Heavy ; figuratively in a good sense ( numerous ) or in a bad sense ( severe , difficult , stupid )
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This adjective describes something heavy, weighty, severe, or difficult, with the particular sense supplied by its object. Abraham is described as very wealthy in Genesis 13:2; Moses calls his speech and tongue slow in Exodus 4:10; Jethro says the task Moses carries is too heavy in Exodus 18:18.
Reader summary
Full entry for כָּבֵד (H3515) · Open the biblical lexicon
This adjective describes something heavy, weighty, severe, or difficult, with the particular sense supplied by its object. Abraham is described as very wealthy in Genesis 13:2; Moses calls his speech and tongue slow in Exodus 4:10; Jethro says the task Moses carries is too heavy in Exodus 18:18.
The BSB source-word alignment has 41 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include large (3), severe (3), and the heavy (2), you with a heavy (2), . . . (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 12:10. Its strongest book concentrations include Exodus (12), Genesis (9), 1 Kings (4), 2 Chronicles (3).
This adjective describes something heavy, weighty, severe, or difficult, with the particular sense supplied by its object. Abraham is described as very wealthy in Genesis 13:2; Moses calls his speech and tongue slow in Exodus 4:10; Jethro says the task Moses carries is too heavy in Exodus 18:18. These uses should not be flattened into one judgment about moral character.
Exodus 7:14 applies the description to Pharaoh's unyielding heart as he refuses to release the people. Psalm 38:4 speaks of guilt as a burden too heavy to bear. In those passages the moral setting is explicit. It must not be transferred automatically to every person with difficult speech, physical weight, demanding work, or deep suffering. Exodus 18 instead names the limits of one person's ability and proposes shared responsibility. Recognizing that a task is too heavy can be the beginning of wiser service rather than an admission that someone has failed God.
Wealth, speech difficulty, an unyielding heart, an excessive leadership task, and the burden of guilt show the adjective's varied objects. Their moral significance depends on the specific statement and surrounding account.
Surely you and these people with you will wear yourselves out, because the task is too heavy for you. You cannot handle it alone.
Jethro warns that Moses and the people will wear out because the task is too heavy for him alone. The following proposal shares responsibility with qualified leaders rather than demanding greater solitary endurance.
“Please, Lord,” Moses replied, “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and tongue.”
Moses describes difficulty with speech and tongue, and the Lord answers with His creative authority and promised help. The wording does not supply a modern clinical diagnosis or permission to disparage people who speak differently.
And Abram had become extremely wealthy in livestock and silver and gold.
Abram's abundance of livestock, silver, and gold is described as wealth. The statement names possessions rather than defining prosperity as proof of superior faith or innocence.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go.
Pharaoh's unyielding heart is connected to his refusal to release the people. This moral resistance must not be imported into every other use of a word translated heavy.
For my iniquities have overwhelmed me; they are a burden too heavy to bear.
The speaker names his own iniquities as a burden beyond his ability to bear. This confession belongs to the prayer and does not authorize assigning the same cause to every other sufferer's pain.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Weight as moral/relational burden: heaviness denotes God's glory, human stubbornness, or overwhelming obligation.
Weight as moral/relational burden: heaviness denotes God's glory, human stubbornness, or overwhelming obligation.
heavy; figuratively in a good sense (numerous) or in a bad sense (severe, difficult, stupid) BDB: heavy Usage: (so) great, grievous, hard(-ened), (too) heavy(-ier), laden, much, slow, sore, thick.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
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Exodus 18:18 names a problem that affects more than Moses: both he and the people with him are likely to wear out. The task is too heavy for him to carry alone. Jethro's following counsel identifies people with trustworthy qualities who can share the work, leaving difficult cases for Moses. The solution attends to the shape of responsibility rather than merely the leader's stamina.
A congregation can learn to take excessive demands seriously before exhaustion becomes the accepted price of service. Sharing responsibility requires suitable people and clear duties, not simply passing an impossible load to someone less able to refuse it. The passage does not guarantee that a particular organizational model will solve every problem, but it does challenge the assumption that faithful leadership must remain solitary. Admitting that work is too heavy can serve the people who depend on the work as well as the person carrying it.
Exod.18.18
H3515 is an adjective whose sense depends on what is described as heavy, severe, or difficult. Related Hebrew words for honoring or glory do not put glory into every occurrence of this adjective. Its use for wealth, speech, and burdens must be read separately.
Galatians 6:1-2 calls for gentle restoration and bearing one another's burdens. Matthew 11:28-30 invites the weary to Jesus and His rest. These are thematic connections with real burdens and help; they do not identify every burden as the same condition or turn Exodus 18 into a universal staffing formula.