Hebrew word · H5606

סָפַק

sefok

to slap

To clap, slap, or strike. Usually it is the hands: clapping in anger (Num 24:10), in scorn (Lam 2:15; Job 27:23), striking the thigh in grief (Jer 31:19; Ezek 21:12). BDB and HALOT also list a meaning like 'splash' or 'fall with a slap' for this verse only.

Appears 10 times in 10 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to clap, slap

1a)(Qal)

1a1) to slap, clap

1a2) to slap, chastise

1a3) to splash, throw up

1b) (Hiphil) to cause to clap

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 Jeremiah 48:26

Range of meaning

To clap, slap, or strike. Usually it is the hands: clapping in anger (Num 24:10), in scorn (Lam 2:15; Job 27:23), striking the thigh in grief (Jer 31:19; Ezek 21:12). BDB and HALOT also list a meaning like 'splash' or 'fall with a slap' for this verse only.

Against the English

Nearly all English versions have 'wallow'. YLT has 'hath stricken'. 'Wallow' gives the picture of rolling about slowly. The Hebrew sounds more like a hard, noisy smack: the drunk hits the ground and splashes into his own vomit.

How it drifted

'Wallow' goes back to the King James tradition and is a reasonable sense translation. But it loses the 'clap/slap' sound of the verb, and with it a possible irony.

Used elsewhere in the period

Num 24:10: Balak, king of Moab, 'clapped (wayyispoq) his hands' in fury at Balaam because Balaam blessed Israel instead of cursing it. Lam 2:15: passers-by 'clap (safqu) their hands' at fallen Jerusalem. The Septuagint here seems to have Moab striking 'with his hand', and the Latin Vulgate also brings in the hand. Both suggest that early translators heard the clapping sense.

From the study of Isaiah 2:6

Range of meaning

(1) To clap or strike the hands, whether in scorn (Job 27:23; Lam 2:15), in anger (Num 24:10), or to seal an agreement. (2) A separate, homonymous root, well known in Aramaic, means 'to suffice, be plentiful' (1 Kgs 20:10).

Against the English

'Strike hands' (BSB, YLT, ESV), 'clasp hands' (WEB), 'strike bargains' (NASB), 'embrace pagan customs' (NIV), 'made alliances' (NLT), 'please themselves' (KJV, following sense 2, 'find satisfaction in').

How it drifted

KJV's 'please themselves in the children of strangers' sounds sexual to modern readers. The translators meant 'are content with / take satisfaction in', based on the 'suffice' root.

Used elsewhere in the period

Striking hands to seal a pledge is well attested in Proverbs (6:1; 17:18; 22:26), though there with the verb tāqaʿ. The LXX's 'many foreign children were born to them' reflects reading the 'abound' root. Sāpaq written with sin (śāpaq) is a known spelling variant.

From the study of Jeremiah 31:19

Range of meaning

Safaq means to clap or slap: clapping hands in scorn (Job 27:23; Lamentations 2:15, spelled with s) or slapping the thigh. 'Slapping the thigh' was a fixed gesture of grief, alarm and remorse.

Against the English

KJV 'smote upon my thigh' and WEB 'struck my thigh' are literal. BSB adds 'in grief' so the reader does not misread it. NIV swaps in a familiar gesture of remorse, 'beat my breast'. NLT turns it into a modern idiom of kicking oneself.

How it drifted

In modern Western culture, slapping your thigh (or knee) signals hilarity. In the ancient world the same gesture signalled anguish.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ezekiel 21:12 (Hebrew 21:17): 'Cry out and wail… therefore strike your thigh (sefoq el-yarekh),' as a sign of grief over coming slaughter. The gesture is also found in Greek epic: Achilles 'struck his thighs' in alarm (Iliad 16.125), and Patroclus groans and strikes his thighs (Iliad 15.397). It was a common way across the ancient Mediterranean to show shock and distress.

Where it appears

Numbers · 1

  1. Numbers 24:10 וַיִּסְפֹּ֖ק and he clapped

    Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his hands together and said to Balaam, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have persisted in blessing them these three times.

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 20:10 יִשְׂפֹּק֙ it will suffice

    Then Ben-hadad sent another message to Ahab: “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if enough dust remains of Samaria for each of my men to have a handful.”

    Here: 'Will be enough'. The verb is rare in Biblical Hebrew but common in Aramaic, the language Ben-hadad actually spoke. The point is that there won't be enough to go round.

Job · 3

  1. Job 27:23 יִשְׂפֹּ֣ק someone will clap

    It claps its hands at him and hisses him out of his place.

  2. Job 34:26 סְפָקָ֗ם he slaps them

    He strikes them for their wickedness in full view,

  3. Job 34:37 יִסְפּ֑וֹק he claps

    For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.”

    Here: 'He claps', with 'hands' understood. This is a gesture of contempt or defiance, not applause (compare 27:23; Numbers 24:10; Lamentations 2:15). It echoes 34:26, where God 'strikes' (same verb) the wicked in public.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 2:6 יַשְׂפִּֽיקוּ׃ they clap hands

    For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with influences from the east; they are soothsayers like the Philistines; they strike hands with the children of foreigners.

    Here: Most likely 'they strike hands', meaning they seal deals, pacts or friendships with foreigners. Another possible root gives 'they abound in / are well supplied with' (behind the KJV 'please themselves' and the LXX 'many foreign children'). Either way, Judah is entangled with foreigners.

Jeremiah · 2

  1. Jeremiah 31:19 סָפַ֖קְתִּי I slapped

    After I returned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

    Here: 'I slapped': a sharp, audible blow with the hand.

  2. Jeremiah 48:26 וְסָפַ֤ק and it will splash

    “Make him drunk, because he has magnified himself against the LORD; so Moab will wallow in his own vomit, and he will also become a laughingstock.

    Here: Elsewhere this verb is used for clapping or slapping the hands, often in anger or scorn (Num 24:10; Lam 2:15; Job 27:23). Here the drunk Moab 'slaps' or 'splashes' down into his own vomit: a sudden, loud, humiliating fall, not a slow roll. The form looks to the future: 'and Moab will...'

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 2:15 סָֽפְק֨וּ they have clapped

    All who pass by clap their hands at you in scorn. They hiss and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?”

    Here: “They have slapped/struck.” The verse's first word, beginning with samekh, the fifteenth letter in this alphabetic poem. Striking the hands together is a gesture, not applause.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 21:12 סְפֹ֥ק slap

    Cry out and wail, O son of man, for the sword is wielded against My people; it is against all the princes of Israel! They are tossed to the sword with My people; therefore strike your thigh.

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