Aramaic word · H1655

גְּשֵׁם

gishmeh

body

Body, the physical frame of a person or animal. In biblical Aramaic it occurs only in Daniel.

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·

What it means

body

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 Daniel 3:27

Range of meaning

Body, the physical frame of a person or animal. In biblical Aramaic it occurs only in Daniel.

Against the English

All English versions say "bodies". The Aramaic is singular with a plural suffix ("their body"), treating the three as one unit, which English normally smooths over.

Used elsewhere in the period

Daniel 3:27, 28; 4:33 (Nebuchadnezzar's body wet with dew); 5:21; 7:11 (the beast's body "destroyed and given to the burning fire"). In later Jewish Aramaic, gušmāʾ means "body, substance".

Where it appears

Daniel · 5
  1. Daniel 3:27 בְּגֶשְׁמְה֗וֹן over body their

    and when the satraps, prefects, governors, and royal advisers had gathered around, they saw that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men. Not a hair of their heads was singed, their robes were unaffected, and there was no smell of fire on them.

    Here: "Over their body", singular, treating the three together. The next verse says they "gave their bodies" (3:28) rather than worship: the bodies they surrendered are the bodies the fire could not master.

  2. Daniel 3:28 גֶשְׁמְה֗וֹן body their

    Nebuchadnezzar declared, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him. They violated the king’s command and risked their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

    Here: "Their bodies," the physical self, the same word as in 3:27 ("the fire had no power over their bodies"). The bodies they surrendered are the bodies that came out untouched.

  3. Daniel 4:33 גִּשְׁמֵ֣הּ body his

    At that moment the sentence against Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from mankind. He ate grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.

  4. Daniel 5:21 גִּשְׁמֵ֣הּ body his

    He was driven away from mankind, and his mind was like that of a beast. He lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he acknowledged that the Most High God rules over the kingdom of mankind, setting over it whom He wishes.

    Here: His physical body, the royal person himself, exposed to the weather.

  5. Daniel 7:11 גִּשְׁמַ֔הּ body its

    Then I kept watching because of the arrogant words the horn was speaking. As I continued to watch, the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire.

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