Hebrew word · H5533

סָכַן

hamsukan

to endanger

As vocalized, this is a passive (Pual) participle of a root sakan meaning 'to be poor'. The root is rare and this form occurs only here. Hebrew has related words for poverty: miskēn, 'poor man' (Eccl 4:13; 9:15), and miskenut, 'scarcity' (Deut 8:9).

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to incur danger

1a) (Niphal) to endanger oneself

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 Isaiah 40:20

Range of meaning

As vocalized, this is a passive (Pual) participle of a root sakan meaning 'to be poor'. The root is rare and this form occurs only here. Hebrew has related words for poverty: miskēn, 'poor man' (Eccl 4:13; 9:15), and miskenut, 'scarcity' (Deut 8:9). Those come by a different route, through Akkadian muškēnu, a dependent or lower-class person. A separate root sakan means 'to be endangered' (Eccl 10:9). The alternative view treats the consonants מסכן (mskn) as a loanword from Akkadian musukkannu (Sumerian giš-mes-má-gan-na, 'mēsu-tree of Magan'). This was a prized, durable hardwood brought into Mesopotamia from the Gulf region and used for temple fittings, furniture and cult objects. Many identify it with Dalbergia sissoo (sissoo or Indian rosewood). Older works and some translations call it 'mulberry'.

Against the English

KJV, ESV, NASB, WEB and BSB follow the vowel-pointing: someone 'too impoverished' or 'lacking' an offering. NRSV and NJPS follow the loanword theory and name a tree ('mulberry'). The Septuagint skips the phrase altogether.

Used elsewhere in the period

Akkadian texts often mention musukkannu wood as a high-value timber for royal and temple building. Neo-Babylonian inscriptions are part of the world of the exiles. Heinrich Zimmern proposed the link to Hebrew early in the 20th century, and lexicons such as HALOT record it. The ancient versions disagree: the Septuagint has nothing for it, and the medieval Jewish commentators read 'poor'.

Where it appears

Ecclesiastes · 1

  1. Ecclesiastes 10:9 יִסָּ֥כֶן he will be endangered

    The one who quarries stones may be injured by them, and he who splits logs endangers himself.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 40:20 הַֽמְסֻכָּ֣ן the impoverished [person]

    One lacking such an offering chooses wood that will not rot. He seeks a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple.

    Here: As the Masoretes vowel-pointed it, a passive form: 'the one who has been impoverished', meaning someone too poor for the gold-and-silver idol of v. 19. Many scholars instead see a loanword for a prized hardwood (Akkadian musukkannu), which would make it the wood the man chooses. The word occurs only here and is the crux of the verse.

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