יָקוּד yaqūd – glowing fire
Semantic Fields:
Utensils
Author(s):
M.D. Koster
First published: 2014-06-20
Citation: M.D. Koster, יָקוּד yaqūd – glowing fire,
Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2014
(WORK IN PROGRESS)
Introduction
Grammatical type:
Occurrences: 1x HB (0/1/0)
- Nebiim: Isa 30:14.
A.1
1. Root and Comparative Material
A.1
יָקוּד is a qātūl-form (GKC, § 84am; Joüon, § 88c) from the verb יקד Qal ‘to be kindled, burn’. This verb is rare in biblical Hebrew, but common in other Semitic languages.
Akkadian: qādu, originally qiādu (metathesis of √w/yqd), ‘to set afire, kindle, burn’ (CAD (Q), 52). The plural noun qidātu designates ‘lit fires’ or the ‘lighting’ of brush piles (CAD (Q), 249-50).
Ugaritic: mqd ‘scorched, singed’ according to Del Olmo Lete & Sanmartín, DLU, 567, but very uncertain.
Old and Imperial Aramaic: yqd ‘to burn’ (Hoftijzer & Jongeling, DNSI, 466; Porten & Lund, ADE,151). The root occurs twice in the Aramaic Targum of Job from Qumran: 11Q10 XVI.7 יקדון גרמי ‘my bones are on fire’; XXXVI.6 ומגמר יקד לכוש ‘a kettle on the fire and glowing coals’ (among other words describing fiery phenomena).
Postbiblical Hebrew: In Qumran the verb יקד occurs describing the fire of hell (1QM XIV.18; 4Q491, fr. 10, II.17) and the heat of God’s anger (4Q434, fr. 1, 5).
Jewish Aramaic: Several derivations of √yqd occur in rabbinic sources (Levy, WTM, Bd. 2, 260; Sokoloff, DJBA, 540; Sokoloff, DJPA, 243-4).
Samaritan Aramaic: Several derivations of √yqd occur in Samaritan, among them ʾwqdh, ʾwqydh, yqdh, yqydh, mwqdh, all meaning ‘fire’ (Tal, DSA, 356, 457).
Syriac: yqd Pe. ‘to burn, be burned, be enflamed’; yaqdā ‘1. fire conflagration 2. burnt offering’; yaqdānā ‘conflagration, heat’ (Sokoloff, SLB, 580-1).
Classical Arabic: waqada ‘to burn’ and ‘to ignite’; waqd fire’; waqūd ‘holocaust, burnt offering’; mawqid ‘hearth, place where people kindle a fire’ (Kazimirski, DAF, 1581-2).
Modern South Arabic: Mehri awōqed ‘to build up a fire’ (Johnstone, ML,427).; Jibbāli ōqud ‘to build up a fire’ (Johnstone, JL, 290).
Modern Palestinian Arabic: waqd ‘to kindle a fire’ and ‘to burn’; uqīd ‘combustble, fire’; mawqed, moqed ‘hearth’ (Barthélemy, DAFA, 903); waqūd ‘holocaust, burnt offering’ (Denizeau, DPASyr, 556).
Ethiopic: Geez moghada ‘ignite, kindle’, possibly a denominative from a supposed noun *mgd ‘firewood’ (Leslau, CDG, 332).
2. Formal Characteristics
A.1 [Will be added later.]
3. Syntagmatics
A.1 [Will be added later.]
4. Ancient Versions
a. Septuagint (LXX) and other Greek versions (αʹ, σʹ, θʹ):
- Isa 30:14 LXX leaves מִיָּקוּד and מִגֶּבֶא untranslated. However, the Lucianic recension adds ἀπὸ καύστρας ‘from the burning-place’, cf. LSJ, 932b: καυστρα, ‘place where corpses were burnt’.
b. Peshitta (Pesh):
- yaqdānā ‘conflagration, heat’ (not ‘hearth or ‘brazier’!). Brockelmann, LS, 306b ‘incendium’; Payne Smith, TS, 1621/22: ‘1. incendium, conflagratio, exustio; 2. fomes; 3. calor’; Payne Smith (Margoliouth), CSD, 196a: ‘burning, fire; firing, fuel; heat’ (not: ‘hearth’!).
c. Targum (Tg):
- Isa 30:14 ממבעור ‘from the fireplace, hearth’ (Lewy, CWT, Bd. 2, 5).
d. Vulgate (Vg):
- de incendio ‘from the fire’. For incendium Lewis & Short, LD, 918, give the meanings ‘burning, fire, conflagration’, but neither ‘hearth’, nor ‘brazier’.
A.1
5. Lexical/Semantic Fields
A.1 [Will be added later.]
6. Exegesis
6.1 Textual Evidence
A.1 This hapax legomenon is discussed here because several scholars have suggested that it is a household utensil like a ‘brazier’, ‘hearth’ or even ‘oven’ in Isa 30:14.
Normally the qātūl-form serves as passive participle of the Qal (cf. the adjectival use of the active participle in Isa 65:5 כָּל ־הַיֹּום יֹקֶדֶת אֵשׁ ‘a fire burning all day’). Here itseems to have developed into a verbal noun, cf. BL, § 61xα. CHECK GREEK Although the word might denote the low-lying hearth of Palestinian houses by metonymy, the existence of a noun מֹוקֵד which according to many scholars denotes a ‘hearth’ (e.g. Dalman, AuS, Bd. 7, 196ff.: ‘Der in Palästina häufige Kochherd’), i.e. the place where a fire is burning continuously, argues in favour of ‘glowing fire’ for יָקוּד (the present writer suggests that also מֹוקֵד could mean ‘glow[ing fire]’ in Isa 33:14 and Ps 102:4). With regard to the femininum מֹוקְדָה in Lev 6:2 it should be observed that on a big altar only part of the surface was reserved for the fire (or lege sg sf. מֹוקְדָהּ , KBL, 505b, cf. HALAT, 530b).
In Isa 30:13-14 ‘this iniquity’ (הַזֶּה הֶעָוֹן) of the people -- they reject all true vision and prophecy (vv. 9-11) -- is compared with a breach (פֶּּרֶצּ) which causes a high wall to fall down, so that its collapse comes all of a sudden; and again this collapse is compared with the smashing/crushing of a potter’s vessel (יֹוצְרִים נֵבֶל כְּשֵׁבֶר, v. 14), which is smashed so ruthlessly (יַחְמֹל לֹא כָּתוּת) that among its fragments (מְכִתָֹּתֹו) not a sherd (חֶרֶשׂ) is found which is big enough to snatch some burning coals (אֵשׁ לַחְתֹֹּות) from a יָקוּד without burning the hand (cf. Levy, WTM, Bd. 2, 260), or to scoop water from a puddle (מִגֶּבֶא מַיִם לַחְשֹׂף).
It is also possible(reading כְּחֹומָה for בְּחֹומָה in v. 13, and leaving out וּשְׁבָרָהּ in v. 14 [ditt.]) to take vv. 13-14 as three independent metaphors (פֶּּרֶצּ, חֹומָה and שֶׁבֶר) instead of one long simile (Wildberger 1978, 1174-5, 1178), but this does not affect the interpretation of יָקוּד.
There is no indication of the size, the kind of material or the kind of fuel for the fire, but the parallel with scooping water from a puddle might suggest that the יָקוּד is low-lying too.According to several scholars Isa 30:14 alludes to the custom of using a fairly big potsherd to take a few coals from a charcoal fire to a neighbour. According to Dalman it served ‘doch wohl um für das Kochen oder Backen anderes Feuer im Gang zu bringen’ (AuS, Bd. 7, 207). Elsewhere he quotes the Arabic proverb ‘He who comes without a sherd, goes without fire’ and refers to Abraham, who took fire with him for Isaac’s offering (Gen 22:6f.; AuS, Bd. 4, 24-5.). Since in Isa 30:1-5 and 6-7 the iniquity of the people concerns its policy of looking for help to Egypt, this could also be the case in vv. 8-17, though there is no mention of Egypt in these verses.
The word יְקֹד or יְקֹוד in Isa 10:16 is probably the same word with a slightly different vocalisation. The phrase אֵשׁ כִּיקֹוד יְקֹד יֵקַד כְּבֹדֹו וְתַחַת ‘and under his pomp a glowing fire will burn, like the glow of a fire’ evokes the image of a pot being heated on or over the hearth.
6.2 Pictorial Material
A.1 No suggestions, because the word does not refer to a utensil, see Section 7 below.
6.3 Archaeology
A.1 Many remains of flat hearths in the middle or in a corner of a room have been found, cf. BRL2, 146-147.
7. Conclusion
A.1 The Lucianic recension of LXX and TgJ understand יָקוּד as the place where fire is burning, so it might be a hearth or a brazier then. The majority of modern translations and commentaries and some of the modern dictionaries of Biblical Hebrewalso point in that direction (see below). Probably the rendering ‘hearth’ arose as a solution for the enigmatic ‘to take fire from the fire’. Isaiah could circumvent this difficulty by using, in continuation of אֵשׁ, the rather uncommon יָקוּד (cf. Pesh nwr’, followed by yqdn’).
However, Pesh, Vg and the cognates argue in favour of the fire itself. This also fits the context of Isa 30:14 -- and that of the similar noun in Isa 10:16 -- even better. Therefore I think that the proper meaning of יָקוּד lies more in the direction of ‘glowing fire’ than of ‘hearth’, ‘brazier’ or ‘oven’. For the place where it is burning מֹוקֵד seems a more likely candidate, although in my opinion this too could designate ‘glow(ing fire)’.
Bibliography
Procksch 1930: O. Procksch, Jesaja I (KAT, 9/1), Leipzig 1930, 392: ‘um aus einem Brande (miyyaqud) etwas Feuer zu holen’.
Wildberger 1978: H. Wildberger, Jesaja (BK, Bd. 10/13-15), Neukirchen.