Hebrew word · H8557
תֶּ֫מֶס
temes
melting
Found only here. It is formed from the root māsas, 'to melt, dissolve, lose strength'. The same root is used of hearts 'melting' in fear (Joshua 2:11; Deuteronomy 20:8) and of wax melting before fire (Psalm 68:2). It means either the act of dissolving ('a melting') or what is left by it ('slime').
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
dissolving, melting, melting (away)
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
- Range of meaning
Found only here. It is formed from the root māsas, 'to melt, dissolve, lose strength'. The same root is used of hearts 'melting' in fear (Joshua 2:11; Deuteronomy 20:8) and of wax melting before fire (Psalm 68:2). It means either the act of dissolving ('a melting') or what is left by it ('slime').
- Against the English
KJV and WEB say 'which melteth / melts', taking it as a description of the snail. BSB and ESV, with 'dissolves in/into its slime', bring out both senses. NASB and NIV, with 'melts away as it goes along', tie it to the verb 'goes'.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Its root māsas is common: Psalm 22:14 ('my heart is like wax; it is melted'), Psalm 68:2, Micah 1:4. 'Melting' was a stock biblical picture for strength draining away.
Where it appears
Psalms · 1
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Psalm 58:8 תֶּ֣מֶס [which] melting away
Like a slug that dissolves in its slime, like a woman’s stillborn child, may they never see the sun.
Here: Another word found only here. It is a noun from the root māsas, 'to melt, dissolve'. It says how the snail goes: in a state of melting. Some take it to mean the slime itself. Either way, the snail's movement is pictured as its own wasting away.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.