שְׂחֹק

Job 8:21 שְׂח֣וֹק laughter

He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with a shout of joy.

Here: Here it means glad, carefree laughter, the sound of a life put right. The same noun can also mean mockery, and Job later uses it that way about himself (12:4: 'I am a laughingstock'). That gives Bildad's promise an ironic edge.

Job 12:4 שְׂחֹ֤ק שְׂ֝ח֗וֹק a laughingstock, [is] a laughingstock

I am a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God, and He answered. The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock.

Here: The plain noun 'laughter', used here for the thing people laugh at. Job does not say he is laughed at now and then. He says he has become the laughter itself, a standing joke. It opens the verse, and the same word returns in the second line, so the complaint is framed by it at both ends.

Psalm 126:2 שְׂח֡וֹק laughter

Then our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with shouts of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”

Here: Out-loud laughter, here the laughter of people who can hardly believe their good fortune. The same word elsewhere names Israel as the nations' 'laughingstock' (Lam 3:14), so the laughter now belongs to them, not to their mockers.

Proverbs 10:23 כִּשְׂח֣וֹק [is] like sport

The fool delights in shameful conduct, but a man of understanding has wisdom.

Proverbs 14:13 בִּשְׂח֥וֹק in laughter

Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in sorrow.

Ecclesiastes 2:2 לִשְׂח֖וֹק of laughter

I said of laughter, “It is folly,” and of pleasure, “What does it accomplish?”

Ecclesiastes 7:3 מִשְּׂחֹ֑ק more than laughter

Sorrow is better than laughter, for a sad countenance is good for the heart.

Here: 'Than laughter', with the comparative prefix 'mi-'. This is party laughter, the noise of the 'house of feasting' (v. 2). Verse 6 compares the fool's laughter to thorns crackling under a pot.

Ecclesiastes 7:6 שְׂחֹ֣ק [the] laughter of

For like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This too is futile.

Ecclesiastes 10:19 לִשְׂחוֹק֙ for laughter

A feast is prepared for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money is the answer for everything.

Here: Placed first for emphasis: it is *for laughter* that the meal is made. In Ecclesiastes 'laughter' is often viewed warily (2:2; 7:3, 6), so the word can carry a hint of frivolity as well as plain fun.

Jeremiah 20:7 לִשְׂחוֹק֙ <into> a laughing stock

You have deceived me, O LORD, and I was deceived. You have overcome me and prevailed. I am a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.

Here: With the preposition 'into/as': 'into a laughingstock'. Here it is scornful laughter aimed at a person. In an honour-based society this is public shame.

Jeremiah 48:26 לִשְׂחֹ֖ק <into> a laughing stock

“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: 'Into a laughing matter', meaning an object of mockery. The same word starts the next verse: 'Was not Israel a laughingstock (haśśeḥoq) to you?' Moab gets back exactly what it gave out.

Jeremiah 48:27 הַשְּׂחֹ֗ק the laughing stock

Was not Israel your object of ridicule? Was he ever found among thieves? For whenever you speak of him you shake your head.

Jeremiah 48:39 לִשְׂחֹ֥ק <into> a laughing stock

“How shattered it is! How they wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! Moab has become an object of ridicule and horror to all those around him.”

Lamentations 3:14 שְּׂחֹק֙ a laughingstock

I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.