Hebrew word · H1318
בָּשַׁס
boshaskhem
to trample
Occurs only here. Two main explanations: (1) a by-form of bûs / bōs, 'to tread down, trample', hence 'your trampling upon the poor'; (2) a loan or cognate of Akkadian šabāšu, 'to collect (a grain) levy', with two consonants swapped (šbš → bšs).
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) to tread down, trample
1a) (Poel) trampling
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
- Range of meaning
Occurs only here. Two main explanations: (1) a by-form of bûs / bōs, 'to tread down, trample', hence 'your trampling upon the poor'; (2) a loan or cognate of Akkadian šabāšu, 'to collect (a grain) levy', with two consonants swapped (šbš → bšs). On this view the clause means 'your levying a tax on the poor'.
- Against the English
KJV, BSB, ESV and WEB keep the traditional 'trample/treading'. NASB ('impose heavy rent') and NIV (a 'tax' on the poor) follow the Akkadian explanation.
- How it drifted
Not drift in the strict sense. It is a real disagreement over a word that occurs only once. The Akkadian link became widely known in the 20th century through comparative study of cuneiform texts (Torczyner and later lexica such as HALOT), long after the traditional 'trample' rendering had settled into English Bibles.
- Used elsewhere in the period
No other Hebrew occurrence. Akkadian šabāšu ('to gather, collect a levy') and šibšu ('a levy on field produce') are well attested in Mesopotamian administrative texts. Ancient translators were already guessing: the Septuagint has 'you struck with fists', and the Vulgate renders it as plunder.
Where it appears
Amos · 1
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Amos 5:11 בּוֹשַׁסְכֶ֞ם trample you
Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.
Here: An infinitive with 'your': 'your trampling' or 'your levying'. The verb occurs only here in the Bible. Traditionally it is linked to bûs, 'tread down'. Many modern scholars link it to an Akkadian term for levying a grain tax, which would make the whole line about extracting produce from small farmers (see studies).
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.