כְּמוֹ

From the study of Proverbs 23:7

Range of meaning

A paired comparison: 'as/like … so …'.

Against the English

KJV's 'as he thinketh … so is he' can sound like a rule of cause and effect: what you think, you become. In context it is a description: 'he is like one who calculates; that is what he is.'

How it drifted

Taken without v.6 and v.8, the pairing sounds like a general law. Hebrew uses the same construction for simple comparisons all the time.

Used elsewhere in the period

The same as/so pattern describes character in comparisons throughout Proverbs, e.g. 26:1–2, 26:8 ('like… so is…').

From the study of Leviticus 19:18

Range of meaning

'Like you, as you': a comparison word with a pronoun suffix. It can attach to a verb ('as you do') or to a noun ('one who is like you').

Against the English

English 'as yourself' is usually heard as 'as much as you love yourself', which can sound like a second, prior command to love oneself. The Hebrew is one compact comparison word, not a separate instruction.

How it drifted

Modern psychological language about self-esteem has led some readers to treat the comparison as a command.

Used elsewhere in the period

The same word ends v. 34, about the foreigner: 'you shall love him as yourself'. Compare ke-nafsho, 'as his own self', of Jonathan's love for David (1 Sam 18:1). Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, an Aramaic paraphrase, explains the verse in practical terms: 'what you hate for yourself, do not do to him', close to Hillel's famous saying (b. Shabbat 31a).

From the study of Isaiah 44:7

Range of meaning

The preposition kemo means 'like, as'. In the question 'who is like …?' it is the standard Hebrew way of saying someone has no equal. It is used for God in hymns (Exodus 15:11; Psalm 35:10; 89:6–8; Micah 7:18) and in boasting.

Against the English

English 'Who is like me?' is accurate. What a reader can miss is that this was a set phrase from worship, so the hearers would have heard an echo of the Song of the Sea.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exodus 15:11 ('Who is like you among the gods, O LORD?'); Isaiah 40:18, 25; 46:5, 9 ('there is none like me'). Babylonian hymns also claim incomparability for Marduk, which makes the claim here a direct counter-claim.