DEPRESSION IN THE HEBREW BIBLE: AN UPDATE

PAUL A. KRUGER, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa

I. Introduction

Since the study by M. I. Gruber 1

more than twenty years ago, not much has been
published on the very important topic of human emotions in the Hebrew Bible.2 The rea-
son for this could be the fact that in this discipline, as in psychology, anthropology, and
philosophy, emotions were for a long time regarded as part of the irrational, uncontrolla-
ble, and subjective aspects of humankind that do not justify serious study. Fortunately this
state of affairs changed dramatically in recent years in these disciplines, and the study of
emotion has increasingly become the focus of scholarly interest.3
In the subject eld of the Hebrew Bible there has also been a renewed interest in the
topic of emotions.4 In view of the fact that researchers of ancient dead cultures are not

1 M. I. Gruber, Aspects of Nonverbal Communica
tion in the Ancient Near East, 2 vols., Studia Pohl 12
(Rome, 1980). Grubers study has a limited focus:
mainly the expression of the emotions of joy, sadness,
and anger are covered. When comparing this limited
scope, for example, with the typology drawn up by the
psychologist C. E. Izard, Human Emotions (New York,
1977), who identies ten universal basic affective states
(surprise, joy, interest, distress, fear, anger, disgust, con
tempt, shame, and guilt), it should be clear that much
still needs to be done on the study of emotions in the
ancient Near Eastern cultures.
2 Apart from the study by Gruber, the following
list of contributions, conducted from various theoreti
cal perspectives, can also be mentioned: F. Delitzsch,
System der biblischen Psychologie (Leipzig, 1861);
E. Dhorme, Lemploi mtaphorique des noms de par
ties du corps en hbreu et en akkadien (Paris, 1923);
J. Pedersen, Israel: Its Life and Culture (London,
1926), pp. 170 81; H. W. Robinson, Hebrew Psy
chology, in A. S. Peake, ed., The People and the Book
(Oxford, 1925), pp. 353 82; H. Vorwahl, Die Gebr
densprache im Alten Testament (Berlin, 1932), pp. 8
18; A. R. Johnson, The Vitality of the Individual in
the Thought of Ancient Israel (Cardiff, 1949); G. Pi
doux, Lhomme dans lAncien Testament, Cahiers th
ologiques 32 (Neuchtel, 1953); T. Collins, The
Psychology of Tears in the Old Testament, CBQ 33
(1971): 18 38; 185 97; H. W. Wolff, Anthropologie des
[JNES 64 no. 3 (2005)]
2005 by The University of Chicago.
All rights reserved.
0022 2968 2005/6403 0002$10.00.
Alten Testaments, 3d ed. (Munich, 1977), pp. 21 106;
R. Lauha, Psychophysischer Sprachgebrauch im Alten
Testament (Helsinki, 1983); G. A. Anderson, A Time
to Mourn, a Time to Dance: The Expression of Grief
and Joy in Israelite Religion (University Park, Penn
sylvania, 1991); S. Schroer and T. Staubli, Die Krper
symbolik der Bibel (Darmstadt, 1998); M. S. Smith,
The Heart and the Innards in Israelite Emotional
Expressions: Notes from Anthropology and Psycho
biology, JBL 117 (1998): 415 26; T. Veijola,
Nyrtyminen Jumalan edess: rohkeutta elmn
(Humility before God: Gaining the Courage to Live),
Teologinen Aikakauskirja 103 (1998): 483 90; see my
articles A Cognitive Interpretation of the Emotion of
Anger in the Hebrew Bible, Journal of Northwest
Semitic Languages (JNSL) 26/1 (2000): 181 93 and
A Cognitive Interpretation of the Emotion of Fear in
the Hebrew Bible, JNSL 27/2 (2001): 77 89; M. L.
Barr, Wandering About as a Topos of Depression
in Ancient Near Eastern Literature and in the Bible,
JNES 60 (2001): 177 87; J. S. Kselman, Wandering
About and Depression: More Examples, JNES 61
(2002): 275 77; see also my article On Emotions and
the Expression of Emotions in the Old Testament: A
Few Introductory Remarks, Biblische Zeitschrift 48
(2004): 213 28.
3 For good overviews, see C. Lutz and G. M.
White, The Anthropology of Emotions, Annual Re
view of Anthropology 15 (1986): 405 36; A. L. Hinton,
Introduction: Developing a Biocultural Approach to
Emotions, in A. L. Hinton, ed., Biocultural Approaches
to Emotion (Cambridge, 1999), pp. 1 37; A. Wierz
bicka, Emotions across Cultures (Cambridge, 1999).
4 See especially the studies of 1990 onwards referred
to in n. 2 above.

187
 Depression in the Hebrew Bible: An Update 189

state of depression.13 C. Nikendei14 has compiled the following prole of diagnostic crite-
ria indicative of this disorder:

Depressive mood, cheerlessness;

Loss of interest, fatigue, loss of energy;
Psychomotoric retardation/agitation;
Inability to think clearly, concentration difculties, indecisiveness;
Feelings of guilt, worthlessness;
Thoughts of death/suicide, suicidal attempts;
Sleeping disorders;
Appetite and weight loss.

B. Pfau, on the other hand, draws attention to the body language of a depressive person:
The sickness of depression is essentially characterized by a depressed feeling . . . The
body of a depressed person expresses most often what is experienced: the movements
appear to be limited, slow and exhausted.15 With regard to the frame of mind of a depres-
sive person, Pfau quotes from a book by the psychiatrist Kuiper, who describes his emo-
tional state as follows: Joy of living is replaced by a dark, depressed frame of mind . . .
the impulse to perform some or other activity fades. The world has lost its color, every-
thing becomes grey; in extreme circumstances such a person could even curse his very ex-
istence and the day of his birth . . . heavy depression is accompanied by sleeping disorders
and a loss of appetite.16

13
As illustrative material from the Hebrew Bible,
Barr (ibid., p. 181 87) points to the roots hlk (qal,
piel, hithpael), rwd (qal) and ndd (qal). In addition to
these examples, he could also have referred to other
passages that could likewise be regarded as referring
to forms of psychomotoric agitation: I have had
my ll of tossings to and fro (nddym) till dawn (Job
7:4); see also D. J. A. Clines, ed., The Dictionary of
Classical Hebrew, vol. 5 (Shefeld, 2001), p. 621; My
wandering (root nwd ) you have counted (Ps. 56:9);
for this rendering, see M. E. Tate, Psalms 51 100, Word
Biblical Commentary, vol. 20 (Dallas, Texas, 1990),
p. 67, and G. J. Botterweck, H. Ringgren, and H. J.
Fabry, eds., Theologisches Wrterbuch zum Alten Tes
tament (Stuttgart, 1986), vol. 5, p. 291, nwd. Other
contexts, however, express this gestus by using other
descriptive terms, for example, ys (to go out, Gen.
24:63) and swt (to wander about, Jer. 49:3; cf. Ksel
man, Wandering About, pp. 275 77). Elsewhere of Unlust (listlessness), a category in which de
(2 Sam. 13:19) an absolute innitive construction is
employed to express the same nuance of meaning:
Tamar sobbing as she went on (qal impf. plus inf.
abs. of hlk); in 2 Sam. 15:30 a similar absolute inni
tive construction is used, but this time the root is lh
(to go up): David and his followers wept as they
went up (qal impf. plus inf. abs. of lh). With respect
to Ps. 102, a passage which also contains several in
dicators of the mood of depression (see below), the
eleventh twelfth century Spanish grammarian, Ibn
Barun, claims that the problematic rr in v. 18 de
notes to be restless in bed; see P. Wechter, Ibn
Baruns Contribution to Comparative Hebrew Philol
ogy, JAOS 61 (1941): 187.
14 C. Nikendei, Depressive Verstimmung und
Schmerz (Tbingen, 2001), pp. 1 f. This list of symp
toms concurs with the criteria for a major depressive
episode supplied by R. L. Spitzer and J. B. W. Wil
liams, eds., Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders, 4th ed. (Washington, D.C., 1994).
See also J. M. Stoppard, Understanding Depression
(New York, 2000), p. 27.
15 B. Pfau, Krpersprache der Depression (Stutt
gart, 1994), p. 10 (my translation). Cf. also R. Es
penschied, Das Ausdrucksbild der Emotionen (Munich,
1984), who, in his illuminating study on the relation
ship between emotions and postures of the body, pre
sents the following description of the emotional state
pression could also be classed: The downward body
position is dominant: the head hangs, the face becomes
longer, the hands are slackened . . . hence the confu
sion with fatigue . . . the disillusioned and despondent
person is wavering, since lassitude is primarily evident
in the loss of tempo; movement is curtailed, which
in extreme circumstances may lead to total passivity
(p. 99, my translation).
16 Pfau, Krpersprache der Depression, p. 10 (my
translation).
190 Journal of Near Eastern Studies

II. Examples from the Hebrew Bible17

Depression as Manifested in Certain Body Postures/Movements

As indicated above, depression most frequently nds expression in specic body pos-
tures. The Hebrew Bible bears evidence of several instances relating to the downward
posture of the body in this emotional state. Gen. 4:5 makes reference to Cains falling
face,18 and especially in the Psalms one comes across several passages typical of a
hunched-up body posture as a result of a depressive state: I wandered about as one who
laments for a mother, I was gloomy (and) bowed down (shh; Ps. 35:14); I am utterly
bowed (wh) down and prostrate (shh), all day long I go around gloomy (Ps. 38:7).19
Elijah performs a similar downward movement during his Carmel experience. After the
encounter with the Baal prophets (1 Kings 18), he climbed the crest of Carmel. There he
crouched (ghr) on the ground and put his face between his knees (v. 42).20 The best ex-
planation of this gesture is still to regard it as expressive of a mood of depression.21
Davids response after the death of his and Bathshebas son is representative of the feel-
ing of total passivity (the Loss of interest/Loss of Energy category referred to above)
that takes control of someone in such an emotional state: he was lying (skb) on the ground
(2 Sam. 12:16). In similar depressing circumstances Ahab lay down on (skb) his bed and
turned his face away22 and refused to eat (1 Kings 21:4). Another book that bristles with

17 This paragraph is an adaptation of a paragraph
in my contribution On Emotions and the Expression
of Emotions, pp. 220 ff. See n. 2 above.
18 Interpreted by Gruber as a sign of depression;
see his Was Cain Angry or Depressed? Background
of a Biblical Murder, BAR 6/6 (1980): 35 36. Others
regard this gesture as an expression of shame, for
example, T. Bastian and M. Hilgers, Kain Die Tren
nung von Scham und Schuld am Beispiel der Genesis,
Psyche 44 (1990): 1100 12; for a psychoanalytical in
terpretation of this gestus, cf. E. Drewermann, Struk
turen des Bsen, vol. 1 (Paderborn, 1981), p. 124.
19 The translations of both these Psalm passages
are by Barr, Wandering About, pp. 182 83. Cf. ritual performed after the death of Naboniduss mother:
also Lam. 3:20 where shh is associated with nf. On
three occasions (Isa. 58:7; Lam. 1:7; 3:19) the nomi
nal derivative of nh is coupled with a nominal deriva
tive of rwd: wandering about (mrwd ) bowed down
(in grief ) (ny); see Barr, Wandering About, pp. 350 53; see again my article, On Non verbal
pp. 184 85. Elsewhere (once again in the Psalms) this
sinking away feeling is expressed as a descending
(yrd ) into the pit/abyss (Pss. 28:1, 30:4, 88:5, 143:7,
etc.); see K. van der Toorn, Sin and Sanction in Israel
and Mesopotamia (Assen, 1985), p. 65.
20 Apart from this biblical example, the gesture
head on/between the knees is attested in the Meso
potamian (S. C. Layton, Head on Lap in Sumero
Akkadian Literature, JANES 15 [1983]: 59 62),
Egyptian (A. Jirku, Das Haupt auf die Knie legen:
Eine gyptisch ugaritisch israelitische Parallele,
ZMDG 103 [1953]: 372), Ugaritic (see my article On
Non verbal Communication in the Baal Epic, Journal
for Semitics 1 [1989]: 54 69), Jewish, apocryphal, pa
tristic literature (G. C. Bottini, Pose la sua faccia tra
le ginocchia. 1 Reg 18,42 e paralleli estrabiblici, Stu
dium Biblicum Franciscanum, Liber Annuus 32 [1982]:
73 84), and even up to modern times in the Near East
(R. Mack and J. H. Marks, The Head upon the
Knees: A Note to 1 Kings 18:42, in J. Kritzeck and
R. B. Winder, eds., The World of Islam: Studies in
Honour of Philip K. Hitti [London, 1960], pp. 68 73).
Cf. also the bowing down (yrd ) of the head to the
ground in similar circumstances (Lam. 2:10) and the
For seven days and seven nights they walked about,
heads hung low . . .; Anderson, A Time to Mourn, p. 77
(emphasis mine).
21 Gruber, Aspects of Nonverbal Communication,
Communication, pp. 62 63.
22 It is not necessary to follow the LXX, which reads
the equivalent of ksh (to cover), instead of the MT
sbb (to turn away). The covering of the face usu
ally refers to the emotions of fear or shame; for fear,
cf. 1 Kings 19:13, and for shame, see, for example,
Jer. 2:37 and my article The Psychology of Shame,
JNSL 22/2 (1996): 79 88. The turning away of the
face in 1 Kings 21:4 is expressive of an action of
social withdrawal, which is typical of a state of
depression.
 Depression in the Hebrew Bible: An Update 191

references to the mood of depression is Lamentations. Literally and guratively speaking

the people are down. In almost every chapter this notion rings like a refrain: Zion sits
(1:1), Judah sits (1:3), the elders of the daughter of Zion sit (2:10), etc.23
One more possible example, belonging to the same category of psychomotor retarda-
tion, is recorded in the later verses of 1 Kings 21, a passage already referred to. Above,
it was noted that the body movements of Ahab described in the opening verses of this
chapter betrayed his despondent frame of mind (v. 4). A little later in the same chapter
(1 Kings 21), he manifested another behavior pattern that could likewise be described as
expressive of psychomotoric retardation. Verse 27 tells us that, when hearing the words
of Elijah, Ahab rent his clothes, put a sackcloth around his body and fasted. He slept in
the sackcloth and went around t. Most Hebrew Bible interpreters are of the opinion that
t exemplies some state of dejection or other, and hence they offer translations such as
walk about despondently.24 Such renderings, however, do not reect clearly enough the
proper meaning of this word. The adverb t refers, among other things, to the manner in
which water moves over a fairly level surface, viz., slowly/gently (Isa. 8:6).25 Applied
to the movement Ahab is performing, it most probably signies that he was walking about
slowly,26 which in this case is indicative of a state of psychomotoric retardation due to
a depressive mood.

23 The sitting (skb) on the ground in these mourn
ful circumstances is associated elsewhere with differ
ent Hebrew roots: with smm (Ezek. 3:15; Ezra 9:3 4),
which J. Scharbert regards as ein ueres Aussehen
als Folge einer inneren Gemtsstimmung; see Der
Schmerz im Alten Testament, Bonner biblische Bei
trge (Bonn, 1955), p. 55. See also the reference to
Tamar in 2 Sam. 13:20: she remained (ysb) desolate/
alone (smmh) in her brother Absaloms house; for the
rendering alone in this context, cf. Botterweck,
Ringgren, and Fabry, eds., Theologisches Wrterbuch,
vol. 8, p. 242, mv. For smm N. Lohnk suggests:
(to sit) dumbfounded/in silence; Enthielten die im
Alten Testament bezeugten Klageriten eine Phase des
Schweigens?, VT 12 (1962): 267 69. In similar situ
ations elsewhere (Lam. 1:1, 3:28) ysb appears in com
bination with bdd (to be solitary/alone), or with the
root nqh (Isa. 3:26), which H. Wildberger, Jesaja 1
12, Biblischer Kommentar, Altes Testament, Band 10
(Neukirchen Vluyn, 1980), likewise renders with
alone (vereinsamt sitzt sie am Boden, p. 148). The
signication silent/alone in these circumstances
accords with the bipolar model proposed by H. Stubbe,
Trauerhalten und das Phnomen der verkehrten Welt,
Zeitschrift fr Ethnologie 113 (1988): 202, who draws
the following distinctions between the properties of
normal life vis vis the state of mourning/distress:
noise silence, crying laughter, long hair cut
hair, isolation public (ffentlichkeit), passive
active, black colorful, with a name without a
name.
24 t has given rise to a variety of solutions: (1) some
commentators associate it with some dejected state or
other: depressed; see W. Gesenius, Hebrisches und
Aramisches Handwrterbuch ber das Alte Testament,
ed. U. Rterswrden et al., Lieferung 1, 18th ed. (Ber
lin, 1987), p. 43; see also Barr, Wandering About
as a Topos of Depression, p. 181; the Targum and
Syriac understand it as barefoot; the Vulgate as dis
misso capite; (2) others suggest that t should be
emended to bl (mournful/bowed down): ging
gesenkten Hauptes einher; see P. N. Schlgl, Die
Bcher der Knige (Vienna, 1911), p. 178, or that in
stead of wyhlk t, one should read wyln rsh (he slept
on the ground); cf. D. A. Klostermann, Die Bcher
Samuelis und der Knige (Nrdlingen, 1887), pp. 385 f.;
(3) other commentators, again, attempt to make sense
of the traditional meaning of t, namely, quietness/
gentleness: he went about quietly, i.e., in the man
ner of one in penitence and grief ; see C. F. Burney,
Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Kings (Ox
ford, 1903), p. 250.
25 The description attributed to the waters of Shi
loah as gently owing (Isa. 8:6) is due to the fact that
the vertical descent is only a few feet from the Gihon
to the lower (Siloam) Old Pool; see W. H. Mare, Pool
of Siloam, in D. N. Freedman, ed., The Anchor Bible
Dictionary, vol. 6 (New York, 1992), p. 25.
26 Cf. in this respect the suggestion already made
by W. Gesenius, Hebrisches und Chaldisches Hand
wrterbuch ber das Alte Testament, 6th ed. (Leipzig,
1863), p. 37 in 1 Kings 21:27 t has the meaning lang
sam, leise, vom Gehen.
192 Journal of Near Eastern Studies

Depression is Manifested in Eating, Sleeping, and Other Disturbances

One of the most vivid descriptions of a depressed person, who suffered sleeping and
eating disorders due to depression, is found in the Akkadian text BAM 234.27 It deals with
a man who loses all his property, a situation reminding one of Job. Lines 4 9 of this text
run as follows:
He always gets melancholy, speaking but not acceptance, shouting but no answer, the cursing in the
mouths of people is much, he is apprehensive when lying (in his bed), he contracts lameness, . . .
towards god and king he is full of anger, his limbs are poured out, he is panicking from time to
time, he does not sleep day and night, he always sees confused dreams, he contracts lameness all the
time, he has little interest in food or beer, he forgets the words that he has spoken.28
Similar psychosomatic symptoms of sleeplessness, loss of appetite, and a feeling of intense
loneliness likewise characterize the mental state of the Psalm suppliant when in despair
and depression. Compare, for example, the elaborate description in Psalm 102: I (lit. my
heart) am stricken and withered like grass so that I lost all appetite. Due to my constant
groaning my bones cleave to my esh. I became like a pelican in the wilderness, like an owl
in ruined places.29 I lie awake, I have become like a lonely bird on a roof-top (vv. 5 8).30
Job describes similar sensations in Job 7 and 30 (especially vv. 26 31). Loss of appetite
also plagued Elijah (1 Kings 19:6 7) and Ahab (1 Kings 21:4 5) in their dejected states.

Depression is Manifested in a Negative Outlook on Life and Dwelling on

Thoughts of Death

In the phenomenology of depression referred to above it was noted that for depressed
people life could lose its attraction to such a degree that they could even go to the extreme
of cursing the day of their birth. Such negative ideas are also ascribed to at least four per-
sons in the Hebrew Bible: Elijah, Jeremiah, Job, and Jonah. Cursed be the day when I
was born. Let the day when my mother bore me not be blessed. Cursed be the man who
brought tidings to my father, saying A son is born to you (Jer. 20:14 15; cf. also Job
3:3 12). That it is much more preferable to die than to live in these circumstances is a sen-
timent enunciated by both Elijah (1 Kings 19:4) and Jonah: And now, Lord, take, I be-
seech thee, my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live (4:3).
In conclusion, while Barr and Kselman focused mainly on the topos of psychomotor
agitation as an indicator of depression, I have attempted to illustrate that when some
other cross-cultural criteria indicative of this mood are matched with evidence in the He-
brew Bible, a few more examples of this emotional state can most probably be detected.

27 For an earlier discussion of this text, see E. K.
Ritter and J. V. Kinnier Wilson, Prescription for an
Anxiety State: A Study of BAM 234, Anatolian Stud
ies 30 (1980): 23 30.
28 M. Stol, Psychosomatic Suffering in Ancient
Mesopotamia, in T. Abusch and K. van der Toorn,
eds., Mesopotamian Magic (Groningen, 1999), p. 65
(emphasis mine).
29 Pronouncements like these are conventional for
these situations; see also Isa. 38:14; 59:11; Nah. 2:8
and van der Toorn, Sin and Sanction, p. 65.
30 For other examples on the loss of appetite in
similar circumstances, see Pss. 69:11; 107:18a, and
for insomnia, see Isa. 38:13 and Ps. 32:4; see also van
der Toorn, Sin and Sanction, p. 190.