The Hebrew neaqah (H5008) is a deep groan or sigh β the inarticulate cry of someone under unbearable affliction. In Exodus 2:24, God heard the neaqah (groaning) of the Israelites enslaved in Egypt: 'God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.' The word captures the kind of suffering that cannot be put into words β the moan that rises from the depths of human misery.
Neaqah is one of the most powerful words in the theology of prayer and lament. It teaches that God receives groaning β not just articulate petition β as genuine prayer. The enslaved Israelites did not compose a formal prayer; they simply groaned, and God heard. This is the basis for Paul's statement in Romans 8:26: 'The Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans (stenagmois alalΔtois).' When the believer is too broken to pray in words, the Spirit carries their neaqah directly to the throne of God.