חֶרֶא
excrement
Definition
The Hebrew word חֶרֶא (chereʼ) refers specifically to human excrement or dung. In its single biblical occurrence, it denotes the waste material that the besieged people of Jerusalem were threatened with having to eat during the Assyrian siege (Isaiah 36:12). The word carries a strong connotation of filth and degradation. A variant spelling, חֲרִי (chariy), found in Ezekiel 4:12-15, refers to the same substance used as fuel for cooking, highlighting its use in desperate circumstances.
Biblical Usage
This word is used only once directly as חֶרֶא, in Isaiah 36:12, within a speech by the Assyrian field commander Rabshakeh. He uses it as a graphic, shocking threat to demoralize King Hezekiah's defenders, stating they will be reduced to eating their own excrement and drinking their own urine due to the siege. The conceptually identical variant חֲרִי appears in Ezekiel 4:12-15, where the prophet is commanded to bake his bread using human dung as fuel, symbolizing the unclean food Israel would eat in exile. Both uses occur in prophetic contexts depicting extreme deprivation, defilement, and covenant curse.
Etymology
Derived from an unused and vulgar Hebrew root likely meaning 'to evacuate the bowels.' It is a base, physical term with no known direct cognates in other Semitic languages, underscoring its crude and specific nature. The variant form חֲרִי (chariy) represents a slight morphological shift but carries the same core meaning.
Semantic Range
This word is theologically significant as a stark symbol of covenant curse, defilement, and utter degradation. In Isaiah 36:12, it illustrates the depths of humiliation and desperation threatened by an enemy, contrasting God's provision with the curse of siege. In Ezekiel 4:12-15, its use as fuel graphically portrays the spiritual and physical uncleanness Israel would experience in exile, separated from the purity laws of the Temple. Understanding this Hebrew term enriches reading by revealing the shocking, visceral language the biblical authors used to communicate the severe consequences of rebellion against God.
In the ancient Near East, human excrement was considered profoundly unclean and degrading. Its mention in a military threat (Isaiah 36:12) was intended to horrify and demoralize, as eating it represented the absolute collapse of civilization and dignity. Using dung as fuel (Ezekiel 4) was an act of extreme poverty and impurity, violating normal standards of cleanliness and separating the user from proper community and worship. The modern understanding of waste differs in sanitation context but retains the core association with revulsion and abasement.
צֵאָה (tseʼah, H6675) — general term for excrement or bodily discharge, often in ritual impurity laws (e.g., Deuteronomy 23:13). גֶּלֶל (gelel, H1557) — dung, often of animals, used as manure or fuel (e.g., 1 Kings 14:10). דֹּמֶן (domen, H1828) — manure, dung, often used metaphorically for worthlessness or as fertilizer (e.g., 2 Kings 9:37, Luke 13:8 in the Greek NT).
Word Details
How this works
Hebrew definitions are from Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906) and Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (1890), both public domain. BDB was groundbreaking for its era but reflects 19th-century assumptions about Semitic etymology. Modern scholarship (HALOT, DCH) has revised many entries. Use these definitions as a starting point for exploration, not as the final word on a term's meaning in context.
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