Hebrew word · H7193

קַשְׂקֶ֫שֶׂת

vekaskeset

scale

'Scale(s)', the overlapping plates on a fish. It is also used of scale armour: Goliath wears shiryon qasqassim, 'a coat of scales' (1 Sam 17:5). In Ezek 29:4 it describes the scales of Pharaoh pictured as a great river creature.

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

What it means

scale (of fish, water animals)

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 11:12

Range of meaning

'Scale(s)', the overlapping plates on a fish. It is also used of scale armour: Goliath wears shiryon qasqassim, 'a coat of scales' (1 Sam 17:5). In Ezek 29:4 it describes the scales of Pharaoh pictured as a great river creature.

Against the English

English 'scales' is accurate. The armour usage shows that Hebrew speakers pictured something visibly plated and protective. Smooth or slimy skin would not count.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Lev 11 and Deut 14 the fin-and-scale test appears as a fixed pair. Later rabbinic law required scales that can be removed from the skin. That is a later refinement, not part of the biblical wording.

Where it appears

Leviticus · 3

  1. Leviticus 11:9 וְקַשְׂקֶ֜שֶׂת and scale

    Of all the creatures that live in the water, whether in the seas or in the streams, you may eat anything with fins and scales.

  2. Leviticus 11:10 וְקַשְׂקֶ֗שֶׂת and scale

    But the following among all the teeming life and creatures in the water are detestable to you: everything in the seas or streams that does not have fins and scales.

  3. Leviticus 11:12 וְקַשְׂקֶ֖שֶׂת and scale

    Everything in the water that does not have fins and scales shall be detestable to you.

    Here: Scales. The same word describes the overlapping plates of Goliath's armour (1 Sam 17:5). The pair 'fin and scale' works as a single test: a permitted creature must have both. Lacking either one puts it on the forbidden side.

Deuteronomy · 2

  1. Deuteronomy 14:9 וְקַשְׂקֶ֖שֶׂת and scale

    Of all the creatures that live in the water, you may eat anything with fins and scales,

  2. Deuteronomy 14:10 וְקַשְׂקֶ֖שֶׂת and scale

    but you may not eat anything that does not have fins and scales; it is unclean for you.

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 17:5 קַשְׂקַשִּׂ֖ים scales

    and he had a bronze helmet on his head. He wore a bronze coat of mail weighing five thousand shekels,

Ezekiel · 2

  1. Ezekiel 29:4 בְּקַשְׂקְשֹׂתֶ֑יךָ בְּקַשְׂקְשֹׂתֶ֖יךָ to scales your

    But I will put hooks in your jaws and cause the fish of your streams to cling to your scales. I will haul you up out of your rivers, and all the fish of your streams will cling to your scales.

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