Hebrew word · H3897

לָחַךְ

yelachakhu

to lick

Lāḥak means 'to lick' or 'lick up': an ox licking up grass (Numbers 22:4), fire licking up water (1 Kings 18:38). ʿĀfār is dry, loose earth. It goes with lowliness (1 Samuel 2:8, 'raises the poor from the dust'), mourning (dust on the head), mortality ('dust you are', Genesis 3:19) and defeat.

Appears 6 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to lick, lick up

1a) (Qal) to lick up

1b) (Piel) to lick up

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 Micah 7:17

Range of meaning

Lāḥak means 'to lick' or 'lick up': an ox licking up grass (Numbers 22:4), fire licking up water (1 Kings 18:38). ʿĀfār is dry, loose earth. It goes with lowliness (1 Samuel 2:8, 'raises the poor from the dust'), mourning (dust on the head), mortality ('dust you are', Genesis 3:19) and defeat. Together, 'lick the dust' is a fixed idiom for total, humiliating submission.

Against the English

All the major English versions keep 'lick the dust', which is good. But today's idiom 'bite the dust' means 'die', so readers may take the phrase as death or as a vague insult. The Hebrew picture is a living, defeated ruler lying flat with his face on the ground before the victor.

How it drifted

No real drift in translation. The cultural gesture behind the phrase is what has been forgotten.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 72:9: 'his enemies shall lick the dust' before the king. Isaiah 49:23: kings and queens 'lick the dust of your feet'. Ancient Near Eastern vassal ritual is the background. The Amarna letters (14th century BC) have Canaanite rulers writing to Pharaoh, 'at the feet of the king my lord seven times and seven times I fall'. Shalmaneser III's Black Obelisk shows Israel's king Jehu (or his envoy) kneeling with his face to the ground before the Assyrian king. Mesopotamian texts also speak of 'kissing the feet' or the ground before a ruler.

From the study of 1 Kings 18:38

Range of meaning

"To lick, lick up". It is used of an ox licking up grass (Num 22:4) and, in the figure of humiliation, of enemies or nations "licking the dust" (Ps 72:9; Isa 49:23; Mic 7:17).

Against the English

All the major English versions keep "licked up", which is good. NLT adds "It even…", which states the climax outright where the Hebrew shows it through word order.

Used elsewhere in the period

It is rare in the Hebrew Bible, and every use is a vivid physical picture. Hebrew also speaks of a "tongue of fire" (Isa 5:24), so a licking fire fits the idiom. This verb is different from the "lapping" (lāqaq) of the dogs in 1 Kgs 21:19 and 22:38.

Where it appears

Numbers · 2

  1. Numbers 22:4 יְלַחֲכ֤וּ כִּלְחֹ֣ךְ they will lick up, as licks up

    So the Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde will devour everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” Since Balak son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time,

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 18:38 לִחֵֽכָה׃ it licked up

    Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and it licked up the water in the trench.

    Here: The fire is pictured like a tongue licking a surface dry, the way an ox licks up grass (Num 22:4). The verb comes last and breaks the chain of "and it…" verbs. That gives the effect of a final punch: "and the water in the trench, it licked it up."

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 72:9 יְלַחֵֽכוּ׃ they will lick up

    May the nomads bow before him, and his enemies lick the dust.

    Here: The intensive form of the verb "to lick", used of an ox licking up grass (Num 22:4) and of fire licking up water (1 Kgs 18:38). It pictures enemies flat on their faces, mouths in the dirt: total, humiliating surrender. Like the first verb, it is best read as a wish.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 49:23 יְלַחֵ֑כוּ they will lick up

    Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow to you facedown and lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in Me will never be put to shame.”

    Here: 'Lick up', a verb also used of an ox cropping grass (Num 22:4). 'Licking the dust' is a set phrase for abject surrender (Ps 72:9; Mic 7:17). It is an exaggerated form of kissing the ground before a ruler.

Micah · 1

  1. Micah 7:17 יְלַחֲכ֤וּ they will lick up

    They will lick the dust like a snake, like reptiles slithering on the ground. They will come trembling from their strongholds in the presence of the LORD our God; they will tremble in fear of You.

    Here: An intensive verb form (Piel) for licking something up with the tongue. Used of enemies, it pictures people flat on the ground with their faces in the dirt. It is the posture of complete surrender, not a meal.

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