Hebrew word · H6892

קִיא

ki'

vomit

Vomit, what is thrown up. It is related to the verb qiʾ, 'to vomit', which is also used for the land 'vomiting out' its inhabitants (Lev 18:25, 28).

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

vomit, what is vomited up

Also means: qe (קֵא "vomit" H6892A)

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

Vomit, what is thrown up. It is related to the verb qiʾ, 'to vomit', which is also used for the land 'vomiting out' its inhabitants (Lev 18:25, 28).

Against the English

All versions render it 'vomit'. Some soften it to 'his own vomit'. The crudeness is intentional.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 19:14 ('as a drunkard staggers in his vomit'); Isa 28:8 (priests' and prophets' tables 'full of vomit'); Jer 25:27 ('vomit' as part of the cup of wrath); Prov 26:11.

Where it appears

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 26:11 קֵא֑וֹ own vomit its

    As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.

    Here: A rare, blunt word for vomit, with the suffix 'its own'. The dog goes back to what came out of its own body, the very thing it had got rid of.

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 19:14 בְּקִיאֽוֹ׃ in vomit his

    The LORD has poured into her a spirit of confusion. Egypt has been led astray in all she does, as a drunkard staggers through his own vomit.

    Here: "In his (own) vomit." A deliberately disgusting final image: the drunk is not only lost but slipping and wallowing in his own mess. Egypt's prestige ends in humiliation.

  2. Isaiah 28:8 קִ֣יא vomit

    For all their tables are covered with vomit; there is not a place without filth.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 48:26 בְּקִיא֔וֹ in vomit its

    “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: 'In his vomit'. The word is blunt and disgusting on purpose. Compare Isa 19:14 ('as a drunkard staggers in his vomit') and Jer 25:27 ('drink, get drunk, vomit, fall').

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