Hebrew word · H1244

בִּקֹּ֫רֶת

bikoret

scourging

This word occurs only here, so its meaning has to be worked out. It is built on the root bqr, 'to examine, inspect, inquire, look into'. Three main proposals: 'An inquiry/investigation': the case must be examined. E. A. Milgrom and the Jewish Publication Society translation adopted it.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

punishment (after judicial enquiry), compensation

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Leviticus 19:20

Range of meaning

This word occurs only here, so its meaning has to be worked out. It is built on the root bqr, 'to examine, inspect, inquire, look into'. That root is used for a priest inspecting skin disease (Lev 13:36), for not 'inspecting' good from bad among tithed animals (Lev 27:33), and for a shepherd 'seeking out' his flock (Ezek 34:11–12). Three main proposals:

  1. 'An inquiry/investigation': the case must be examined.
  2. 'Indemnity/compensation': a legal claim for damages, usually paid to the slave's owner. E. A. Speiser proposed this from Akkadian legal usage of a related root (baqāru/paqāru, 'to raise a legal claim'), and J. Milgrom and the Jewish Publication Society translation adopted it.
  3. 'Scourging': a flogging. This is the rabbinic reading.
Against the English

KJV has 'she shall be scourged'. YLT has 'an investigation there is', and the RSV/NRSV have an inquiry. NIV, BSB and NASB have 'punishment'. ESV has 'a distinction shall be made'. NLT has compensation paid to her master. So English Bibles range from beating the woman, to holding a hearing, to paying damages.

How it drifted

'Scourged' comes from the Mishnah (Keritot 2:4: 'she is flogged, and he brings an offering'). The rabbis connected the word to flogging by learned interpretation, not from how the root is ordinarily used. The KJV took this over, and the Vulgate's 'both shall be beaten' reflects the same kind of tradition. The broad modern word 'punishment' avoids choosing a meaning, but it still suggests a penalty on the body.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Greek Septuagint has episkopē estai autois, 'there shall be an inspection/visitation for them', which matches the root meaning 'examine'. Other ancient Near Eastern laws on sex with someone else's slave woman set a payment to her owner: Laws of Ur-Nammu §8 (five shekels for deflowering another man's slave woman) and Laws of Eshnunna §31 (twenty shekels, and the slave remains her owner's property). This makes 'compensation' a natural fit for the setting.

Where it appears

Leviticus · 1

  1. Leviticus 19:20 בִּקֹּ֧רֶת compensation

    If a man lies carnally with a slave girl promised to another man but who has not been redeemed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. But they are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed.

    Here: This word occurs only here. It comes from the root bqr, 'examine, inquire', and probably means a legal inquiry or a compensation claim (paid to the owner). The old reading 'scourging' comes from later rabbinic tradition. See the study below.

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