📖 Biblical Definition
To yearn is to long deeply, ache, be moved with strong desire — most often in Scripture of one heart toward another. Joseph’s "bowels did yearn upon his brother" when he first saw Benjamin in Egypt (Genesis 43:30). Paul writes the Philippians: "For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:8). The Psalmist’s soul yearns for God like a deer panting after the water brooks (Psalm 42:1). Christ Himself longs over Jerusalem: "how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings" (Matthew 23:37). Holy yearning is the soul’s legitimate ache — for God, for souls, for the consummation.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
To long deeply with strong moving desire.
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To long deeply, ache with desire, be moved in the inward parts; used of Joseph's emotion before his brothers, Paul's yearning for distant churches, and the soul's longing for God in the Psalms.
📖 Key Scripture
Genesis 43:30 — "And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep."
Philippians 1:8 — "For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ."
Psalm 42:1 — "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Replaced in modern English by weaker words; the visceral 'bowels of compassion' language is largely lost.
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Hebrew and Greek both locate strong emotion in the bowels — kidneys, gut, viscera. Paul yearns 'in the bowels of Christ,' meaning with the same gut-level affection Christ felt for His own. Recover yearning as a spiritual category.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew kamar — to grow warm.
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['Hebrew', 'H3648', 'kamar', 'to grow warm, yearn']
['Greek', 'G1971', 'epipotheō', 'to long for']
Usage
"Yearn for God; yearn for His people."
"Recover bowels-of-Christ affection."