Answers to Questions: What Does it Mean to “Asswage”?

Question: I see the word “asswage” trending. What is the biblical meaning of this word?

Answer: In the King James Version, “asswage” (pronounced uh-SWAYJ) is a powerful word that means to abate, to subside, to lessen, or to pacify. It is a “forensic” word for relief. It describes the moment when a great force—be it a flood of water or a flood of emotion—begins to pull back. It’s the “sweetening” or “softening” of a harsh situation.

Question: Where is this word used in the Bible?

Answer: It appears in two very different, but equally important, contexts:

1. The Physical Relief (Genesis 8:1): > “And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged;” (KJV) Here, it describes the turning point of the Great Flood. The judgment had finished its work, and God’s mercy began to “asswage” or lower the waters.
2. The Emotional Relief (Job 16:5-6):“But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief. Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: and though I forbear, what am I eased?” (KJV) Job uses the word to describe the heavy, suffocating weight of sorrow. He longed for his grief to “subside” just as the floodwaters did for Noah.

Question: Why is this word trending right now in late 2025?

Answer: We live in a world of high-tide “perplexity.” Between the rumors of war in the Middle East and the economic pressures of the “digital cage,” people feel like they are drowning. When people search for “asswage,” they are searching for a way to describe the relief that only God can provide. The world is looking for an “assuaging” of their fears, but they are looking in the wrong places (politics, technology, or self).

Question: How can we apply the “asswaging” of God to our lives today?

Answer: Notice that in Genesis 8:1, the waters asswaged because “God remembered Noah.” The relief didn’t come from Noah’s effort; it came because God turned His attention to the ark. If you feel overwhelmed today, remember that God has not forgotten you in your “ark.” He is the only one who can command the wind to blow and the waters of your trial to asswage.