swod'-'-l, swod'-ling-band (verb chathal, "enwrap," "swaddle" (Ezek 16:4), noun chathullah, "swaddling-band" (Job 38:9); verb sparganoo, "to wrap in swaddling clothes" (Lk 2:7,12), noun spargana (pl.), "swaddling clothes" (The Wisdom of Solomon 7:4). the King James Version also has "swaddle" (Lam 2:22) for Taphach, literally, "to extend." But the word means "to carry on the outstretched palms of the hands" (compare Tippuchim, "dandled in the hands," Lam 2:20), whence RV's "to dandle"): "To swaddle" and "to swathe" are really the same word, both forms going back to an AS form swethel, "a bandage," but "swaddle" has become the technical term for the wrapping of an infant in the Orient or elsewhere. The oriental swaddling-clothes consist of a square of cloth and two or more bandages. The child is laid on the cloth diagonally and the corners are folded over the feet and body and under the head, the bandages then being tied so as to hold the cloth in position. This device forms the clothing of the child until it is about a year old, and its omission (Ezek 16:4) would be a token that the child had been abandoned. The mention of darkness as a "swaddling-band" at the birth of the sea (Job 38:9) is only a poetic way of saying that the sea, at its creation, was covered with clouds and darkness, and to find any idea of restraint involved is fanciful.
Burton Scott Easton
swal'-o (deror; strouthos, in Proverbs and Psalms, chelidon, in Isa; Latin Hirundo rustica): A small long-winged bird of exhaustless flight, belonging to the family Hirundinidae. Deror means the bird of freedom, and as the swallow is of tireless wing, it has been settled upon as fitting the requirements of the text. In the passages where `aghur is translated "swallow," there is a mistake, that word referring to the crane. There is also a word, cuc or cic, that means a rushing sound, that is incorrectly translated "swallow," when it should be "swift" (Cypselus apus).
These birds are near relatives and so alike on the wing as to be indistinguishable to any save a close observer. Yet the Hebrews knew and made a difference. The swallow is a trifle larger and different in color. It remains all the year, while in numerous instances the swift migrates and is a regular sign of returning spring. The swallow is of long and tireless flight. The swift is so much faster that the sound of its wings can be heard when passing. The swallow plasters a mud nest under eaves, on towers, belfries, and close to human habitations. The swifts are less intimate, building in deserted places, under bridges and on rocky crevices. The swallows utter constantly a rather sweet low note; the swifts chatter harshly and incessantly at their nests. These differences are observable to the most careless people. Scientists separate the birds on account of anatomical structure also. Despite this, the birds are confused in most of our translations.
"Like a swallow or a crane, so did I chatter;
I did moan as a dove; mine eyes fail with looking upward:
O Lord, I am oppressed, be thou my surety"
(Isa 38:14).
Here `aghur is translated "swallow" and cuc "crane," which is clearly interchanging words, as the Arabic for "swift" is cuc, the same as the Hebrew. The line should read, "swift and crane." And another reason for changing swallow to swift, in this passage, lies in the fact that of the two birds the swift is the incessant and raucous chatterer, and this was the idea in the mind of Hezekiah when he sang his Trouble Song. Another incorrect reference is found in Jer 8:7: "Yea, the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle-dove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the law of Yahweh." Few swallows migrate. Returning swifts are one of the first signs of spring.
"As the sparrow in her wandering, as the swallow in her flying,
So the curse that is causeless alighteth not" (Prov 26:2).
This reference might apply to either, remembering always that the swift took its name from its exceptional flight, it being able to cover over 80 miles an hour. However, the swallow is credited with 800 miles in a night.
"Yea, the sparrow hath found her a house,
And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young,
Even thine altars, O Yahweh of hosts,
My King, and my God" (Ps 84:3).
Here is one instance, at least, where the swallow is at home and the translation correct. The swift might possibly have built in the temple: the swallow was sure to be there.
Gene Stratton-Porter
swon (tinshemeth, "chameleon," "tree-toad," "water-hen," "owl"; kuknos; Latin cygnus; Anglo-Saxon: swan and swon): Mentioned only in old versions and the Revised Version margin in Lev 11:18: "the swan, and the pelican, and the gier eagle," and in Dt 14:16 Septuagint porphurion = "water-hen"; Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) ibis). In the Revised Version (British and American) this is rightly changed to "the horned owl, and the pelican, and the vulture." A bird of the duck family wrongly placed among the abominations in old versions of the Bible, now changed to horned owl.
White and gray swans spend their winter migratory season on the waters of the Holy Land. They are among the most ancient birds of history; always have been used for food; when young and tender, of fine flesh and delicious flavor; so there is no possibility that they were ever rightfully placed among the birds unsuitable for food. Their feeding habits are aquatic, their food in no way objectionable.
Gene Stratton-Porter
swar'-ing.
See OATH ;PERJURY ;CRIMES ;PUNISHMENTS .
swet (ze`ah (Gen 3:19), yeza` (Ezek 44:18); hidros (2 Macc 2:26; Lk 22:44)): "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread" (Gen 3:19). Somewhat difficult is the passage, which the Revised Version (British and American) renders: "But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok .... shall have linen tires upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causeth sweat," literally, "they shall not gird themselves with sweat" (Ezek 44:15,18). The idea is evidently that profuse perspiration would make their ministrations unpleasant. The rule was of special importance in the sultry climate of Palestine.
Luke, the physician, describing the agony of the Lord in Gethsemane, says: "His sweat became as it were great drops (thromboi) of blood falling down upon the ground" (Lk 22:44, the Revised Version (British and American), following Codex Sinaiticus (a), Codex Alexandrinus, Codex Vaticanus etc., notes in margin: "Many ancient authorities omit Lk 22:43,44"). There are two difficulties of interpretation in this passage, apart from the difficulty which the physiological explanation of the phenomenon presents: (1) the word (thrombos) translated "drop" means literally, "a clot of blood," "a lump," "a curd," and is nowhere else used in the sense of drop. (2) It has been generally accepted that the sweat of the brow of Jesus had become bloody in appearance and in character, a symptom called in ancient medicine haimatodes hidros, "bloody sweat." It must, however, be observed that this translation would make the Greek particle hosei, superfluous, by which, not the identity of the sweat with drops of blood, but a certain similarity or comparison must be intended. Ch. Th. Kuinoel, in his Latin commentary on the historical books of the New Testament (Leipzig, 1809, II, 654), has given all known parallel instances in history and legend, which seem to prove that under certain psychological or physiological conditions, though rarely, haimatodes hidros has occurred.
Olshausen in his Commentary, II, 469, thinks that the following points of comparison might have been in the mind of Luke: (1) the sweat may have appeared on the forehead of Jesus in heavy drops; (2) these may have dropped visibly to the ground, just as drops of blood fall from a wound; (3) in addition, possibly a reddish color may have been noticeable, owing to an exudation of the arteries, though the latter is not directly expressed in the words of the evangelist. See also Dr. Stroud, On the Physical Cause of the Death of Christ, 183; Bynaeus, De morte Christi, II, 33.
The people of Palestine in Greek-Roman times were generally provided with handkerchiefs, used especially to wipe off the perspiration. The fashion was derived from Rome, whence the name of these napkins became soudarion, Latin sudarium. The late legend of Berenice or Veronica, who presented her handkerchief to the Saviour on His way to be crucified, and who found, when it had been returned to her by the Lord, that His features had been imprinted upon the cloth, is a reminiscence of this use. These handkerchiefs were frequently used to tie up small bundles of certain possessions, money, etc. (Lk 19:20). As a rule the dead had their faces covered with one, or had it tied around the head (Jn 11:44; 20:7). In Ephesus the handkerchiefs of Paul were carried to the sick, and achieved miraculous cures (Acts 19:12).
The verb hidroo, "to sweat," is found in a rather difficult passage of the Didache (i.6), which is introduced as a quotation, the source of which, however, we do not know: "Let thy alms sweat into (in ?) thy hands, until thou knowest to whom thou givest." The context seems to show that we have here a free repetition of the arguments of Sirach 12:1 ff. so that the meaning would be: "In giving charity, do not give indiscriminately or thoughtlessly, but consider carefully so that no one who is unworthy receive your benefaction." Still it is not impossible that the text is corrupt in the passage.
H. L. E. Luering
swet kan.
See REED .
See SPICES .
swel (tsabhah): In the ordeal of the Water of Jealousy described in Nu 5:11-31 (P), the effect on the unfaithful wife ot the drinking of the holy water was to cause the thigh to fall away (Revised Version) or rot (the King James Version) and the abdomen to "swell." This ceremonial was a direct appeal to the judgment of God, for there was nothing in the holy water (taken from the laver) or the dust of the temple which was mixed with it to produce this effect. In the Talmudic tract Cotah there are given many rabbinical opinions and particulars as to the procedure in later times. Apparently from the passage in Numbers, the judgment speedily followed the appeal, but according to Sotah, iii.4, it might be postponed even for four years, and in v.1, it is said to have produced the same effect on the adulterer as on the unfaithful wife. We have no details as to the nature or permanency of the swelling.
"Swell" as the translation of another word, batseq, is used in the sense of blistering of the feet from long tramping. Both in Dt 8:4 and Neh 9:21 it is said that in spite of their long wilderness marches the feet of the Israelites did not swell. This was a token of divine protection.
See SWOLLEN .
Alexander Macalister
swel'-ing: The verb ga'-ah, means "rise up" (Ezek 47:5, etc.), so that the noun ga'awah (Ps 46:3) means "arising." The "swelling" of the sea that shakes the mountains is a perfectly good translation, and "pride" (so the American Revised Version margin) is beside the mark. In Jer 12:5; 49:19 parallel 50:44; Zec 11:3 is found the phrase ge'on ha-yarden, "exaltation of the Jordan," which the King James Version translates "pride of Jordan" in Zechariah and "swelling of Jordan" in Jeremiah (the Revised Version (British and American) has "pride" throughout, with "swelling" in the margin of Jeremiah). What is described is a place, with a mass of vegetation, easily burned (Zec 11:1-3), a lair of lions (Jer 49:19; Zec 11:3), and a particularly dangerous place for human beings (Jer 12:5). The luxuriant thicket of the Jordan bank is evidently meant, which could well be spoken of as "Jordan's pride" (OHL, "majesty of the Jordan"), and "swelling" is quite impossible.
In the New Testament "swelling" is used in 2 Cor 12:20 for phusiosis, "puffing up," "blatant self-conceit," and 2 Pet 2:18 parallel Jude verse 16 for huperogkos, "overgrown," "solemnly inane."
Burton Scott Easton
See SWALLOW .
(kirkaroth (Isa 66:20)): the King James Version and the English Revised Version "swift beasts," the English Revised Version margin and the American Standard Revised Version "dromedaries." In Mic 1:13 (rekhesh) a horse is meant, the Revised Version (British and American) "swift steed."
swin (chazir; compare Arabic khinzir; hus, Septuagint and New Testament; compare Greek sus, and Latin sus; adjective hueios, as a substantive, the Septuagint; choiros, Septuagint and New Testament): In both ancient and modern times domestic swine have been little kept in Palestine, but wild swine are well known as inhabitants of the thickets of the Chuleh, the Jordan valley, the Dead Sea, and some of the mountains. The species is Susanna scrofa, the wild pig of Europe, North Africa and Western Asia.
In the Old Testament the swine is mentioned in Lev 11:7 and Dt 14:8 as an unclean animal: "And the swine, because he parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, but cheweth not the cud, he is unclean unto you." In Isa 65:4 and 66:3,17 the eating of swine's flesh and the offering of oblations of swine's blood are referred to as abominations. Septuagint also refers to swine in three passages where these animals are not mentioned in the Hebrew and EV. In 2 Sam 17:8 where English Versions of the Bible has "as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field," Septuagint adds (translation) "and as a savage boar in the plain." In 1 Ki 21:19 Septuagint 20:19), where English Versions of the Bible has "in the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth," Septuagint has "where the swine and the dogs licked"; similarly in 1 Ki 22:38. In 1 Macc 1:47 there is reference to a decree of Antiochus ordering the sacrifice of swine. In 2 Macc 6 and 7 there are accounts of the torture and death of Eleazar, an aged scribe, and of a mother and her seven sons for refusing to taste swine's flesh. Swine, the property of Gentiles, are mentioned in the account of the Gadarene demoniac (Mt 8:30,31,32; Mk 5:11,12,13,14,16; Lk 8:32,33), and in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:15,16).
Figurative: We find the following figurative references to swine:
"The boar out of the wood doth ravage it,
And the wild beasts of the field feed on it" (i.e. on the "vine out of Egypt") (Ps 80:13);
"As a ring of gold in a swine's snout,
So is a fair woman that is without discretion"
(Prov 11:22);
"The Carmonians (the King James Version Carmanians, perhaps of Kirman or Carmania, in Southwestern Persia) raging in wrath shall go forth as the wild boars of the wood"
(2 Esdras 15:30);
"The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire"
(2 Pet 2:22; compare Prov 26:11).
Alfred Ely Day
swol'-'-n (pimprasthai, only in Acts 28:6): The Melitans expected to see Paul poisoned by the viper's bite. the Revised Version (British and American) and the King James Version translate it "swollen," but the word is used by certain medical writers in the sense of inflammation; see Nicander, Theriaca, 306; Hesiod, Theogonia, 856, expressing thereby the burning up by a thunderbolt. Swelling accompanies the local lesion of snake-bite and often large purpuric exudation of blood, as well as paralysis, especially of the lower limbs.
sord.
See ARMOR ,III , 5.