Hebrew word · H8308

שָׂרַךְ

mesarekhet

to twist

It occurs only here in the Bible. HALOT and BDB connect it with śərôk, 'sandal-thong, lace' (Genesis 14:23). The meaning is 'to twist, interlace, entangle'. Here it describes running back and forth so that the tracks cross and recross. In the Piel form it is intensive: thoroughly tangling up.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to twist

1a) (Piel) to criss-cross, twist, entangle

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 Jeremiah 2:23

Range of meaning

It occurs only here in the Bible. HALOT and BDB connect it with śərôk, 'sandal-thong, lace' (Genesis 14:23). The meaning is 'to twist, interlace, entangle'. Here it describes running back and forth so that the tracks cross and recross. In the Piel form it is intensive: thoroughly tangling up.

Against the English

KJV and WEB have 'traversing her ways', which sounds like a purposeful crossing. YLT 'winding her ways' is closer. NASB 'entangling her ways' keeps the root's picture. BSB and NIV give 'galloping / running here and there', which conveys the movement but loses the image of lacing and tangling.

How it drifted

In the KJV's day 'traverse' could mean to move crosswise or zigzag. Today it means simply 'to cross', so the zigzag sense is lost.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 14:23 (śərôk naʿal, 'sandal-strap'). In later Hebrew and Aramaic, words from śrk mean 'to cling, to entangle'.

Where it appears

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 2:23 מְשָׂרֶ֥כֶת entwining

    “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? Look at your behavior in the valley; acknowledge what you have done. You are a swift young she-camel galloping here and there,

    Here: 'Criss-crossing, tangling up.' The root is connected with a sandal-thong (Genesis 14:23), something threaded and laced. The camel's tracks loop over one another like laced thongs, with no straight line anywhere.

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