Lectionary Calendar
Friday, October 31st, 2025
the Week of Proper 25 / Ordinary 30
video advertismenet
Bible Encyclopedias
Sheshach
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Search for…
or
shē´shak ( שׁשׁך , shēshakh , as if "humiliation"; compare שׁכך , shākhakh , "to crouch"): The general explanation is that this is "a cypherform of 'Babel' (Babylon)" which is the word given as equivalent to "Sheshach" by the Targum ( Jeremiah 25:26; Jeremiah 51:41; the Septuagint omits in both passages). By the device known as Atbaš (אתבשׂ ), i.e. disguising a name by substituting the last letter of the alphabet for the first, the letter next to the last for the second, etc., ששך is substituted for שבבל , bābhel . This theory has not failed of opposition. Delitzsch holds that "Sheshach" represents Šiš -kû -KI of an old Babylonian regal register, which may have stood for a part of the city of Babylon. (For a refutation of this interpretation see Schrader, KAT2 , 415; COT , II, 108 f.) Lauth, too, takes "Sheshach" to be a Hebraization of Siska, a Babylonian district. Winckler and Sayce read Uru -azagga . Finally, Cheyne and a number of critics hold that the word has crept into the text, being "a conceit of later editors." See further JEREMIAH , 6.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain and were generously provided by the folks at WordSearch Software.
Bibliography Information
Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. Entry for 'Sheshach'. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/isb/s/sheshach.html. 1915.
