Bible Encyclopedias
Prey

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

prā ( בּז , baz , טרף , ṭereph , שלל , shālāl ): "Prey" is frequent in the Old Testament, chiefly as the translation of baz , "spoil," "plunder" ( Numbers 14:3 , Numbers 14:11; Deuteronomy 1:39; Isaiah 10:6 , etc.); of ṭereph , "prey of wild beasts," "torn thing" (Genesis 49:9; Numbers 23:24; Job 4:11 , etc.); of malḳōah , "a taking" (Numbers 31:11 , etc.; Isaiah 49:24 , Isaiah 49:25 ); of shālāl , "spoil" or "booty" (Judges 5:30 twice; Judges 8:24 , Judges 8:25; Isaiah 10:2 , etc.). Mahēr -shālāl -ḥash -baz (the Revised Version margin "The spoil speedeth, the prey hasteth") was the symbolical name given to a son of Isaiah (Isaiah 8:1 , Isaiah 8:3 ). "Prey" does not occur in the New Testament, but is found in the Apoc: 1 Esdras 8:77, "for our sins ... were given up ... for a prey" (pronomḗ ); Judith 9:4; 16:5; 1 Macc 7:47; Ecclesiasticus 27:10 (thḗra ); Judith 5:24 (katábrōma ).

In the Revised Version (British and American) shālāl is generally translated "spoil" ( Judges 5:30; Judges 8:24 , Judges 8:25; Isaiah 10:2 , etc.), while, conversely, "prey" (noun and verb) is occasionally substituted for "spoil," "booty" (Numbers 31:32 , ere). See BOOTY; SPOIL .