H4280 H4280
Cesspools, latrines; the degrading use Jehu made of Baal's destroyed temple (ketiv reading)
This coarse term appears in 2 Kings 10:27 in the ketiv (written) text, though the qere (read) text substitutes a euphemism. After destroying Baal's temple and its worshipers, Jehu converted the sacred site 'into cesspools' or latrines. The word describes the ultimate desecration—transforming a place of pagan worship into facilities for human waste. The ketiv's crude vocabulary matches the contemptuous treatment of Baal's temple. No greater insult existed than turning a holy place into a cloaca. The textual tradition's embarrassment produced the euphemistic reading.
Senses
1. sense 1 — Public latrines or cesspools, the degrading purpose to which Jehu converted Baal's destroyed temple. This ketiv reading uses crude vocabulary appropriate to Jehu's contemptuous desecration of pagan sacred space. Transforming a worship site into facilities for human waste represented ultimate insult and defilement. The term's coarseness captures the zealous king's thorough contempt for Baal worship. Later textual tradition substituted a euphemism, but the original chose shocking vocabulary. 1×
ben["প্রস্রাবাগারে"]·DE["[ketiv]"]·EN["[ketiv]"]·FR["[ketiv]"]·heb["[ל-מחראות]"]·HI["[लमख्राओत]"]·ID["(ketiv)"]·IT["[ketiv]"]·KO["[변소로]"]·PT["[para-latrinas]"]·RU["[нужниками]"]·ES["[para-letrinas]"]·SW["[k]"]·TR["[tuvaletler]"]·urd["[پاخانہ]"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† [מַחֲרָאָה] n.f. only pl. cloaca, cesspool;—מחראות 2 K 10:27 Kt (Qr מוֹצָאוֹת).