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(
&,
, 7272), “foot; leg.”
is a word found in many Semitic languages,
referring to a part of the body. In the Old Testament, the word is used a total of 245
times, with its first occurrence in Gen. 8:9.
may refer to the “foot” of a human (Gen. 18:4), an animal (Ezek. 29:11), a bird
(Gen. 8:9), or even a table (a rare usage; Exod. 25:26,
KJV
). The word’s usage is also
extended to signify the “leg”: “And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of
brass between his shoulders” (1 Sam. 17:6).
is used euphemistically for the genital
area; thus urine is “water of the legs” (2 Kings 18:27) and pubic hair is “hair of the legs”
(Isa. 7:20). The foot’s low place gave rise to an idiom: “From the sole of the foot to the
crown of the head” (cf. Deut. 28:35), signifying the “total extent of the body.”
“Foot” may be a metaphor of “arrogance”: “Let not the foot of pride come against
me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me” (Ps. 36:11). It is used to represent
Israel: “Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave
their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them,
and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them” (2 Kings 21:8).
In anthropomorphic expressions, God has “feet.” Thus God revealed Himself with a
pavement of sapphire as clear as the sky under His “feet” (Exod. 24:10). The authors of
Scripture portray God as having darkness (Ps. 18:9) and clouds of dust beneath His “feet”
(Nah. 1:3), and sending a plague out from His “feet” (Hab. 3:5). His “feet” are said to rest
on the earth (Isa. 66:1); the temple is also the resting place of His “feet”: “… And I will
make the place of my feet glorious” (Isa. 60:13). Similarly, the seraphim had “feet,”
which they covered with a pair of wings as they stood in the presence of God (Isa. 6:2);
the cherubim had “feet” that Ezekiel described (Ezek. 1:7).
The Septuagint gives the following translations:
$
(“foot”) and
(“leg”).
TO FORGET
(
'
, 7911), “to forget.” The common word meaning “to forget” appears
in all periods of the Hebrew language; this term is also found in Aramaic. It occurs just
over 100 times in the Hebrew Bible.
-
is found for the first time in the Old
Testament in Gen. 27:45, when Rebekah urges Jacob to flee his home until Esau “forget
that which thou hast done to him.”
As the people worshiped strange gods, Jeremiah reminded Judah that “all thy lovers
have forgotten thee; they seek thee not” (Jer. 30:14). But God does not “forget” His
people: “Can a woman forget her suckling child, that she should not have compassion on
the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee” (Isa. 49:15). In
spite of this, when destruction came, Judah complained: “Wherefore dost thou forget us
for ever …?” (Lam. 5:20). Israel would often “forget” God’s law (Hos. 4:6) and God’s
name (Jer. 23:27).
TO FORGIVE
(
, 5545), “to forgive.” This verb appears 46 times in the Old Testament.
The meaning “to forgive” is limited to biblical and rabbinic Hebrew; in Akkadian, the
word means “to sprinkle,” and in Aramaic and Syriac signifies “to pour out.” The
meaning of
in Ugaritic is debatable.