Hebrew word · H5478
סוּחָה
kasuchah
offal
Found only here. It is generally linked to the root sḥh, 'to scrape or sweep away' (Ezek 26:4, 'I will scrape her soil from her'). Hence 'sweepings, refuse, offal': the household filth thrown into the street.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
offal
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
- Range of meaning
Found only here. It is generally linked to the root sḥh, 'to scrape or sweep away' (Ezek 26:4, 'I will scrape her soil from her'). Hence 'sweepings, refuse, offal': the household filth thrown into the street.
- Against the English
Most modern versions: 'refuse.' KJV: 'torn,' an older guess that treats the word as a verb of tearing. The KJV's own margin offers 'as dung,' which is closer to the modern consensus.
- How it drifted
Not drift. The KJV rendering came from uncertainty about a word that occurs only here.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Ancient translations read it as filth: the Greek Septuagint has 'like dung' (κοπρία), the Latin Vulgate quasi stercus ('like dung'). Jer 9:22 and 16:4 use the parallel image of corpses lying 'like dung (dōmen) on the face of the ground.'
Where it appears
Isaiah · 1
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Isaiah 5:25 כַּסּוּחָ֖ה like <the> offal
Therefore the anger of the LORD burns against His people; His hand is raised against them to strike them down. The mountains quake, and the corpses lie like refuse in the streets. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.
Here: 'Like the refuse.' A rare word, probably from a root meaning 'to sweep or scrape away' (compare Ezek 26:4): the filth swept out of houses into the lane. The dead lie in the street like garbage.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.