# H6031 - anah **Strong's:** [H6031](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h6031/) · BLB lookup **Pronunciation:** aw-NAH **Part of speech:** verb (primitive root) **OT occurrences:** ~84 times (in 79 verses), across stems **Homograph note:** Hebrew has several roots spelled עָנָה. **H6031** is "afflict, oppress, humble, violate." It must be distinguished from **H6030** ("answer, respond, testify," and in BDB a separate "sing" root). The afflict/violate sense is unambiguously H6031. ## Semantic range 1. **To afflict, oppress, mistreat** (the general sense): God afflicts Israel to humble her (Deuteronomy 8:2-3); the oppression of the widow, orphan, and stranger is forbidden (Exodus 22:22 [Heb. 22:21]); self-affliction / fasting is "afflicting the soul" (Leviticus 16:29, 31; Isaiah 58:3-5). 2. **To humble, bring low, subdue** (Psalm 90:15; 105:18, Joseph's feet "hurt with fetters"). 3. **To humble or violate a woman through cohabitation**, the sexual-violation sense in the Piel, contextual to the passage. This is the sense that makes the verb apologetically load-bearing. ## The violation sense (Piel) In legal and narrative contexts of forced or illicit sex, the Piel of *anah* denotes **humbling / violating / ravishing** a woman: - **Genesis 34:2**, Shechem "took her and lay with her and humbled her (*wayeanneha*)", the rape of Dinah. - **2 Samuel 13:12, 14, 22, 32**, Amnon's rape of Tamar; Tamar pleads, "do not violate me (*al-teanneni*)," and the narrator says "he violated her (*wayeanneha*)." - **Deuteronomy 21:14**, the captive-bride law: if the man divorces her, he may not sell or enslave her "**because you have humbled her (*innitah*)**", the verb is the text's own admission that a wrong was done, which grounds her protection. - **Deuteronomy 22:24, 29** and **Judges 19:24; 20:5**, further violation contexts. The verb thus functions as Scripture's own moral verdict on the act. Where the text uses *anah* of a woman, it is naming a violation, not describing a neutral or approved union. ## Apologetic load 1. **The text names the wrong.** In the [Deuteronomy 21 Captive Bride Objection Defeater](/codex/deuteronomy-21-captive-bride-objection-defeater/), the *innah* of Deuteronomy 21:14 is decisive: the Torah does not pretend the captive-marriage was a romance; it calls it a humbling and, on that basis, forbids selling or enslaving the woman. The law is straining against the very thing the objection accuses it of endorsing. 2. **Consent as the moral axis.** Tamar's plea and the narrator's *wayeanneha* (2 Samuel 13) show non-consensual sex condemned as violation. See [Biblical Marriage Consent Objection Defeater](/codex/biblical-marriage-consent-objection-defeater/). 3. **Rape is condemned, not licensed.** Against the "the Bible is soft on rape" charge, the violation-verb marks these acts as wrongs the narrative and law censure. See [Rape Only Condemned When Unmarried Objection Defeater](/codex/rape-only-condemned-when-unmarried-objection-defeater/). ## Notable verses - Genesis 34:2, the rape of Dinah (*wayeanneha*) - Exodus 22:22, do not afflict any widow or orphan - Leviticus 16:29, "you shall afflict your souls" (Day of Atonement) - Deuteronomy 8:2-3, God humbled Israel in the wilderness - Deuteronomy 21:14, "because you have humbled her" (the captive wife) - 2 Samuel 13:12-14, Amnon violates Tamar - Isaiah 53:4, 7, the Servant "afflicted" (a related theological use of the affliction sense) ## See also ### Lexicon - [H5039 - nevalah](/codex/h5039-nevalah/), the "outrage" that names these violations a disgrace in Israel - [H2388 - chazaq](/codex/h2388-chazaq/), the "seize/overpower" verb that marks the forcible act - [H6370 - pilegesh](/codex/h6370-pilegesh/), the concubine, whose wronging the *anah* verb registers ### Concepts and defeaters - [Deuteronomy 21 Captive Bride Objection Defeater](/codex/deuteronomy-21-captive-bride-objection-defeater/), where *innah* is load-bearing - [Biblical Marriage Consent Objection Defeater](/codex/biblical-marriage-consent-objection-defeater/) - [Rape Only Condemned When Unmarried Objection Defeater](/codex/rape-only-condemned-when-unmarried-objection-defeater/) - [OT Sexual-Violence Laws](/codex/ot-sexual-violence-laws/)