To bind together (perhaps by twisting), i.e. collect ; (figuratively) to expect
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קָוָה (qāwāh) means to wait, hope, or expect, with a distinct gathering use in Genesis 1:9 where the waters collect. In Isaiah 5 the vineyard owner expects good fruit but receives the opposite, and Jeremiah repeatedly describes people waiting for peace or healing that does not arrive.
Reader summary
Full entry for קָוָה (H6960) · Open the biblical lexicon
קָוָה (qāwāh) means to wait, hope, or expect, with a distinct gathering use in Genesis 1:9 where the waters collect. In Isaiah 5 the vineyard owner expects good fruit but receives the opposite, and Jeremiah repeatedly describes people waiting for peace or healing that does not arrive.
The BSB source-word alignment has 49 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include Wait (5), Wait patiently (2), We hope (2), We hoped (2), . . . (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 1:9. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (17), Isaiah (15), Jeremiah (5), Job (5).
קָוָה (qāwāh) means to wait, hope, or expect, with a distinct gathering use in Genesis 1:9 where the waters collect. In Isaiah 5 the vineyard owner expects good fruit but receives the opposite, and Jeremiah repeatedly describes people waiting for peace or healing that does not arrive. The verb can therefore report expectation without promising fulfillment; the object, grounds, and outcome of hope matter.
Faithful waiting is directed toward God and his word. Genesis 49:18 waits for the Lord's salvation, Isaiah 25:9 celebrates the God for whom the people waited, Lamentations 3:25 calls the Lord good to those who wait for him, and Psalm 130:5 joins waiting to hope in God's word. Such waiting includes prayer, repentance, courage, obedience, and truthful lament. It is not passive denial or a timetable by which people can force God to act.
Isaiah 40:31 promises renewed strength to those who wait for the Lord, but the surrounding chapter addresses exhausted people with God's enduring word and incomparable power. The verse should not be turned into a guarantee of constant energy, healing, or success. Psalm 27:14 calls for courage while waiting, and Proverbs 20:22 redirects personal vengeance toward waiting for the Lord. Waiting on God never requires remaining in abuse, delaying emergency care, withholding evidence, or refusing prudent action.
Qawah describes gathering in one creation use and otherwise waiting, hoping, or expecting. Expectations may be fulfilled, disappointed, morally corrupt, or grounded in God and his word.
The waters are commanded to gather into one place, preserving a concrete sense distinct from hoping.
God expects justice and righteousness from the vineyard but encounters bloodshed and a cry, so expectation does not imply approval or fulfillment.
The saved community celebrates the God for whom it waited and rejoices in his salvation.
Those waiting for the Lord receive renewed strength within a proclamation of God's enduring power and care for the weary.
The people wait for peace and healing but encounter terror, illustrating disappointed expectation in a judgment setting.
Amid communal devastation, the poem confesses the Lord's goodness to the person who waits and seeks him.
The psalm calls the worshiper to wait for the Lord with courage and a strengthened heart.
Waiting for the Lord is explicitly joined to hope in his word within a prayer from the depths.
The hearer is told not to repay evil but to wait for the Lord, restraining personal vengeance.
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. Hope as patient waiting—the act of binding oneself to anticipated divine action or promise.
Hope as patient waiting—the act of binding oneself to anticipated divine action or promise.
to bind together (perhaps by twisting), i.e. collect; (figuratively) to expect BDB: wait for Usage: gather (together), look, patiently, tarry, wait (for, on, upon).
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 49 lexical occurrence verses.
קָוָה is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Defines the posture of reliance that leads to renewed strength. Isaiah 40:12-31
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Qawah gives congregations a disciplined hope that can survive disappointment. Isaiah 5 shows God expecting fruit that does not appear, and Jeremiah names hoped-for peace that does not arrive. Psalm 130 waits from the depths by holding to God's word, while Isaiah 40 addresses exhaustion with God's enduring strength. Waiting is therefore neither control nor passivity.
It can include courage, lament, repentance, ordinary work, treatment, advocacy, and refusal of revenge. Pastoral teaching should never use “wait on God” to keep someone in violence, postpone reporting, discourage medical or mental-health care, or silence a person whose promised relief has not come. Hope remains accountable to truth and does not impose a deadline on God.
Ps.130.5
H6960 is a verb whose dominant field is waiting, hoping, and expecting, alongside a gathering sense in Genesis 1:9. It does not grammatically guarantee fulfillment, specify duration, or identify a faithful object of hope.
The New Testament develops hope, patience, endurance, prayer, and expectation around Christ's work and promised return. Those teachings continue the posture but do not turn H6960 into a prediction timetable or a guarantee of immediate relief.
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