Bible Encyclopedias
Hiss

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

his ( שׁרק , shāraḳ ): "To hiss" has two applications: (1) to call, (2) to express contempt or scorn.

(1) It is the translation of shāraḳ , a mimetic word meaning to hiss or whistle, to call (bees, etc.), ( a ) Isaiah 5:26 , "I will hiss unto them from the ends of the earth," the Revised Version (British and American) "hiss for them (margin "him") from the end of the earth"; Isaiah 7:18 , "Yahweh will hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria"; namely, Egyptians whose land was noted for flies ( Isaiah 18:1 ) and Assyrians whose country was pre-eminently one of bees. Dangerous enemies are compared to bees in Deuteronomy 1:44; Psalm 118:12 (Skinner's Isaiah ): Zechariah 10:8 , "I will hiss for them, and gather them" (His own people, who will come at His call).

(2) More often, to hiss is to express contempt or derision (1 Kings 9:8; Job 27:23; Jeremiah 19:8 , etc.). In this sense we have also frequently a hissing ( 2 Chronicles 29:8; Jeremiah 19:8; Jeremiah 25:9 , Jeremiah 25:18; Jeremiah 29:18; Jeremiah 51:37; Micah 6:16 , sherēḳāh ); Jeremiah 18:16 , sherı̄ḳōth or sherūḳōth ; Ecclesiasticus 22:1, "Every one will hiss him (the slothful man) out in his disgrace" (eksurı́ssō , "to hiss out"); The Wisdom of Solomon 17:9, "hissing of serpents" (surigmós ).