Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

LIZARD

A reptile, usually small, of the suborder Lacertilia, a wide variety of which are found in the Middle East. Six different Hebrew words appear as designation of lizards only in Lev. 11:29-30. Because Hebrew zoological terms did not have the precision of modern scientific terminology, little is absolute about the meaning of these terms beyond the probability that they all stand for types of lizards: Heb. ṣāḇ (NRSV “great lizard”; KJV “tortoise”); ʾănāqâ (NRSV “gecko”; lit., “groaning, crying,” which may stand for the gecko’s characteristic sound); kōaḥ (NRSV “land crocodile”; lit., “strength,” probably used for the most powerful-appearing lizard); lĕṭāʾâ (NRSV “lizard”); ḥōmeṭ (NRSV “sand lizard”); and tinšemeṯ (NRSV “chameleon”; also used for a variety of birds at Lev. 11:18; Deut. 14:16). Heb. śĕmāmîṯ (Prov. 30:28) may be another word for some kind of lizard; in Talmudic Aramaic the word (spelled sĕmāmîṯ or sĕmāmîṯāʾ) is used for poisonous spiders as well as lizards.

Jesper Svartvik

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

LIZARD

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)