Well, you’ve raised the question: Which is more accurate? You’ve quoted all Protestant translations – as far as I’m aware, translations not approved by the Church – saying “sigh”, whereas the two I’ve looked at, the NABRE and the DRB, both Catholic-approved say “groan”. Could it be that they translated it “sigh” precisely because “groan” “was confusing”? I would bet the original text literally says ‘groan’ …
Ethereality - look at how it used in other passage in the O.T as well as in the N.T, I looked it up and this might be what it means:
“We find a similar concept in one of the ten forms of prayer identified by the Sages.*** It is called naakah, a groan***. The Torah tells us that when the Jewish people were subjected to the cruelest slave labor by the Egyptians, they groaned in the agony of their distress. “And G-d heard their groans” and responded to them. The commentators point out that when the Jewish people directed their groans towards G-d it was one of the most eloquent forms of prayer imaginable. No sentences. No words. No entreaty. Just a cry from the depths of the heart and the soul, the cry of the children of G-d torn from the warm embrace of their Father in Heaven. Prayer in its purest form. In the same vein, the sounds of the shofar are the expressions of the soul in the purest form.”
torah.org/learning/legacy/5768/netzavim.html
For example: Look at Psalm 90, I think, it might be similar:
Darby Bible Translation
For all our days pass away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a passing thought.
New American Standard Bible (©1995)
For all our days have declined in Your fury; We have finished our years like a sigh.
The Hebrew word in the commentary provided above, spells this word differently than the one listed down below: see article below, as well - another thought to the passage you listed:
**
Neaqah** - A rare term synonymous with anahah, neaqah occurs four times meaning “sighing, groaning” as evidence of great anguish on each occasion (cf. Exod. 2:24, 6:5; Judg. 2:18;Ezek. 40:24)
anahah - This noun refers to “sighing”, “groaning” as an expression of grief or physical distress anahah occurs eleven times (cf. Job 3:24; Pss 6:6;102:5;Isa. 21:2;Jer. 45:3;Lam.1:22) Both Isa. 35:10;31:11 refer to the dispelling of all “groaning” as a consequence of God redeeming his people from captivity and bringing them back to the land.
anah is a verb found twelve times meaning “groan”, “sigh” in contexts of pain as well as grief. “Groaning” as a consequence of trauma is indicated in relation to Israel’s expression of pain in their Egyptian bondage in Exod. 2:23. A similar reference is found in Prov. 29:2. “Groaning” is attributed to cattle in Joel 1:18.
The sense of “mourn” underlying the meaning “groan” is evident in Isa 24:7. The “groaning” of God’s people in exile after the destruction of Jerusalem is indicated in Lam. 1:4ff.; signifying their “anguish”… Ezek. 9:4 refers to those citizens of Jerusalem who “groaned” over the sins committed by their apostate fellow countrymen, a groaning under girded by a sense of both “distress” and “shame”, See also Ezek. 21:6.
**
Stenazo **- **is a verb roughly equivalent in meaning to the Hebrew terms listed above. Stenazo means “groan” or “sigh” in most of it six occurrences.
In Mark 7:34, Jesus “sighs” before restoring the hearing of a deaf man, suggest his “distress” over the plight of the disable man before him.
**
In Rom 8:23; 2 Cor. 5:2, 4 the people of God are said to “groan” under the limitations of their earthly existence while they eagerly await the liberation of life with God and Christ in glory.
books.google.com/books?id=guomhk3aQMsC&pg=PA454&lpg=PA454&dq=to+groan+in+hebrew+Mark+7&source=bl&ots=HbyiYoUM5h&sig=ZhqChsYA0ghQQ1jMC3Srjq3vj-U&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lAY2T8HRN6W3sQKxu4zuAQ&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=to%20groan%20in%20hebrew%20Mark%207&f=false
on another note:
moaning and groaning [ha-ne’enahim ve-ha- ne’enakim]
There are ten expressions or phrases that are representative of Tefilah (Prayer). The first phrase is composed of three separate words: zaaka, shavah, and naakah (cry out, cry, sigh). As the Torah states (Sefer Shemot (Exodus) 2: 23-24): “Now it came to pass in those many days that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed from the labor, and they cried out, and their cry ascended to G-d from the labor. G-d heard their cry, and G-d remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” Tefilah is also called batzar and kriah (distress and to call). As Scripture states (Shemuel II: (Samuel 2)22:7): “When I am in distress, I call upon the L-rd, yes I call upon my G-d: and out of His abode He hears my voice, and my cry enters His ears” Tefilah is represented, as well, by the terms rinah and p’giah (cry and prayer). As Scripture states (Sefer Yirmiyahu 7:16) “And you , pray not on behalf of this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer, and entreat Me not for I will not hear you.” Tefilah is called nipul (to fall down in supplication)
docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:v_o0twQdPMIJ:rdbe11516.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/parashat-vaetchanan-5768.doc+Tefilah+is+also+called+batzar+and+kriah&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESi05-WCtQXWUVfCbFwFdPeKON4Wabng5h9l_YlP5dxxWysMrmG2WUx61WsveH9Gs-sxllNRCkEYytjG-THH3xKPzRBLTFMzmOl6TVRrmSz2Ngga-hYaDlR5E09aUSIXaOekMCux&sig=AHIEtbTOsOjNZCd7FfoYSk1L9DaRGQQEnw
