the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
Click here to learn more!
Bible Dictionaries
Pour, Flow
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or Yâtsaq (יָצַק, Strong's #3332), “to pour, pour out, cast, flow.” Commonly used throughout the history of the Hebrew language, this word occurs in ancient Ugaritic with the same nuances as in the Old Testament. Yâtsaq occurs in the Hebrew Bible just over 50 times. The word is used first in Gen. 28:18, where it is said that after Jacob had slept at Bethel with his head resting on a stone, he “poured oil upon the top of it.” He again “poured” oil on a stone pillar at Bethel while on his return trip home twenty years later (Gen. 35:14). The idea expressed in these two instances and others (Lev. 8:12; 21:10) is that of anointing with oil; it is not the ordinary term for “to anoint.” (The regular term for “to anoint” is mashach, which gives us the word “messiah.”)
Many things may “be poured out,” such as oil in sacrifice (Lev. 2:1), water for washing purposes (2 Kings 3:11), and pottage for eating (2 Kings 4:41). This verb is used to express the idea of “pouring out” or “casting” molten metals (Exod. 25:12; 26:37; 1 Kings 7:46). The idea of “pouring upon or infusing” someone is found in Ps. 41:8: “A wicked thing is poured out upon him” (NASB). The context seems to imply the infusion of a sickness, as interpreted by the JB: “This sickness is fatal that has overtaken him.”
Shâphak (שָׁפַךְ, Strong's #8210), “to pour out, pour, shed.” A common Semitic word, this verb is found in both ancient Akkadian and Ugaritic, as well as throughout Hebrew. Shâphak occurs just over 100 times in the text of the Hebrew Bible. In its first use in the Old Testament, the word is part of the general principle concerning the taking of human life: “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed …” (Gen. 9:6). While it is frequently used in this sense of “shedding” or “pouring out” blood, the word is commonly used of the “pouring out” of the contents of a vessel, such as water (Exod. 4:9; 1 Sam. 7:6), plaster or dust (Lev. 14:41), and drink offerings to false gods (Isa. 57:6).
In its figurative use, shâphak indicates the “pouring out” of God’s wrath (Hos. 5:10), of contempt (Job 12:21), of wickedness (Jer. 14:16), and of the Spirit of God (Ezek. 39:29). The psalmist describes his helpless condition in this picturesque phrase: “I am poured out like water” (Ps. 22:14, KJV; NEB, “My strength drains away like water”; JB, “I am like water draining away”).
These files are public domain.
Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Pour, Flow'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/p/pour-flow.html. 1940.
