אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם (Erekh appayim)

MEANINGSlow to anger. Literally 'long of nostrils/nose.' In Hebrew, anger is expressed through flaring nostrils (af --- nostrils/anger). 'Long-nosed' = slow to flare = extreme patience. The 6th of God's 13 attributes.

GRAMMARErekh (long, from the root ארך) + appayim (nostrils/face, dual form of af). The dual form of af is idiomatic --- used even when not referring literally to the two nostrils. Erekh appayim is an idiom for patience that has become a fixed divine attribute formula.

SIGNIFICANCEErekh appayim is the OT's most vivid expression that God's anger is not quick --- he is constitutionally slow to reach the point of judgment. This attribute makes the four hundred years of silence between Malachi and Matthew not abandonment but patience. Thread 1's persistent reaching is the expression of erekh appayim across all of human history.

KEY VERSE / SCRIPTURESExodus 34:6; Numbers 14:18; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 86:15; 103:8; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2; Nahum 1:3.

CROSS-REFERENCESExodus 34:6 · Numbers 14:18 · 2 Peter 3:9 (βουλόμενος boulomai --- not wishing any to perish)