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(
, 7998), “booty; prey; spoil; plunder; gain.” This word occurs 75 times
and in all periods of biblical Hebrew.
-
literally means “prey,” which an animal tracks down, kills, and eats:
“Benjamin shall raven as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey [
], and at
night he shall divide the spoil” (Gen. 49:27—the first occurrence).
The word may mean “booty” or “spoil of war,” which includes anything and
everything a soldier or army captures from an enemy and carries off: “But the women,
and the little ones, … even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself …” (Deut.
20:14). An entire nation can be “plunder” or a “spoil of war” (Jer. 50:10). To “save one’s
own life as booty” is to have one’s life spared (cf. Jer. 21:9).
-
is used in a few passages of “private plunder”: “Woe unto them that … turn
aside the needy from judgment, and … take away the right from the poor of my people,
that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!” (Isa. 10:1-2).
This word may also represent “private gain”: “The heart of her husband doth safely
trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil” (Prov. 31:11).
BOSOM
%
(
, 2436), “bosom; lap; base.” Cognates of this word appear in Akkadian,
late Aramaic, and Arabic. The word appears 38 times throughout biblical literature.
The word represents the “outer front of one’s body” where beloved ones, infants, and
animals are pressed closely: “Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that
thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the
sucking child …” (Num. 11:12). In its first biblical appearance,
%
is used of a man’s
“bosom”: “And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid
into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes …”
(Gen. 16:5). The “husband of one’s bosom” is a husband who is “held close to one’s
heart” or “cherished” (Deut. 28:56). This figurative inward sense appears again in Ps.
35:13: “… My prayer returned into mine own bosom” (cf. Job 19:27). In 1 Kings 22:35,
the word means the “inside” or “heart” of a war chariot.
)
%
represents a fold of one’s garment above the belt where things are hidden: “And
the Lord said furthermore unto him [Moses], Put now thine hand into thy bosom” (Exod.
4:6).
Various translations may render this word as “lap”: “The lot is cast into the lap; but
the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord” (Prov. 16:33). Yet “bosom” may be used,
even where “lap” is clearly intended: “But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe
lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with
his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom
…” (2 Sam. 12:3).
Finally,
%
means the “base of the altar,” as described in Ezek. 43:13 (cf. Ezek.
43:17).
BOUNDARY
$
(
%
, 1366), “boundary; limit; territory; closed area.” This word has cognates
in Phoenician and Arabic. It occurs about 240 times in biblical Hebrew and in all periods.