עשה

Forms

עָשָׂה (ʿāśâ) verb^[1] Feminine perfect עָשְׂתָה, imperfect יַעֲשֶׂה with the short form וַיַּעַשׂ, infinitive construct עֲשׂוֹת, imperative עֲשֵׂה, participle עֹשֶׂה.^[3][4] Qal about 2,527 times, with a niphal “to be done, be made” and a rare pual.^[4] The inscriptions spell it ⟨ʿšh⟩, with the niphal ⟨nʿšh⟩ on a Lachish ostracon.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is a verb of the Canaanite core vocabulary: the root is shared with Ugaritic ʿšy (“to make, work”), where it is marginal, with Moabite עשתי (ʿšty, “I made”) in the Mesha inscription, and with Sabaean ʿsy (“to do”).^[7][8][3][4] Kogan counts it among the typically Canaanite words that are old retentions rather than innovations, and contrasts its basic place in Hebrew with Ugaritic and Phoenician, which say “to make” with Ugaritic bʿl and Phoenician pʿl.^[9][8] Aramaic has no such verb.^[3]

The further etymology is uncertain.^[4] Barth compared Arabic سَعَى (saʿā, “to act”), as Klein still does, but Gesenius–Buhl reports doubts about the match of the consonants.^[10][11] Palache and Driver derived it from a root meaning “to squeeze, knead”, Arabic غَشِيَ (ġašiya), so that “to make” would come from shaping a paste, as with יָצַר (yāṣar, “to form”).^[4] Wiktionary notes the comparison with Arabic عَسَى (ʕasā) in spite of the consonants.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its oldest dated records are the letters of the 6th century BC from Lachish and Arad.^[13] An officer writes to his superior at Lachish kkl ʾšr šlḥ ʾdny kn ʿšh ʿbdk, “according to all that my lord has sent, so has your servant done”.^[5] In the archaic poems it occurs nine times, as in the Song of the Sea, where God is ʿōśēh p̄eleʾ, “doing wonders” (Exodus 15:11).^[1][14]

Semantic evolution

HALOT gives about 2,627 uses and sorts them from the concrete to the abstract: to make or manufacture an object (garments, an ark, an idol), to make something into something, God's creating, to do signs and wonders, to acquire wealth or strength, to prepare food or a sacrifice, to keep a feast, to carry out a law or a command, to act towards someone, kindly or badly, and to do justice.^[4] It overlaps with בָּרָא (bārāʾ, “to create”) in the creation narrative (“God made the firmament”, Genesis 1:7).^[1][4] HALOT notes uses that match Akkadian epēšu, such as “making peace”.^[4]

The Septuagint renders it almost always with Ancient Greek ποιέω (poiéō).^[1] The Dead Sea Scrolls use it about 2,000 times.^[15] In Rabbinic Hebrew the imperative ʿăśê became a noun, a positive commandment, short for miṣwaṯ ʿăśê.^[16] Modern Hebrew עשה (asá) keeps “to do, make”.^[12]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – kn ʿšh ʿbdk in a Lachish letter, and ʿšh in an Arad letter.^[13][5][17]
• Archaic Hebrew poetry – ʿōśēh p̄eleʾ in the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:11), and in the oracles of Balaam (Numbers 23:19, 24:18).^[14][1]
• Classical Biblical Hebrew – nearly half of the biblical occurrences are in Genesis to Kings.^[1]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – the Septuagint translates it as ποιέω.^[18][1]
• 2nd century BC – 2nd century AD – about 2,000 occurrences in the Dead Sea Scrolls.^[19][15]

Meanings

Verb

1. qal to make, manufacture, produce.^[4][3]
2. qal of God: to make, create.^[4]
3. qal to do, perform: signs and wonders, a deed, a command or a law.^[4]
4. qal to prepare a meal or a sacrifice; to keep a feast.^[4]
5. qal to acquire, gain wealth or strength.^[4]
6. qal to act, deal with someone, kindly or harshly; to do justice.^[4][3]
7. niphal to be done, be made.^[4]

Word family

• מַעֲשֶׂה (maʿăśēh)

Descendants

• Modern Hebrew עשה (asá)^[12]

Usage notes

MACULA gives a separate number to עִשּׂוּ in Ezekiel 23:3, 8 and 21, of the breasts of the two sisters.^[1] BDB and HALOT list it as a separate root, a piel “to press, squeeze”, comparing Rabbinic Hebrew עִשָּׂה “to compel” and Targumic עַסִּי “to crush”.^[20][21] HALOT also lists two more roots spelled the same, “to cover” and “to turn”, for a few disputed passages.^[22][23]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Clear Bible (2023–), MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets (Westminster Leningrad Codex, with Greek alignment), github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-hebrew, CC BY 4.0
2. ^ Højgaard, Christian Canu; Naaijer, Martijn; Schorch, Stefan (2023), Text-Fabric Dataset of the Samaritan Pentateuch, Zenodo, doi:10.5281/zenodo.7734632
3. ^ a b c d e 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. עָשָׂה
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. עשׂה I
5. ^ a b c Davies, Graham I. (1991), Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions: Corpus and Concordance, vol. 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 1.004.3
6. ^ Davies, Graham I. (1991), Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions: Corpus and Concordance, vol. 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 1.009.8
7. ^ del Olmo Lete, Gregorio; Sanmartín, Joaquín (2015), A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition, 3rd ed., transl. W. G. E. Watson, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. ʕ-š-y
8. ^ a b Kogan, Leonid (2015), Genealogical Classification of Semitic: The Lexical Isoglosses, Berlin: De Gruyter, p. 286
9. ^ Kogan, Leonid (2015), Genealogical Classification of Semitic: The Lexical Isoglosses, Berlin: De Gruyter, p. 345
10. ^ Gesenius, Wilhelm; Buhl, Frants (1915), Hebräisches und aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, 17th ed., Leipzig: F. C. W. Vogel, p. s.v. עשׂה
11. ^ Klein, Ernest (1987), A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English, Jerusalem: Carta; Haifa: University of Haifa, p. s.v. עשׂה
12. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
13. ^ a b Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 76–77
14. ^ a b Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 69
15. ^ a b Abegg, Martin G.; Jacobs, Jarod; Roorda, Dirk (2022), The Dead Sea Scrolls, Text-Fabric dataset, version 2.0.2, github.com/ETCBC/dss
16. ^ Klein, Ernest (1987), A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English, Jerusalem: Carta; Haifa: University of Haifa, p. s.v. עֲשֵׂה
17. ^ Davies, Graham I. (1991), Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions: Corpus and Concordance, vol. 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 2.021.3
18. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 93
19. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 143
20. ^ 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. עָשָׂה²
21. ^ 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. עשׂה II
22. ^ 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. עשׂה III
23. ^ 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. עשׂה IV