filth, fil'-thi-nes, fil'-thi (tso'ah, Tum'ah; rhupoo): The word once translated "filth" in the Old Testament is tso'ah, "excrement" or "dung," elsewhere translated "dung" (Isaiah 4:4, used figuratively of evil doings, sin, "the filth of the daughters of Zion"; compare Proverbs 30:12); in the New Testament we have perikatharma "cleansings" "sweepings," offscourings (1 Corinthians 4:13, "We are made as the filth of the world," the Revised Version, margin "or refuse"); rhupos, "filth," "dirt," Septuagint for tso'ah in Isaiah 4:4 (1 Peter 3:21, "the filth of the flesh").

"Filthiness" is the translation of tum'ah, "uncleanness" (ritual, Leviticus 5:3; 7:20, etc.), used figuratively of moral impurity, translated "filthiness" (Ezra 6:21; Lamentations 1:9; Ezekiel 22:15; 24:11,13 bis; Ezekiel 36:25); niddah, "impurity" (2 Chronicles 29:5); figuratively (Ezra 9:11); the Revised Version (British and American) has "uncleanness," but "filthiness" for uncleanness at close of verse (niddah); nechosheth, "brass," figuratively (for "impurity" or "impudence") (Ezekiel 16:36); aischrotes, primarily "ugliness," tropical for unbecomingness, indecency (only Ephesians 5:4, "nor filthiness, nor foolish talking"; Alford has "obscenity," Weymouth, "shameful"); akathartes, "uncleanness" (Revelation 17:4 the King James Version), corrected text, ta akatharta, "the unclean things," so the Revised Version (British and American).

"Filthy" is the translation of 'alach, "to be turbid," to become foul or corrupt in a moral sense (Job 15:16 the King James Version; Psalms 14:3; 53:3); `iddim, plural of `iddah, from `adhadh, "to number or compute (monthly courses)"; Isaiah 64:6, "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags," the Revised Version (British and American) "as a polluted garment"; compare Ezekiel 36:17; aischros, "ugly," tropical for unbecoming, shameful (Titus 1:11, "for filthy lucre's sake"; compare Titus 1:7); shameful discourse aischrologia (Colossians 3:8 the King James Version); rhupoo, "filthy," in a moral sense polluted (Revelation 22:11, "He that is filthy, let him be filthy still," the Revised Version (British and American) "let him be made filthy still" (corrected text), margin "yet more"; Alford, "Let the filthy (morally polluted) pollute himself still" (in the constant middle sense of passive verbs when the act depends on the man's self)).

In Apocrypha we have (Ecclesiasticus 22:1): "A slothful man is compared to a filthy (ardaloo) stone," the Revised Version (British and American) "a stone that is defiled," 22:2 "A slothful man is compared to the filth (bolbiton) of a dunghill"; 27:4 "So the filth (skubalon) of a man in his talk (the Revised Version (British and American) "of man in his reasoning") remaineth."

See UNCLEANNESS .

W. L. Walker

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

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