Hebrew word · H8296

שֶׂ֫רֶט

veseret

incision

A cut, slash or gash in the skin. The root ś-r-ṭ means to scratch, slash or lacerate. The noun appears only here. A related form, śāreṭet, appears in Lev 21:5, where priests 'shall not cut cuttings in their flesh'. The verb in Zech 12:3 describes people who are 'severely gashed'.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

incision, cut

Also means: sa.re.tet (שָׂרֶ֫טֶת "incision" H8296B)

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

A cut, slash or gash in the skin. The root ś-r-ṭ means to scratch, slash or lacerate. The noun appears only here. A related form, śāreṭet, appears in Lev 21:5, where priests 'shall not cut cuttings in their flesh'. The verb in Zech 12:3 describes people who are 'severely gashed'.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'cuttings', BSB/NIV 'cuts', NJPS 'gashes'. 'Gashes' best conveys open, bleeding slashes, not a small nick.

Used elsewhere in the period

Self-gashing as mourning or ritual appears across the Bible and its world. Deut 14:1 says 'you shall not gash yourselves (titgodedu)... for the dead'. Jer 16:6, 41:5, 47:5 and 48:37 show it was practised by Israelites and neighbours, and Jeremiah treats it as the normal sign of grief. In 1 Kgs 18:28 Baal's prophets gash themselves to rouse their god. In the Ugaritic Baal myth (KTU 1.5 VI), the god El mourns Baal by gashing his cheeks and chin and 'ploughing' his arm. Ugarit was a Canaanite city of about 1200 BC.

Where it appears

Leviticus · 2

  1. Leviticus 19:28 וְשֶׂ֣רֶט and cut[s]

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

    Here: A cut or slash in the skin. The noun appears only here; related words in Lev 21:5 and Zech 12:3 describe gashing or being badly wounded. It names the self-inflicted cuts that were a recognised way of mourning.

  2. Leviticus 21:5 שָׂרָֽטֶת׃ cut[s]

    Priests must not make bald spots on their heads, shave off the edges of their beards, or make cuts in their bodies.

    Here: The object again comes from the same root ('incise an incision'), naming the ritual gashing done in grief. This form appears only here. Lev 19:28 uses the related noun śereṭ, 'a gash for the dead'.

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