW daveh

Word Origin
adjective from davah
Definition
faint
NASB Translation
faint (3).

[דַּוַּי] adjective faint (on form compare Ba^{NB 487}) — דַּוָּי֑ Isaiah 1:5 2t. — faint, always of heart Isaiah 1:5 ("" לָחֳלִי figurative of condition of people); Jeremiah 8:18; Lamentations 1:22 of sorrow and distress.

Overview

Dawwāy (Strong’s Hebrew 1742) conveys a sense of inner collapse—physical faintness blended with emotional sorrow. The term appears only three times, each in poetry that mourns covenant rebellion. Its rarity sharpens its effect, portraying a heart too weak to stand until God intervenes with healing mercy.

Semantic Range and Imagery

1. Bodily weakness: the picture of a person whose strength drains away.
2. Emotional ache: grief that settles into the bones.
3. Spiritual malaise: covenant infidelity pictured as an incurable disease.

These layers merge, reminding readers that sin disorders the whole person and that true restoration must reach body, soul, and spirit.

Old Testament Occurrences

• Isaiah 1:5 – Judah’s rebellion has rendered “the whole heart faint.” The prophet opens his book with a diagnosis that exposes sin as a sickness for which only Yahweh’s grace is medicine.
• Jeremiah 8:18 – “My sorrow is beyond healing; my heart is faint within me.”. Jeremiah stands as intercessor, sharing God’s anguish over unrepentant Judah. The placement of dawwāy just before the famed balm-of-Gilead passage (Jeremiah 8:22) heightens the contrast between incurable hurt and promised cure.
• Lamentations 1:22 – Amid the rubble of Jerusalem, the poet confesses, “For my groans are many and my heart is faint.”. Dawwāy here becomes the language of exile, proving that sin’s consequences reach their fullest weight when the presence of the Lord seems withdrawn.

Covenantal Implications

Dawwāy functions as a diagnostic term in prophetic covenant lawsuits. The prophets do not merely lament human misery; they expose a judicial sentence. Faintness is evidence that the blessings of Deuteronomy 28 have given way to curses through disobedience. Yet every text that names the sickness also hints at the cure: repentance and divine mercy. Thus, dawwāy propels the narrative toward restoration, not despair.

Christological Resonance

The New Testament continues the sickness-to-healing motif. Jesus announces, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Matthew 9:12). Isaiah’s description of a faint heart finds its answer in the Servant whose stripes heal (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24). Where Jerusalem’s heart failed, the pierced heart of Christ supplies life, fulfilling the prophetic tension embedded in dawwāy.

Pastoral and Homiletical Applications

1. Sin as Disease: Preaching may employ dawwāy to show that rebellion is not a minor lapse but a terminal condition apart from grace.
2. God’s Relentless Physician: Just as illness sends one to a doctor, spiritual faintness should drive believers to prayer, confession, and Scripture.
3. Empathy in Suffering: Jeremiah’s sharing in dawwāy models pastoral identification with a grieving flock.
4. Hope for Restoration: Every mention of dawwāy stands beside promises of healing (Isaiah 1:18; Jeremiah 30:17), providing a Christ-centered gospel arc.

Liturgical and Devotional Use

In worship planning, dawwāy texts pair naturally with hymns on repentance and healing (e.g., “Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy”). In personal devotion, they prompt examination of heart and renewed reliance on the Great Physician.

Summary

Dawwāy encapsulates the catastrophic weakness that sin brings, yet it also serves as a theological signpost toward the Lord’s redemptive power. Recognizing one’s dawwāy becomes the first step toward hearing the Savior say, “Take courage, your faith has made you well.”

דַּוָּֽי׃ דַוָּֽי׃ דוי׃ davVai daw·wāy ḏaw·wāy dawwāy ḏawwāyInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts