Hebrew word · H939
בּוּזָה
vuzah
contempt
Contempt or scorn, and by extension the thing or person scorned. It comes from the root b-w-z, 'to despise, belittle, treat as worthless'. The idea is disdain and dismissal, looking down on someone, more than active hatred.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
contempt
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 Nehemiah 4:4
- Range of meaning
Contempt or scorn, and by extension the thing or person scorned. It comes from the root b-w-z, 'to despise, belittle, treat as worthless'. The idea is disdain and dismissal, looking down on someone, more than active hatred.
- Against the English
Most versions say 'despised'. Today that often suggests intense hatred. The Hebrew is about being sneered at and treated as a joke not worth taking seriously, which is exactly what Sanballat's 'What are these feeble Jews doing?' and Tobiah's fox joke do (4:2–3).
- How it drifted
English 'despise' used to mean 'look down on' (Latin despicere, 'to look down'). In everyday modern English it has moved toward 'loathe'.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The feminine form buzah occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. The masculine buz is common, and Psalm 123:3–4 is the closest parallel: 'we have had more than enough of contempt (buz)… the contempt of the proud.' In Proverbs (e.g. 18:3) contempt goes along with disgrace (cherpah), the same pairing found in this verse.
Where it appears
Nehemiah · 1
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Nehemiah 4:4 בוּזָ֔ה contempt
Hear us, O God, for we are despised. Turn their scorn back upon their own heads, and let them be taken as plunder to a land of captivity.
Here: 'Contempt' in the sense of being looked down on as worthless. They have become a joke to their neighbours. This feminine form of the word occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.