Hebrew word · H7085

קַעֲקַע

ka'aka'

incision

Appears only here, and its origin is unclear. Lexicons (HALOT, BDB) give 'incision, tattoo'. Ancient witnesses agree it is a mark made into the skin: the Septuagint has 'grammata stikta', 'pricked letters', and the Vulgate has 'stigmata'.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

incision, imprintment, tattoo, mark

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 19:28

Range of meaning

Appears only here, and its origin is unclear. Lexicons (HALOT, BDB) give 'incision, tattoo'. Ancient witnesses agree it is a mark made into the skin: the Septuagint has 'grammata stikta', 'pricked letters', and the Vulgate has 'stigmata'.

Against the English

BSB/NIV 'tattoo marks', ESV 'tattoo yourselves', NJPS 'incise any marks', KJV 'print any marks'. 'Tattoo' is a fair translation of the method, but it brings modern associations (see drift).

How it drifted

The modern word 'tattoo' came into English from Polynesian (Tahitian 'tatau') in the 1700s. Today it suggests decorative personal art. The ancient marks we know of were mostly signs of ownership, dedication to a god or mourning.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Mishnah (Makkot 3:6), the Jewish legal code compiled about AD 200, defines the offence as writing and incising together, with ink, kohl or any lasting pigment. Only that combination counts. In the same passage, one rabbi held that liability applied only if the name of a deity was written, reading the closing 'I am the LORD' as a clue. Maimonides (Avodat Kokhavim 12:11) explains it as a custom of idol-worshippers who marked themselves for their gods. Tattooed female mummies from Egypt show the practice was ancient in the region. 3 Macc 2:29 tells of Jews being forcibly branded with Dionysus's ivy-leaf.

Where it appears

Leviticus · 1

  1. Leviticus 19:28 קַֽעֲקַ֔ע an incision

    You must not make any cuts in your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.

    Here: Also found only here, with uncertain origin. Together with the previous word it means 'an inscription made by incising': marks pricked or cut into the skin. Ancient Jewish tradition and the Greek translation take it as tattooing with pigment.

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