Aramaic word · H873
בִּאישׁ
uviyosheta'
bad
Bad, evil, harmful. The Aramaic counterpart of Hebrew raʿ in its broad sense. It covers anything bad in quality, hurtful, or troublesome, and can be moral, but context decides. The related verb bəʾēš means 'to be displeasing' (Dan 6:15).
A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?
Appears once in the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·
What it means
evil, bad, be evil
Aramaic of ba.ash (בָּאַשׁ "to stink" H0887)
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
Bad, evil, harmful. The Aramaic counterpart of Hebrew raʿ in its broad sense. It covers anything bad in quality, hurtful, or troublesome, and can be moral, but context decides. The related verb bəʾēš means 'to be displeasing' (Dan 6:15).
- Against the English
KJV 'bad' and YLT 'base' stay broad. BSB/ESV/NIV 'wicked' and NASB 'evil' push toward moral or religious depravity.
- How it drifted
In modern English 'wicked' is almost wholly moral and religious. The Aramaic adjective, paired with 'rebellious' in a tax-and-security complaint, means 'bad' as in harmful or dangerous to the king's interests.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Used in Biblical Aramaic only here. Hebrew raʿ shows the same range, from 'bad figs' (Jer 24:2) to moral evil. Imperial Aramaic letters use bʾyš for harm or trouble done to someone.
Where it appears
Ezra · 1
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Ezra 4:12 וּבִֽישְׁתָּא֙ and evil <the>
Let it be known to the king that the Jews who came from you to us have returned to Jerusalem and are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are restoring its walls and repairing its foundations.
Here: 'And the bad one': harmful, troublesome, dangerous to the crown. Next to 'rebellious' it means a bad risk politically, not a city charged with religious sin.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.