Hebrew word · H8562

תַּמְרוּק

tamrik

cosmetic

Both nouns come from the verb māraq, "to scour, polish, rub clean." The verb is used for scouring a bronze pot after a sacrifice (Lev 6:28) and for polishing spears (Jer 46:4). The nouns name the act of rubbing and scrubbing, and then the preparations used for it: ointments, scrubs and cosmetics.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) a scraping, rubbing

2) (CLBL) remedy (for an injury)

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 Esther 2:12

Range of meaning

Both nouns come from the verb māraq, "to scour, polish, rub clean." The verb is used for scouring a bronze pot after a sacrifice (Lev 6:28) and for polishing spears (Jer 46:4). The nouns name the act of rubbing and scrubbing, and then the preparations used for it: ointments, scrubs and cosmetics. Tamrûq appears in Esther 2:3, 9, 12 and, in a related form, in Prov 20:30 ("blows that wound scour away evil"). Mārûq occurs only here.

Against the English

KJV and YLT have "purifications" and WEB has "purification" for the first occurrence. BSB, NIV, ESV and NASB have "beauty treatments", "beautifying" or "cosmetics." The modern versions are accurate. "Purification" leans on the "scour clean" root sense, but modern English hears ritual or moral cleansing.

How it drifted

In 1611 "purify" could still mean simply "clean physically, refine." Since then it has narrowed toward religious and moral purity. Readers now hear a sacred cleansing rite in what Hebrew describes as a cosmetic regimen.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Greek Septuagint (LXX) calls the period therapeia, "care, treatment," and renders the last phrase as smēgmata, "ointments, cleansing salves": cosmetic, not cultic, language. The words Hebrew uses for ritual purity (ṭāhēr, ṭohŏrâ) are entirely absent. Later rabbinic discussion (b. Megillah 13a) explains the myrrh oil as a preparation that removed body hair and softened the skin, which is a practical, cosmetic understanding.

Where it appears

Esther · 3

  1. Esther 2:3 תַּמְרוּקֵיהֶֽן׃ rubbings their

    and let the king appoint commissioners in each province of his kingdom to assemble all the beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the women, and let them be given beauty treatments.

  2. Esther 2:9 תַּמְרוּקֶ֤יהָ rubbings her

    And the young woman pleased him and obtained his favor, so he quickly provided her with beauty treatments and the special diet. He assigned to her seven select maidservants from the palace and transferred her with them to the best place in the harem.

  3. Esther 2:12 וּבְתַמְרוּקֵ֖י and with [the] rubbings of

    In the twelve months before her turn to go to King Xerxes, the harem regulation required each young woman to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months, and then with perfumes and cosmetics for another six months.

    Here: "And with the rubbings / cosmetics of." From the same root as "rubbings" above: preparations used to scrub, smooth and beautify the body.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 20:30 תַּמְר֣וּק [are] a cleansing

    Lashes and wounds scour evil, and beatings cleanse the inmost parts.

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