Hebrew word · H3599

כִּיס

kis

purse

A bag or pouch, usually carried at the belt. It held a merchant's stone weights (Deut 25:13; Mic 6:11; Prov 16:11) or silver and gold (Isa 46:6, 'they lavish gold from the bag').

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

What it means

1) bag, purse

1a) for weights, money

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 Proverbs 1:14

Range of meaning

A bag or pouch, usually carried at the belt. It held a merchant's stone weights (Deut 25:13; Mic 6:11; Prov 16:11) or silver and gold (Isa 46:6, 'they lavish gold from the bag').

Against the English

'Purse' (KJV, BSB, ESV, NASB, WEB) is the traditional word. 'Loot' (NIV, NLT) changes the container into its contents. To a modern reader 'purse' may suggest a handbag.

How it drifted

In older English 'purse' meant a small money pouch, often a man's. Modern American usage has narrowed it toward a woman's handbag.

Used elsewhere in the period

Elsewhere in Proverbs: 'Honest scales and balances belong to the LORD; all the weights in the bag (kîs) are his work' (16:11). The bag is where honesty or fraud in trade was kept.

From the study of Deuteronomy 25:13

Range of meaning

A bag or pouch, especially the trader's pouch for weights and for silver (BDB, HALOT). It is used for weights in Prov 16:11 and Mic 6:11 ("a bag of deceitful weights"), for money or gold in Prov 1:14 and Isa 46:6.

Against the English

"Bag" (KJV, BSB, ESV) is right. "Purse" would steer a modern reader toward personal money and away from a merchant's kit of weighing-stones.

Used elsewhere in the period

Micah 6:11 asks: "Shall I acquit... a bag of deceitful stones?" Proverbs 16:11 says: "all the stones of the bag are his [YHWH's] work." That verse claims honest weights as belonging to God's own order.

Where it appears

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 25:13 בְּכִֽיסְךָ֖ in bag your

    You shall not have two differing weights in your bag, one heavy and one light.

    Here: "In your bag": the pouch a trader carried on his belt, holding his weighing-stones and often his silver too. Putting the ban right in his own pouch makes it concrete and personal.

Proverbs · 2

  1. Proverbs 1:14 כִּ֥יס a bag

    Throw in your lot with us; let us all share one purse”—

    Here: A small leather or cloth bag worn at the belt. It was used for a trader's stone weights and for silver. Here it is the gang's common money bag, where the plunder is pooled.

  2. Proverbs 16:11 כִֽיס׃ [the] bag

    Honest scales and balances are from the LORD; all the weights in the bag are His concern.

    Here: The trader's pouch where he carried his weights, and sometimes his silver. The same word comes up in the law against keeping 'two kinds of weights in your bag' (Deut 25:13) and in Micah's 'bag of deceitful weights' (Mic 6:11). The bag was where cheating could be hidden.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 46:6 מִכִּ֔יס from a bag

    They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.

    Here: "From a purse": the leather pouch that held a person's metal wealth (and, elsewhere, a merchant's stone weights, Deuteronomy 25:13; Proverbs 16:11). The god starts its life as the contents of a money bag.

Micah · 1

  1. Micah 6:11 וּבְכִ֖יס and with a bag of

    Can I excuse dishonest scales or bags of false weights?

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