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Bible Dictionaries
Lip
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or Śâphâh (שֶׂפֶת, Strong's #8193), “lip; edge.” This Hebrew word is related to cognate languages where a similar word signifies “lip” or “edge” (cf. Akkadian captu). Śâphâh has undergone little change in the history of the Hebrew language. It occurs about 175 times in the Old Testament, mainly in the poetic literature. The word is most frequent in the prophetical books, except for Isaiah (13 times) and Ezekiel (7 times).
“Lip” is first a part of the body. Isaiah’s “lips” were ritually cleansed by the burning coal (Isa. 6:7). The compression of the “lips” was an indication of evil thoughts or motivation: “He shutteth his eyes to devise froward things: moving his lips he bringeth evil to pass” (Prov. 16:30).
The use of “lip” as an organ of speech is more frequent. With the lips, or human speech, one may flatter (Ps. 12:3), lie (Ps. 31:18), speak mischief (Ps. 140:9), and speak perversity (Prov. 4:24). On the other hand, the “lip” (speech) of the people of God is described as not sinful (Job 2:10), rejoicing (Job 8:21), prayerful (Ps. 17:1), God’s word (Ps. 119:13), truthful (Prov. 12:19), wise (Prov. 14:7; 15:7), righteous (Prov. 16:13), and excellent (Prov. 17:7). In all these examples “the lip” signifies a manner of speech; cf. “Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince” (Prov. 17:7). The use of śâphâh is similar to that of |lashon“tongue,” in that both words denote speech and also human language. Śâphâh with the meaning of human language occurs in the phrase “the language of Canaan” (Isa. 19:18). Isaiah described foreign language as “deeper speech than thou canst perceive” (literally, “depths of lip”; 33:19).
The metaphorical use of śâphâh (“edge”) appears mainly in the narrative literature. The word denotes the shore of a sea (Gen. 22:17) or of a river (Gen. 41:3), or the edge of material (Exod. 26:4), or the brim of a vessel (1 Kings 7:23).
The Septuagint translation is cheilos (“lip; shore; bank”); and the KJV has these translations: “lip; bank; brim; edge; language; shore; and speech.”
These files are public domain.
Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Lip'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/l/lip.html. 1940.
