Topical Bible: The Dead: Terms Used to Express: Corpses

◄ The Dead: Terms Used to Express: Corpses ►

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Topical Encyclopedia

In the Bible, various terms are employed to describe corpses, reflecting the cultural, religious, and linguistic contexts of the ancient Near East. These terms often carry significant theological and symbolic meanings, emphasizing the transient nature of life and the reality of death.

1. Guphah (גּוּפָה): This Hebrew term is used to denote a dead body or corpse. It appears in contexts that emphasize the physicality of death, often in relation to burial practices. For instance, in Numbers 19:11, the law concerning purification after contact with a dead body is outlined: "Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days."

2. Nebelah (נְבֵלָה): Another Hebrew word for a corpse, often used in contexts of ritual impurity and defilement. In Deuteronomy 21:23, the term is used in the context of a body being hung on a tree: "you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse."

3. Pegher (פֶּגֶר): This term is used to describe a carcass or dead body, often in a context of judgment or disgrace. In 1 Samuel 17:46, David declares to Goliath, "This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the air and the creatures of the earth."

4. Tama' (טָמֵא): While not directly a term for a corpse, this word refers to the state of being unclean, often associated with contact with a dead body. Leviticus 21:11 instructs priests regarding ritual purity: "He must not go near any dead body or make himself unclean, even for his father or mother."

5. Nekros (νεκρός): In the New Testament, this Greek term is used to refer to the dead or a dead body. It appears in contexts that highlight the power of Christ over death. In Matthew 8:22, Jesus says, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

6. Ptoma (πτῶμα): This Greek word specifically refers to a fallen body or corpse. It is used in Mark 6:29, describing the aftermath of John the Baptist's execution: "When John's disciples heard about this, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb."

These terms collectively underscore the biblical view of death as a significant and often solemn event, intertwined with themes of purity, judgment, and the hope of resurrection. The language used to describe corpses in the Bible reflects a deep awareness of the human condition and the ultimate sovereignty of God over life and death.

Torrey's Topical Textbook

2 Kings 19:35
And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
Torrey's Topical Textbook

Nahum 3:3
The horseman lifts up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcasses; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble on their corpses:
Torrey's Topical Textbook

Library

Abraham, his Trial in Egypt; his Humility
... empty pomp at, [656]388; the acclamations of mock the dead, [657]ib. ... God, used in
a lower sense, [772]318 ... I think I have the spirit of God," an express claim to ...
/.../abraham his trial in egypt.htm

Dogmatic.
... is called first begotten of the dead because of His being the cause of the resurrection
from the dead, He is ... These terms are thus used without distinction ...
//christianbookshelf.org/basil/basil letters and select works/i dogmatic.htm

Answer to Eunomius' Second Book .
... For when he tells us that the dead were raised, that ... to be, and to be called, are
not convertible terms. ... For, saith he, of words used to express a conception ...
/.../gregory of nyssa dogmatic treatises etc/answer to eunomius second book.htm

The Eighteenth Theban Dynasty --(Continued)
... reverses, and they treated with the conqueror on equal terms.*. ... eg the quiver, the
sword and javelins used by the ... in the native country of the dead man, who ...
/.../chapter ithe eighteenth theban dynastycontinued.htm

Rom. Iv. 1, 2
... we associate with each other on such terms, we shall ... For this reason, now he is dead,
he hath become ... [1297] philosophou gnomes, the word is used (as frequently ...
/.../chrysostom/homilies on acts and romans/homily viii rom iv 1.htm

On the Soul and the Resurrection.
... if you bury it beneath a mound, that dead man is ... good" and "evil" are equivocal;
they are used in two ... bosom," so does Scripture seem to me to express the idea ...
/.../gregory/gregory of nyssa dogmatic treatises etc/on the soul and the 2.htm

A Plea Regarding Christians by Athenagoras, the Athenian
... multiply names for the divine by the terms they use ... strike their breasts as if lamenting
the dead and then ... no other way of addressing him, he used the popular ...
/.../richardson/early christian fathers/a plea regarding christians by.htm

Introductory Notice Respecting Tauler's Life and Times
... distinguished persons, would seem to have been used among themselves ... latter days
to rise again from the dead, to render ... But the terms of the Bull to this effect ...
/.../introductory notice respecting taulers life.htm

Dialogue iii. --The Impassible.
... of the body, but as far as the words used go, signifies ... he asked him whether He had
been any while dead. ... Observe with admiration, the harmony of terms, and how ...
/.../the ecclesiastical history of theodoret/dialogue iii the impassible.htm

Funeral Oration on the Great S. Basil, Bishop of C??sarea in ...
... been ordained that the great Basil, who used so constantly ... are also ours, for though
their terms are different ... health, zealous purpose raises the dead, and old ...
/.../cyril/lectures of s cyril of jerusalem/oration xliii funeral oration on.htm