Hebrew word · H947

בּוּס

yavus

to trample

To tread down, trample underfoot. Used of trampling enemies (Ps 44:5 [Eng. 44:5]; Ps 60:12; 108:13; Zech 10:5 "trampling the enemy in the mud of the streets"), of treading the winepress in judgment (Isa 63:6, 18), and of trampling something holy in contempt (Prov 27:7).

Appears 12 times in 12 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to tread down, reject, trample down

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to tread down, trample (of warriors)

1a2) of rejection (fig.)

1b) (Polel)

1b1) to tread down (in bad sense)

1b2) to desecrate

1c) (Hithpolel)

1c1) to tread

1c2) to kick out

1c2a) of infants' blind movements

1c2b) of Jerusalem (fig.)

1d) (Hophal) to be trodden down

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 Isaiah 14:25

Range of meaning

To tread down, trample underfoot. Used of trampling enemies (Ps 44:5 [Eng. 44:5]; Ps 60:12; 108:13; Zech 10:5 "trampling the enemy in the mud of the streets"), of treading the winepress in judgment (Isa 63:6, 18), and of trampling something holy in contempt (Prov 27:7).

Against the English

"Trample" or "tread underfoot" is right. The Hebrew picture is often mud or grapes under the feet, which is cruder and more humiliating than the English verb alone suggests.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 63:6 uses the same verb for the divine warrior treading nations in his anger. In Assyrian royal inscriptions kings boast of "trampling" (Akkadian kabāsu) their enemies and setting their feet on the necks of defeated kings.

From the study of Ezekiel 16:6

Range of meaning

The simple verb means 'tread down, trample', for example enemies trampled underfoot (Isa 14:25; 63:6, 18; Ps 44:5; 60:12), or a full person who 'tramples' honey, meaning he rejects it (Prov 27:7). The rare reflexive form used here (hitpolel) appears only in Ezek 16:6 and 16:22. Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'kick about, struggle, writhe' or 'be trampled'.

Against the English

KJV 'polluted'; BSB/ESV/WEB 'wallowing'; NIV 'kicking about'; NASB 'squirming'; YLT 'trodden down'. 'Wallowing' can suggest lazily rolling about in something by choice. 'Polluted' turns a picture of motion into a moral or ritual verdict.

How it drifted

KJV's 'polluted' comes through the Geneva Bible and goes back to the Greek Septuagint's pephyrmenēn ('mixed up, soiled, defiled'). The ancient translators read it as describing a state of being stained. The Hebrew root describes trampling and kicking movement.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Isaiah 63:3–6 the same root sits alongside treading the winepress and blood spattering. This may be why Greek translators connected it with being soaked or soiled. In Ezekiel 16:22 the phrase is recalled: 'when you were naked and bare, kicking about in your blood'.

From the study of Psalm 44:5

Range of meaning

To trample or tread down, to stamp underfoot. It is used of treading the winepress, of trampling the sanctuary, and of crushing enemies.

Against the English

'Tread down' (KJV, WEB) and 'trample' (BSB) are accurate. The verb pictures feet on top of a fallen enemy, a sign of complete defeat.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 14:25: 'on my mountains I will trample him.' Isaiah 63:3, 6: treading the winepress and trampling peoples in anger. Zechariah 10:5: 'like warriors trampling in the mud of the streets.' Psalm 60:12 (= 108:13): 'it is he who will tread down (yavus) our foes' (tsareinu). That verse uses the same pair of words, but there God is the one who tramples.

Where it appears

Psalms · 3

  1. Psalm 44:5 נָב֥וּס we tread down

    Through You we repel our foes; through Your name we trample our enemies.

    Here: 'We trample.' This is the stamping of feet on something under them, the way grapes are trodden in a winepress or mud is trodden in the street. The bull picture carries on from horns to hooves: the gored enemy is then trodden under.

  2. Psalm 60:12 יָב֥וּס he will tread down

    With God we will perform with valor, and He will trample our enemies.

    Here: A physical picture: crushing underfoot, like grapes in a winepress or mud in a street. It completes v. 8, where God throws his sandal over Edom and treats Moab as a washbasin.

  3. Psalm 108:13 יָב֥וּס he will tread down

    With God we will perform with valor, and He will trample our enemies.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 27:7 תָּב֣וּס it treads down

    The soul that is full loathes honey, but to a hungry soul, any bitter thing is sweet.

    Here: It tramples, treads underfoot. The full appetite does not just say no to honey; it treats the best food it could have as something to walk on. The present tense describes what always happens.

Isaiah · 4

  1. Isaiah 14:19 מוּבָֽס׃ trodden down

    But you are cast out of your grave like a rejected branch, covered by those slain with the sword, and dumped into a rocky pit like a carcass trampled underfoot.

  2. Isaiah 14:25 אֲבוּסֶ֑נּוּ I will tread down it

    I will break Assyria in My land; I will trample him on My mountain. His yoke will be taken off My people, and his burden removed from their shoulders.”

    Here: "I will trample him." The picture is stamping an enemy into the ground like mud or grapes. The suffix form is emphatic, and the verb is a forceful one.

  3. Isaiah 63:6 וְאָב֤וּס and I may tread down

    I trampled the nations in My anger; in My wrath I made them drunk and poured out their blood on the ground.”

  4. Isaiah 63:18 בּוֹסְס֖וּ they have trodden down

    For a short while Your people possessed Your holy place, but our enemies have trampled Your sanctuary.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 12:10 בֹּסְס֖וּ they have trodden down

    Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trampled My plot of ground. They have turned My pleasant field into a desolate wasteland.

    Here: To tread down or stamp underfoot. The picture is hooves and feet crushing young vines and terraces, and also the conquerors' contempt (compare Isaiah 63:18, 'our adversaries have trampled your sanctuary').

Ezekiel · 2

  1. Ezekiel 16:6 מִתְבּוֹסֶ֖סֶת kicking about

    Then I passed by and saw you wallowing in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, ‘Live!’ There I said to you, ‘Live!’

    Here: From a verb meaning 'trample, tread down'. This reflexive form occurs only here and in 16:22. It pictures a newborn thrashing, kicking and writhing helplessly in the birth fluids. It describes physical helplessness, not moral filth.

  2. Ezekiel 16:22 מִתְבּוֹסֶ֥סֶת kicking about

    And in all your abominations and acts of prostitution, you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your own blood.

Zechariah · 1

  1. Zechariah 10:5 בּוֹסִ֨ים treading down

    They will be like mighty men in battle, trampling the enemy in the mire of the streets. They will fight because the LORD is with them, and they will put the horsemen to shame.

    Here: An ongoing action ('trampling'). The word is used for crushing defeated enemies underfoot; no object is named, so translators add 'the enemy'.

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