Hebrew word · H3793

כְּתֹ֫בֶת

ukhetoet

imprint

'Writing, inscription', from katav, 'to write'. This form appears only here.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) impression, inscription, mark

1a) in the flesh, perhaps a tattoo

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 19:28

Range of meaning

'Writing, inscription', from katav, 'to write'. This form appears only here.

Against the English

KJV 'print any marks'. Most modern versions merge it with the next word into 'tattoo'. That loses the hint that the mark was writing, possibly letters or a name.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 44:5 pictures a person who 'writes on his hand, "Belonging to YHWH"'. The Elephantine papyri are Aramaic documents from a Jewish colony in Egypt in the 400s BC. In one of them (Cowley 28), a slave is marked on the arm with an owner's name. Herodotus (2.113) describes an Egyptian temple where runaway slaves received 'sacred marks' that dedicated them to the god. Lucian (De Dea Syria 59, 2nd century AD) says worshippers of the Syrian goddess were all marked on the wrist or neck.

Where it appears

Leviticus · 1

  1. Leviticus 19:28 וּכְתֹ֣בֶת and [the] inscription of

    You must not make any cuts in your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.

    Here: From katav, 'to write'. This exact noun appears only here. It suggests a sign, letters or a design placed on the body, not just a wound.

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