Definition

toiling; concretely, a laborer; figuratively, sorrowful

Etymology

from H5998 (עָמַל);

Where the KJV renders it

• that laboureth
• that is a misery
• had taken (labour)
• wicked
• workman

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.