בהמות

Forms

בְּהֵמוֹת (bəhēmôṯ) noun, masculine^[1][2]

Etymology

In form it is the plural of בְּהֵמָה (bəhēmâ, “beast”), used as a plural of extension for one huge animal: “the beast” par excellence.^[3][4][2] It has also been explained as a reshaping of an Egyptian word meaning “ox of the water”, that is, the hippopotamus, ⟨p-ehe-mau⟩;^[2][3][5] BDB and HALOT mention this, but the Egyptian word is not attested.^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word occurs once, in God's second speech in Job: hinnēh-nāʾ ḇəhēmôṯ ʾăšer-ʿāśîṯî ʿimmāḵ ḥāṣîr kabbāqār yōʾḵēl, “look at Behemoth, which I made as I made you; it eats grass like an ox” (Job 40:15).^[3][1] The verbs and adjectives that describe it are singular.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Since Bochart's Hierozoicon (1663) the beast of Job has usually been taken as the hippopotamus, which was present in Palestine in the Iron Age; others see the crocodile or simply any huge animal.^[3][6] BDB and some commentators also read the word in Psalm 73:22 and in “the beasts of the Negev” of Isaiah 30:6, but most take these as the ordinary plural “beasts”.^[2][6] The Septuagint translates it as the plural Ancient Greek θηρία (thēría, “beasts”), while the Peshitta keeps the name, Classical Syriac ܒܸܗܡܘܿܬ (behmōṯ).^[3][7][5] Through Late Latin it passed into the European languages, and Klein gives “hippopotamus” as its Hebrew meaning.^[4][5]

Timeline

• Biblical poetry – the single occurrence, Job 40:15.^[1][3]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – the Septuagint translates it as “beasts”, Ancient Greek θηρία (thēría).^[8][1]
• 1663 – Bochart identifies it as the hippopotamus.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Behemoth, a huge beast that God made, described in Job 40:15–24; usually taken as the hippopotamus.^[3][2]

Descendants

• Syriac ܒܸܗܡܘܿܬ (behmōṯ)^[7]
• Late Latin behemoth^[5]
• Modern Hebrew בהמות (behemót)^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Clear Bible (2023–), MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets (Westminster Leningrad Codex, with Greek alignment), github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-hebrew, CC BY 4.0
2. ^ a b c d e f Brown, Francis; Driver, S. R.; Briggs, Charles A. (1906), A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, with an Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. בְּהֵמוֹת
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Koehler, Ludwig; Baumgartner, Walter; Stamm, Johann Jakob (1994–2000), The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, transl. and ed. M. E. J. Richardson, 5 vols, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. בְּהֵמוֹת
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest (1987), A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English, Jerusalem: Carta; Haifa: University of Haifa, p. s.v. בְּהֵמוֹת
5. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
6. ^ a b Clines, David J. A., ed. (1993–2011), The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, 8 vols, Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press / Sheffield Phoenix Press, p. 2:102
7. ^ a b Sokoloff, Michael (2009), A Syriac Lexicon, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns; Piscataway: Gorgias Press, p. 122
8. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 93