Introduction
Ha-Tikva (הַתִּקְוָה — "The Hope") is the national anthem of the State of Israel. It is one of the most emotionally powerful Hebrew texts in existence, and learning it word by word reveals a masterpiece of compressed, yearning poetry. The anthem was composed in 1878 by Naftali Herz Imber, a Galician Jewish poet, and set to a melody based on a traditional European folk tune. It was adopted as the Zionist anthem in 1897 and became Israel's official national anthem upon statehood in 1948.
For Hebrew learners, Ha-Tikva is essential. Its vocabulary — soul, heart, east, hope, freedom, land — covers concepts that recur throughout Hebrew language, Jewish history, and Israeli culture. Every word in the anthem is worth knowing in its own right.
What Is the Song About?
Ha-Tikva describes the two-thousand-year longing of the Jewish people to return to their ancestral homeland and live as a free nation. The poem is structured around a central tension: as long as (כֹּל עוֹד) the Jewish soul still yearns — then the hope (הַתִּקְוָה) is not lost.
The first stanza speaks of an inward condition — the Jewish soul yearning within the heart, eyes gazing eastward toward Zion. The second stanza, the official anthem text, makes the hope explicit: to be a free people in our land, the land of Zion and Jerusalem. The poem is both personal and national, simultaneously a prayer and a political declaration.
Full Lyrics
כֹּל עוֹד בַּלֵּבָב פְּנִימָה
Kol od ba-levav penimah
As long as within the heart inwardly
נֶפֶשׁ יְהוּדִי הוֹמִיָּה
Nefesh Yehudi homiyah
a Jewish soul still yearns,
וּלְפַאֲתֵי מִזְרָח קָדִימָה
Ul'fa'atei mizrach kadimah
and toward the eastern corners, onward,
עַיִן לְצִיּוֹן צוֹפִיָּה
Ayin l'Tziyon tzofiyah
an eye gazes toward Zion —
עוֹד לֹא אָבְדָה תִּקְוָתֵנוּ
Od lo avdah tikvateinu
Our hope is not yet lost —
הַתִּקְוָה בַּת שְׁנוֹת אַלְפַּיִם
Ha-tikvah bat shnot alpayim
the hope of two thousand years —
לִהְיוֹת עַם חָפְשִׁי בְּאַרְצֵנוּ
Lihyot am chofshi be-artzenu
to be a free people in our land,
אֶרֶץ צִיּוֹן וִירוּשָׁלַיִם
Eretz Tziyon vi-Yerushalayim
the land of Zion and Jerusalem.
Vocabulary
| Hebrew | Transliteration | Type | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| כֹּל עוֹד | kol od | Phrase | As long as; still (כֹּל = all/every; עוֹד = still/yet) |
| לֵבָב | levav | Noun | Heart (poetic form; also לֵב) |
| פְּנִימָה | penimah | Adverb | Inwardly, inside, within |
| נֶפֶשׁ | nefesh | Noun (fem.) | Soul, spirit, person |
| יְהוּדִי | Yehudi | Adjective / noun | Jewish; a Jew |
| הוֹמִיָּה | homiyah | Verb (participle) | Yearning, stirring, longing (root: ה-מ-ה) |
| מִזְרָח | mizrach | Noun | East ("where the sun rises" — from ז-ר-ח) |
| קָדִימָה | kadimah | Adverb | Forward; eastward (also: the name of a political party) |
| עַיִן | ayin | Noun (fem.) | Eye |
| צִיּוֹן | Tziyon | Proper noun | Zion — Jerusalem's sacred hill; the Jewish homeland |
| צוֹפִיָּה | tzofiyah | Verb (participle fem.) | Gazing, looking toward (root: צ-פ-ה) |
| אָבַד | avad | Verb | To be lost, to perish (root: א-ב-ד) |
| תִּקְוָה | tikvah | Noun (fem.) | Hope (root: ק-ו-ה) |
| שְׁנוֹת אַלְפַּיִם | shnot alpayim | Noun phrase | Two thousand years (שָׁנָה = year; אַלְפַּיִם = two thousands) |
| לִהְיוֹת | lihyot | Verb — infinitive | To be (from root ה-י-ה) |
| עַם | am | Noun | People, nation |
| חָפְשִׁי | chofshi | Adjective | Free (root: ח-פ-ש) |
| אֶרֶץ | eretz | Noun (fem.) | Land, country, earth |
| יְרוּשָׁלַיִם | Yerushalayim | Proper noun | Jerusalem (dual form — the city of two hills) |
Phrase by Phrase
כֹּל עוֹד בַּלֵּבָב פְּנִימָה
kol od ba-levav penimah
"As long as within the heart inwardly"
כֹּל עוֹד (kol od) is a conditional temporal phrase: "as long as" / "while still." לֵבָב (levav) is a poetic, elevated synonym for לֵב (lev, heart) — both are common, but levav has a more literary, biblical feel and appears in classic Hebrew poetry and prayer. The prefix בַּ- (ba-) contracts "in the." פְּנִימָה (penimah) means "inward" and gives its name to the Hebrew word for pearl — p'ninah (פְּנִינָה, something precious within).
נֶפֶשׁ יְהוּדִי הוֹמִיָּה
nefesh Yehudi homiyah
"a Jewish soul still yearns"
נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is the Hebrew word for soul, life-force, and even the self — it appears in the Shema prayer (be-chol nafsh'cha, with all your soul). הוֹמִיָּה (homiyah) is the feminine participle of the root ה-מ-ה (to murmur, to stir, to long). Psalm 42 opens with this root: ka-ayyal ta'arog al-afikei mayim — homiyah nafshi (my soul longs/yearns). Note: grammatically, nefesh is feminine in Hebrew, which is why the participle takes the feminine form homiyah even though Yehudi (Jew) is masculine.
עַיִן לְצִיּוֹן צוֹפִיָּה
ayin l'Tziyon tzofiyah
"an eye gazes toward Zion"
עַיִן (ayin) — eye. Also the name of the Hebrew letter ע. צִיּוֹן (Tziyon) originally referred to the Jebusite fortress captured by David that became the site of Jerusalem's Temple Mount. Over millennia it expanded to represent Jerusalem, the Land of Israel, and the idea of Jewish return and redemption. צוֹפִיָּה (tzofiyah, gazing) is from the root צ-פ-ה (to watch, to look out) — a root found in mitzpeh (מִצְפֶּה, a lookout point), a common Israeli place name.
עוֹד לֹא אָבְדָה תִּקְוָתֵנוּ
od lo avdah tikvateinu
"Our hope is not yet lost"
עוֹד לֹא (od lo) — "not yet." אָבְדָה (avdah) is the feminine past tense of the root א-ב-ד (to perish, to be lost) — feminine because tikvah is feminine. תִּקְוָה (tikvah, hope) from root ק-ו-ה (to hope, to wait) — the same root appears in kav (קַו, line, rope) because hope is something one stretches toward. The suffix -תֵנוּ (-teinu) is the possessive "our": tikvateinu = "our hope." Recognizing possessive suffixes (-i, -cha, -o, -ah, -enu, -chem, -am) is essential for reading Hebrew text.
לִהְיוֹת עַם חָפְשִׁי בְּאַרְצֵנוּ
lihyot am chofshi be-artzenu
"to be a free people in our land"
לִהְיוֹת (lihyot, to be) is the infinitive of the root ה-י-ה — the most fundamental verb in Hebrew. חָפְשִׁי (chofshi, free) from root ח-פ-ש — also related to chofesh (חוֹפֶשׁ, freedom, vacation). אַרְצֵנוּ (artzenu) — eretz (land) + possessive suffix -enu (our): "our land." This phrase is arguably the most important line of the anthem — it expresses the core aspiration of Zionism and the founding idea of the State of Israel in nine compact Hebrew words.
Key Roots from Ha-Tikva
- ה-מ-ה — to stir, yearn, murmur. Related: homiyah (yearning), hamonot (crowds, multitudes).
- ק-ו-ה — to hope, to wait. Related: tikvah (hope), mikveh (ritual bath — a gathered, waited-for body of water).
- ה-י-ה — to be. Related: hayah (was), yihyeh (will be), hoveh (present/being).
- צ-פ-ה — to watch, gaze. Related: mitzpeh (lookout), tzofeh (scout, one who watches).
- א-ב-ד — to perish, be lost. Related: oved (lost), ibud (loss, destruction).