Hebrew word · H6958

קִיא

taki'

to vomit

Literally to vomit (Prov 23:8; 25:16; Isa 19:14; 28:8; Jer 25:27). The causative form means to vomit something out or spew it out: the great fish 'vomited' Jonah onto dry land (Jonah 2:10), and the wicked man must 'vomit up' wealth he swallowed (Job 20:15).

Appears 8 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to vomit up, spue out, disgorge

1a) (Qal) to vomit

1b) (Hiphil) to vomit up

1b1) of land spewing out its inhabitants (fig)

1b2) vomiting, disgorging

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 Leviticus 18:25

Range of meaning

Literally to vomit (Prov 23:8; 25:16; Isa 19:14; 28:8; Jer 25:27). The causative form means to vomit something out or spew it out: the great fish 'vomited' Jonah onto dry land (Jonah 2:10), and the wicked man must 'vomit up' wealth he swallowed (Job 20:15).

Against the English

Most versions keep "vomit" (KJV, BSB, NIV, ESV, WEB, YLT). Older NASB has "spewed out." The softer "cast out" or "expel" found in some paraphrases loses the disgust in the image.

Used elsewhere in the period

The image appears only in the Holiness Code: Lev 18:25, 28 (twice); 20:22. It reverses the spies' slander that Canaan is "a land that devours its inhabitants" (Num 13:32). Here the land does not devour. It refuses to keep down people who defile it. The Septuagint softens the image (see textual notes).

From the study of Leviticus 20:22

Range of meaning

To vomit, throw up, spew out. Its literal uses are physical: a drunkard's vomit, or a stomach rejecting too much food. In its causative form it means to vomit something out, to expel it from the body.

Against the English

BSB, WEB and NIV say "vomit out," and NASB "spew out." These keep the crude bodily image. KJV "spue" is the same word in old spelling. Softer versions such as "expel" or "drive out" lose the picture of a body rejecting what poisons it.

Used elsewhere in the period
  • Holiness Code: Lev 18:25 ("the land vomited out its inhabitants"); 18:28, twice; 20:22.
  • Literal uses: Jonah 2:10 (2:11 in Hebrew), where the fish vomits Jonah onto dry land; Prov 23:8 and 25:16 (vomiting up food); Isa 19:14 and 28:8, plus Jer 25:27 (drunken vomiting).
  • Figurative: Job 20:15, where the wicked man swallows riches and vomits them up because God forces them out of his belly.
  • Greek translation: the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation, does not use a word for vomiting in the Leviticus passages. It uses prosochthizō, "be offended at, loathe," which softens the image (see textual notes).

From the study of Proverbs 25:16

Range of meaning

To vomit or spew out. In the causative form used here it means 'to vomit something up'. It is used literally for drunkards and over-eaters (Isaiah 19:14; Jeremiah 25:27; Proverbs 23:8) and figuratively for the land vomiting out its inhabitants (Leviticus 18:25–28; 20:22).

Against the English

All the major English versions keep the blunt 'vomit', and that is right. A few paraphrases soften it to 'make you sick'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Proverbs 23:8: 'the morsel you have eaten you will vomit up.' Job 20:15: the wicked 'swallow riches and vomit them up'.

Where it appears

Leviticus · 4

  1. Leviticus 18:25 וַתָּקִ֥א and it vomited up

    Even the land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants.

    Here: "And it vomited out." A crude bodily image chosen on purpose: the land is like a stomach that cannot keep down what it has taken in, and it throws it up. The causative form stresses that the land actively expels.

  2. Leviticus 18:28 תָקִ֤יא קָאָ֛ה it will vomit up, it vomited up

    So if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it spewed out the nations before you.

  3. Leviticus 20:22 תָקִ֤יא it will vomit up

    You are therefore to keep all My statutes and ordinances, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out.

    Here: "It will vomit out." The verb is in a causative form, and its feminine subject is "the land." This is a raw bodily picture: the land retches up residents it cannot keep down.

Job · 1

  1. Job 20:15 וַיְקִאֶ֑נּוּ and he has vomited up it

    He swallows wealth but vomits it out; God will force it from his stomach.

Proverbs · 2

  1. Proverbs 23:8 תְקִיאֶ֑נָּה you will vomit up it

    You will vomit up what little you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.

  2. Proverbs 25:16 וַהֲקֵֽאתֽוֹ׃ and you will vomit up it

    If you find honey, eat just what you need, lest you have too much and vomit it up.

    Here: 'And you vomit it up.' A blunt, physical ending: the very sweetness you wanted ends up thrown out of your body, so the pleasure is lost completely.

Jonah · 1

  1. Jonah 2:10 וַיָּקֵ֥א and it vomited up

    And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

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