H0106 H0106
fist, clenched hand used for striking
The closed hand, used for punching or striking someone. Exodus 21:18 includes it in case law about violence: if men quarrel and one strikes another with a stone or with the fist, causing injury but not death, the striker owes compensation. Isaiah 58:4 condemns fasting accompanied by 'striking with a wicked fist'—religious performance alongside violence invalidates the fast. Both uses involve the fist as a weapon, the clenched hand employed to harm another person.
Senses
1. sense 1 — The Hebrew word appears in legal and prophetic contexts, always involving violence. Exodus 21 specifies 'fist' alongside 'stone' as potential weapons in assaults—close-combat violence requiring compensation. The Septuagint and Vulgate both use words for 'fist,' the Targum glosses with terms for club or staff (perhaps extending the meaning). Isaiah's indictment is sharper: you fast while striking people with wicked fists—external piety masking internal brutality. The fist represents aggressive, personal violence, hand-to-hand conflict rather than distant harm. 2×
AR["بِ-قَبضَةٍ", "بِ-كُمْرَةِ"]·ben["মুষ্টি-দিয়ে", "মুষ্টিতে"]·DE["[באגרף]", "mit-ein-fist"]·EN["with-a-fist", "with-a-fist-of"]·FR["[באגרף]", "avec-un-fist"]·heb["ב-אגרוף"]·HI["मुट्ठीसे", "से-मुट्ठी"]·ID["dengan-tinju"]·IT["[באגרף]", "con-un-fist"]·jav["kaliyan-kepel", "nganggo-kepal;"]·KO["주먹-으로", "주먹으로-"]·PT["com-punho", "com-punho-de"]·RU["кулаком", "кулаком-"]·ES["con-el-puño-de", "con-puño"]·SW["kwa-ngumi"]·TR["yumrukla", "yumrukla-"]·urd["مکے-سے"]
Related Senses
H7200 1. Qal: to see, perceive (1257×)G4771 2. you (singular address) (1077×)H8085 1. Qal: hear, perceive aurally (921×)H0859a 1. you (2nd person masculine singular pronoun) (743×)H0398 1. eat (consume food) (697×)H4191 1. die (Qal: natural/general death) (645×)G3708 1. see, perceive visually (419×)G0191 1. hear, perceive sound (360×)H???? 3. (352×)G3708 2. behold, look (exclamatory) (256×)H7272 1. foot (body part) (236×)H8354 1. drink, consume liquid (209×)H3205 1. Qal active: bear/give birth (female subject) (204×)H3205 2. Qal active: beget/father (male subject) (198×)H2421 1. Qal: live, be alive (177×)H8085 2. Qal: listen, heed, pay attention (172×)H2416a 1. alive, living (state/attribute) (146×)H2416e 1. life, lifespan, lifetime (145×)G2198 1. be alive, have life (133×)H8193 1. lip, lips (body part) (123×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† אֶגְרֹף n.[m.] fist (𝔊 πνγμή, so 𝔙; but 𝔗 club, staff(?), & so SS, cf. especially Ex 21:18;—NH אֶגְרוֹף)—וִהִכָּה אִישׁ אֶת־רֵעֵהוּ בְּאֶבֶן אוֹ בְאֶגְרֹ֑ף Ex 21:18; (cstr.) לְהַכּוֹת בְּאֶגְרֹף רֶ֑שַׁע Is 58:4.