פֵּאָה

From the study of Jeremiah 9:26

Range of meaning

Corner, edge or side: the edge of a field (Lev 19:9, left for the poor), the side of a structure, the edge of a territory, and the 'corner' of the head or beard (Lev 19:27), meaning the hair at the temples and sideburns.

Against the English

The KJV's 'utmost corners' takes the word as remote edges of the land, i.e. far-off places. BSB, NASB, ESV, WEB and YLT take it as a haircut ('clip the hair of their temples', 'corners of their hair cut off').

How it drifted

This is an ambiguity, not drift over time: the same word means both 'edge of land' and 'side of the head'. The KJV chose the geographic sense, and its English 'utmost corners' sounds simply like 'the ends of the earth'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Leviticus 19:27 forbids Israelites to 'round the corner (peʾah) of your head' or 'destroy the corner of your beard', usually explained as a ban on hair practices tied to foreign cults or mourning rites. The phrase 'clipped of corner' appears again only in Jer 25:23 (with Dedan, Tema and Buz) and 49:32 (with Kedar and Hazor), always for Arabian tribes. The Greek historian Herodotus (Histories 3.8) reports that Arabs cut their hair in a ring and shaved the temples in honour of their god. The Greek Septuagint also reads a haircut here ('everyone who shaves around the face').

From the study of Leviticus 21:5

Range of meaning

Side, edge, border, corner. It is used for the sides of the tabernacle and of land (Exod 26:18; Num 34:3), the edge of a field (Lev 19:9; 23:22), the 'corner' of the head (Lev 19:27), and the edge of the beard (Lev 13:41 is related; 19:27; 21:5).

Against the English

KJV 'corner' sounds like a right angle, which a beard does not have. BSB/ESV/NASB 'edges' is clearer. A paraphrase that bans trimming the beard at all goes beyond the Hebrew.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lev 19:27 has the parallel ban for all Israel ('you shall not destroy the edge of your beard'). Rabbinic law (Mishnah Makkot 3:5; Sifra on Lev 19:27) found five 'corners' of the beard and banned shaving them with a razor, but allowed scissors. The same word for the corner of the head is the basis for the side-locks (payot) worn in some Jewish communities. The Septuagint renders it 'the appearance (face) of the beard'.

From the study of Numbers 24:17

Range of meaning

pēʾâ: side, edge, corner, border. In the form for pairs, applied to a head: the temples (Lev 19:27, 'the corners of your head'; Jer 9:26).

Against the English

KJV 'corners of Moab' sounds like the borders of a territory. NIV ('foreheads'), ESV ('forehead') and BSB ('skulls') rightly see a head. The Hebrew is precise: both temples, crushed as if in a vise or by one blow across the head.

How it drifted

KJV translated literally. Over time 'corners' came to sound only geographic to English readers.

Used elsewhere in the period

Jeremiah 48:45 reuses the line: fire 'devours the temple (pəʾat) of Moab and the crown of the head (qodqod) of the sons of tumult'. Smashing the enemy's head is standard royal imagery, from the Egyptian king raising a mace over a kneeling foe (the Narmer Palette) to Psalms 68:21 and 110:6, which use the same verb māḥaṣ.