Bible Dictionaries
Asp

Asp — This word, which occurs eleven times in D.V., stands for four Hebrew names:

1. פֶתֶן péthén - Strongs: H6620 (Deuteronomy 32:33; Job 20:14, 16; Psalms 58 (Vulgate: Ps. 57):4; Isaiah 11:8). From several allusions both to its deadly venom (Deuteronomy 32:33), and to its use by serpent-charmers (Ps. 58 (Vulgate: Ps. 57):4, 5), it appears that the cobra (naja aspis) is most probably signified. Safely to step upon its body, or even linger by the hole where it coils itself, is manifestly a sign of God's particular protection (Ps. 91 (Vulgate: Ps. 90):13; Isaiah 11:8). Sophar, one of Job's friends, speaks of the wicked as sucking the venom of péthén, in punishment whereof the food he takes shall be turned within him into the gall of this poisonous reptile (Job 20:14, 16).
2. עַכְשׁוּב ‘Akhshûbh - Strongs: H5919, mentioned only once in the Hebrew Bible, namely Psalm 140, but manifestly alluded to in Psalm 13:3, and Romans 3:13, seems to have been one of the most highly poisonous kinds of viper, perhaps the toxicoa, also called echis arenicola or scytale of the Pyramids, very common in Syria and North Africa.
3. שַׁחַל sháhál - Strongs: H7826 is also found only once to signify a snake, Ps. 91 (Vulgate: Ps. 90):13; but what particular kind of snake we are unable to determine. The word Sháhál (usually meaning "lion") might possibly, owing to some copyist's mistake, have crept into the place of another name now impossible to restore.
4. צֶפַע tsif‘ōnî - Strongs: H6848 (Isaiah 59:5), "the hisser", generally rendered by basilisk in D.V. and in ancient translations, the latter sometimes calling it regulus. This snake was deemed so deadly that, according to the common saying, its hissing alone, even its look, was fatal. It was probably a small viper, perhaps a cerastes, possibly the daboia zanthina, according to Cheyne.

Verses:

• Deuteronomy 32:33
• Job 20:14
• Job 20:16
• Psalms 14:3
• Psalms 58:4
• Psalms 91:13
• Psalms 140:3
• Isaiah 11:8
• Isaiah 59:5
• Romans 3:13