(1) It is the translation of sharaq, a mimetic word meaning to hiss or whistle, to call (bees, etc.), (a) Isaiah 5:26, "I will hiss unto them from the ends of the earth," the Revised Version (British and American) "hiss for them (margin "him") from the end of the earth"; Isaiah 7:18, "Yahweh will hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria"; namely, Egyptians whose land was noted for flies (Isaiah 18:1) and Assyrians whose country was pre-eminently one of bees. Dangerous enemies are compared to bees in Deuteronomy 1:44; Psalms 118:12 (Skinner's Isaiah): Zechariah 10:8, "I will hiss for them, and gather them" (His own people, who will come at His call).

(2) More often, to hiss is to express contempt or derision (1 Kings 9:8; Job 27:23; Jeremiah 19:8, etc.). In this sense we have also frequently a hissing (2 Chronicles 29:8; Jeremiah 19:8; 25:9,18; 29:18; 51:37; Micah 6:16, shereqah); Jeremiah 18:16, sheriqoth or sheruqoth; Ecclesiasticus 22:1, "Every one will hiss him (the slothful man) out in his disgrace" (eksurisso, "to hiss out"); The Wisdom of Solomon 17:9, "hissing of serpents" (surigmos).

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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