Greek word · G5522

χόος

choos

dust

Loose earth, soil, dust. In the Septuagint it often translates Hebrew ‘aphar ('dust'), the material of human mortality and of mourning.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

χοῦς, -οός accusative, οῦν, ὁ, (contr. from χόος),

[in LXX chiefly for עָפָר ;]

1. earth, soil.

2. In later writers (Pint., LXX), = κονιορτός, dust: Mark 6:11, Revelation 18:19.†

(AS)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Mark 6:11

Range of meaning

Loose earth, soil, dust. In the Septuagint it often translates Hebrew ‘aphar ('dust'), the material of human mortality and of mourning.

Against the English

'Dust' is accurate. What English readers may miss is that the dust stands for the place itself: its ground, its land.

Used elsewhere in the period

Septuagint Genesis 2:7 (God forms the human from chous of the ground) and Joshua 7:6 (dust on the head in mourning). In the New Testament it occurs only here and in Revelation 18:19. The parallels in Matthew 10:14 and Luke 9:5 use koniortos, another word for dust.

From the study of Revelation 18:19

Range of meaning

"Dust, loose earth, soil."

Against the English

All versions have "dust." The word is accurate. What modern readers miss is what the gesture meant.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Greek translations of the Old Testament, the phrase "put dust on their heads" marks disaster and mourning: Joshua and the elders after the defeat at Ai (Joshua 7:6), Jerusalem's elders in Lamentations 2:10, Job's friends (Job 2:12). Most important here, Tyre's sailors "cast dust on their heads" when the great trading city sinks (Ezekiel 27:30). Elsewhere in the New Testament χοῦς appears only in Mark 6:11 ("shake off the dust").

Where it appears

Mark · 1

  1. Mark 6:11 χοῦν dust

    If anyone will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that place, as a testimony against them.”

    Here: The earth of the place itself. The messengers refuse to carry away even the smallest part of a community that refused them.

Revelation · 1

  1. Revelation 18:19 χοῦν dust

    Then they will throw dust on their heads as they weep and mourn and cry out: “Woe, woe to the great city, where all who had ships on the sea were enriched by her wealth! For in a single hour she has been destroyed.”

    Here: Loose soil or dust. Throwing it on the head was the standard ancient sign of grief and ruin (Joshua 7:6; Lamentations 2:10; Ezekiel 27:30).

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.