Hebrew word · H7822

שְׁחִין

shechin

boil

An inflamed, ulcerating skin lesion: boil, abscess, festering sore. It is probably related to a root meaning 'to be hot' (compare Aramaic and later Hebrew šḥn, 'be warm'), so the picture is a hot, angry sore.

Appears 13 times in 12 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) boil, inflamed spot, inflammation, eruption

1a) of man, leprosy, of man and beast

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 Deuteronomy 28:27

Range of meaning

An inflamed, ulcerating skin lesion: boil, abscess, festering sore. It is probably related to a root meaning 'to be hot' (compare Aramaic and later Hebrew šḥn, 'be warm'), so the picture is a hot, angry sore. It can be local (Hezekiah's single boil, 2 Kgs 20:7) or spread over the body (Job 2:7; Deut 28:35, 'from the sole of your foot to the top of your head').

Against the English

'Boil' (BSB, WEB) is fair but may sound minor to modern ears. 'Botch' (KJV) is an obsolete English word for an ulcer or eruptive sore. 'Ulcer' (YLT) captures the open, festering side.

How it drifted

'Botch' has dropped out of use for a sore. Today it only means a bungled job.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exod 9:9–11 (sixth plague: shḥin breaking out in blisters on people and animals in Egypt); Lev 13:18–23 (a healed shḥin that may turn into a scaly skin disease and needs a priest's inspection); Job 2:7; 2 Kgs 20:7 / Isa 38:21. The Greek translation (LXX) renders it helkos Aigyption, 'Egyptian ulcer'. The Latin Vulgate has ulcus Aegypti.

From the study of Job 2:7

Range of meaning

An inflamed skin lesion: a boil, ulcer or eruption. The root is probably connected to heat. Akkadian šaḫānu ('to become warm') is usually cited as related. The word can mean one lesion or, used as a group noun, a spreading skin disease.

Against the English

'Boil' to a modern reader means a single pus-filled lump in one spot. KJV 'sore boils' used 'sore' in its older sense of 'severe, grievous'. Here šəḥîn covers the whole body and goes with symptoms described later in the book: crusting and oozing skin with maggots (7:5), skin turning black and peeling, fever ('my bones burn with heat', 30:30), pain that gnaws at night (30:17), and a wasted body (19:20). ESV 'sores' and YLT 'ulcer' are a little closer to that.

How it drifted

Rendering it 'boils' narrows a body-wide, burning disease down to a few lumps.

Used elsewhere in the period

The sixth plague on Egypt, 'šəḥîn breaking out in blisters' (Exod 9:9–11). 'The šəḥîn of Egypt' in the covenant curses (Deut 28:27). Hezekiah's near-fatal šəḥîn, treated with a fig poultice (2 Kgs 20:7; Isa 38:21). A šəḥîn that has to be examined in the purity rules for skin disease (Lev 13:18–23).

Similar words

Where it appears

Exodus · 4

  1. Exodus 9:9 לִשְׁחִ֥ין <into> boil[s]

    It will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on man and beast throughout the land.”

  2. Exodus 9:10 שְׁחִין֙ boil[s]

    So they took soot from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on man and beast.

  3. Exodus 9:11 הַשְּׁחִ֑ין הַשְּׁחִ֔ין the boil[s]

    The magicians could not stand before Moses, because the boils had broken out on them and on all the Egyptians.

Leviticus · 4

  1. Leviticus 13:18 שְׁחִ֑ין a boil

    When a boil appears on someone’s skin and it heals,

  2. Leviticus 13:19 הַשְּׁחִין֙ the boil

    and a white swelling or a reddish-white spot develops where the boil was, he must present himself to the priest.

  3. Leviticus 13:20 בַּשְּׁחִ֥ין in the boil

    The priest shall examine it, and if it appears to be beneath the skin and the hair in it has turned white, the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a diseased infection that has broken out in the boil.

  4. Leviticus 13:23 הַשְּׁחִ֖ין the boil

    But if the spot remains unchanged and does not spread, it is only the scar from the boil, and the priest shall pronounce him clean.

Deuteronomy · 2

  1. Deuteronomy 28:27 בִּשְׁחִ֤ין with [the] boil[s] of

    The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors and scabs and itch from which you cannot be cured.

    Here: 'With the boil of…' An inflamed, hot skin eruption. It is the word for the sixth plague on Egypt (Exod 9:9–11) and for Job's sores (Job 2:7).

  2. Deuteronomy 28:35 בִּשְׁחִ֣ין with boil[s]

    The LORD will afflict you with painful, incurable boils on your knees and thighs, from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 20:7 הַשְּׁחִ֖ין the boil

    Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a poultice of figs.” So they brought it and applied it to the boil, and Hezekiah recovered.

Job · 1

  1. Job 2:7 בִּשְׁחִ֣ין with boil[s]

    So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

    Here: An inflamed, festering skin eruption. The root idea is 'hot'. The noun is singular, so it reads as one disease covering the whole body rather than a few separate boils. It is the same word used for the Egyptian plague (Exod 9:9–11) and for the covenant curse in Deut 28:27, 35.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 38:21 הַשְּׁחִ֖ין the boil

    Now Isaiah had said, “Prepare a lump of pressed figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”

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