Hebrew word · H819

אַשְׁמָה

'ashmah

guiltiness

Guilt as an objective condition: culpability, the liability created by wrongdoing, especially a breach of what belongs to God. It is closely related to ʾāšām, the 'reparation' or 'guilt offering' of Leviticus 5–7, which paid off exactly this kind of liability (HALOT, BDB s.v.).

Appears 19 times in 17 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) guiltiness, guilt, offense, sin, wrong-doing

1a) doing wrong, committing a trespass or offense

1b) becoming guilty, guilt

1c) bringing a guilt-offering

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 2 Chronicles 33:23

Range of meaning

Guilt as an objective condition: culpability, the liability created by wrongdoing, especially a breach of what belongs to God. It is closely related to ʾāšām, the 'reparation' or 'guilt offering' of Leviticus 5–7, which paid off exactly this kind of liability (HALOT, BDB s.v.).

Against the English

Modern 'guilt' often means a feeling: a bad conscience or a sense of shame. ʾašmāh is the debt itself, which exists whether or not the guilty person feels anything. KJV and WEB ('trespassed more and more') turn the noun into repeated actions. That keeps the idea of escalation but loses the picture of liability accumulating.

How it drifted

Popular psychology has shifted the English word 'guilt' toward an inner emotion. The biblical word is relational and legal, close to standing liable before a court or creditor.

Used elsewhere in the period

Mostly found in late books: Leviticus (4:3; 5:24; 22:16), then Chronicles (1 Chr 21:3; 2 Chr 24:18; 28:10, 13; 33:23) and Ezra (9:6–7, 13, 15; 10:10, 19), where Israel's ʾašmāh 'has grown up to the heavens.' The nearest parallel is 2 Chr 28:13: 'to add to our sins and to our guilt… for our guilt is great.' The Septuagint usually translates it plēmmeleia, 'offence, fault' (literally a false note in music).

From the study of Amos 8:14

Range of meaning

Guilt, guiltiness, the state of being liable to penalty. It is related to asham, 'guilt; reparation offering' (Lev 5). It can refer to guilt incurred (Lev 4:3; Ezra 9:6), and in a cultic setting can lean toward what produces guilt.

Against the English

KJV, NIV and WEB say 'sin of Samaria'. BSB and NASB say 'guilt of Samaria'. ESV capitalises it as a title ('the Guilt of Samaria'), and NRSV prints a divine name ('Ashimah of Samaria'). 'Sin' makes it sound like general moral failure. The parallel lines ('your god, O Dan') show it refers to something people swore by: a cult object or deity.

How it drifted

In English 'sin' and 'guilt' became abstract inner moral states. Here the word names something concrete, an object of worship, given a contemptuous label. It is like the way prophets call idols 'shame' (boshet) or 'nothings' (elilim).

Used elsewhere in the period

2 Kings 17:30 records that settlers from Hamath brought to Samaria a god named Ashima (אֲשִׁימָא). The Elephantine papyri (5th century BC, Egypt) name a deity Ashim-Bethel worshipped by a Jewish-Aramean colony. The Septuagint renders 'by the propitiation (hilasmos) of Samaria', taking the word in its sacrificial sense. The Kuntillet Ajrud inscriptions (c. 800 BC) bless by 'YHWH of Samaria and his asherah', which is why some read 'Asherah of Samaria' here. Hosea 8:5–6 and 10:5 speak of 'the calf of Samaria'.

From the study of 2 Chronicles 24:18

Range of meaning

Guilt, meaning a state of liability or culpability incurred by a wrong, especially against what belongs to God. It is related to ʾāšām, the 'guilt/reparation offering' of Lev 5:14–6:7, and to the verb ʾāšam, 'to become guilty / incur liability / suffer the consequences'.

Against the English

BSB and ESV have 'this guilt of theirs'; WEB has 'guiltiness'; KJV has 'trespass'; YLT has 'guilt'; NLT has 'sin'. Modern 'guilt' leans toward the inner feeling, which is not the point. 'Sin' is too general. KJV's 'trespass' (offence) was accurate in 1611 but now suggests entering private property.

How it drifted

Modern English 'guilt' has moved toward the psychological sense, 'feeling guilty'. In older law and in the Hebrew, guilt is an objective condition: a debt owed whether or not anyone feels it.

Used elsewhere in the period

The word is concentrated in late books: 1 Chr 21:3; 2 Chr 24:18; 28:10, 13 ('our guilt is great, and there is fierce wrath on Israel'); 33:23; Ezra 9:6–7, 13, 15; 10:10, 19. In the priestly system an ʾāšām arises from 'sacrilege' (maʿal) against holy things and calls for reparation (Milgrom).

Where it appears

Leviticus · 4

  1. Leviticus 4:3 לְאַשְׁמַ֣ת to [the] guilt of

    If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the LORD a young bull without blemish as a sin offering for the sin he has committed.

    Here: 'To the guilt of' or 'so that guilt falls on'. The high priest's error makes the whole people liable, and they suffer its consequences.

  2. Leviticus 6:5 אַשְׁמָתֽוֹ׃ guilt his

    or anything else about which he has sworn falsely. He must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value, and pay it to the owner on the day he acknowledges his guilt.

  3. Leviticus 6:7 לְאַשְׁמָ֥ה to guilt

    In this way the priest will make atonement for him before the LORD, and he will be forgiven for anything he may have done to incur guilt.”

    Here: 'So as to incur guilt': the act puts the person under a real liability. He owes a debt to his neighbour and to God, and it has to be repaid. The word shares its root with the 'asham, the reparation offering of v. 6.

  4. Leviticus 22:16 אַשְׁמָ֔ה guilt

    by allowing the people to eat the sacred offerings and thus to bear the punishment for guilt. For I am the LORD who sanctifies them.”

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 21:3 לְאַשְׁמָ֖ה <into> guilt

    But Joab replied, “May the LORD multiply His troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all servants of my lord? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”

2 Chronicles · 6

  1. 2 Chronicles 24:18 בְּאַשְׁמָתָ֖ם in guilt their

    They abandoned the house of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and idols. So wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.

    Here: The prefix be- here means 'because of'. 'Ashmah' is guilt as an objective liability, a debt owed to God for violating what is his, rather than a feeling. The Chronicler uses it often for collective guilt that brings wrath.

  2. 2 Chronicles 28:10 אֲשָׁמ֔וֹת [are] guilt<s>

    And now you intend to reduce to slavery the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem. But are you not also guilty before the LORD your God?

  3. 2 Chronicles 28:13 לְאַשְׁמַ֨ת אַשְׁמָתֵ֑ינוּ אַשְׁמָה֙ to [the] guilt of, guilt our, guilt

    “You must not bring the captives here,” they said, “for you are proposing to bring guilt upon us from the LORD and to add to our sins and our guilt. For our guilt is great, and fierce anger is upon Israel.”

  4. 2 Chronicles 33:23 אַשְׁמָֽה׃ guilt

    but he did not humble himself before the LORD as his father Manasseh had done; instead, Amon increased his guilt.

    Here: Guilt as an objective standing: the liability and debt of a wrong against God that calls for consequence or reparation. It is not a feeling. A favourite word of the Chronicler for the guilt that brings disaster on king and nation.

Ezra · 6

  1. Ezra 9:6 וְאַשְׁמָתֵ֥נוּ and guilt our

    and said: “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, because our iniquities are higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached the heavens.

    Here: Guilt as liability: a debt owed for wronging what belongs to God, which must be put right. This is the key word of Ezra 9–10 (9:7, 13, 15; 10:10, 19).

  2. Ezra 9:7 בְּאַשְׁמָ֣ה [have been] in guilt

    From the days of our fathers to this day, our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities, we and our kings and priests have been delivered into the hands of the kings of the earth and subjected to the sword and to captivity, to pillage and humiliation, as we are this day.

    Here: 'In guilt': guilt pictured as a condition you live inside, an objective liability that is owed, not a feeling. It picks up 'our guilt has grown up to the heavens' from v. 6.

  3. Ezra 9:13 וּבְאַשְׁמָתֵ֖נוּ and by guilt our

    After all that has come upon us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt (though You, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have given us such a remnant as this),

    Here: 'And because of our guilt': the state of standing liable before God, a debt that has to be answered for. It is the key word of Ezra's prayer (9:6, 7, 13, 15).

  4. Ezra 9:15 בְּאַשְׁמָתֵ֔ינוּ in guilt our

    O LORD, God of Israel, You are righteous! For we remain this day as a remnant. Here we are before You in our guilt, though because of it no one can stand before You.”

    Here: 'In our guilt': standing inside a condition of owing a penalty for wrong done, not just feeling bad. This word runs all through Ezra's prayer (9:6, 7, 13) and the following chapter (10:10, 19).

  5. Ezra 10:10 אַשְׁמַ֥ת [the] guilt of

    Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful by marrying foreign women, adding to the guilt of Israel.

  6. Ezra 10:19 אַשְׁמָתָֽם׃ ס guilt their

    They pledged to send their wives away, and for their guilt they presented a ram from the flock as a guilt offering.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 69:5 וְ֝אַשְׁמוֹתַ֗י and guilt<s> my

    You know my folly, O God, and my guilt is not hidden from You.

Amos · 1

  1. Amos 8:14 בְּאַשְׁמַ֣ת by [the] guilt of

    Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria and say, ‘As surely as your god lives, O Dan,’ or, ‘As surely as the way of Beersheba lives’—they will fall, never to rise again.”

    Here: 'By the guilt of', most likely a mocking name for the cult object of the northern kingdom (the calf image, or a goddess figure) rather than abstract wrongdoing. It is probably also a pun on the divine name Ashimah. An oath is normally sworn 'by' a god; here the god is called 'Guilt'.

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