International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
SWELLswel (tsabhah): In the ordeal of the Water of Jealousy described in Numbers 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 Deuteronomy 8:4 and Nehemiah 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
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
1. (
v. i.) To grow larger; to dilate or extend the exterior surface or dimensions, by matter added within, or by expansion of the enclosed substance; as, the legs swell in dropsy; a bruised part swells; a bladder swells by inflation.
2. (v. i.) To increase in size or extent by any addition; to increase in volume or force; as, a river swells, and overflows its banks; sounds swell or diminish.
3. (v. i.) To rise or be driven into waves or billows; to heave; as, in tempest, the ocean swells into waves.
4. (v. i.) To be puffed up or bloated; as, to swell with pride.
5. (v. i.) To be inflated; to belly; as, the sails swell.
6. (v. i.) To be turgid, bombastic, or extravagant; as, swelling words; a swelling style.
7. (v. i.) To protuberate; to bulge out; as, a cask swells in the middle.
8. (v. i.) To be elated; to rise arrogantly.
9. (v. i.) To grow upon the view; to become larger; to expand.
10. (v. i.) To become larger in amount; as, many little debts added, swell to a great amount.
11. (v. i.) To act in a pompous, ostentatious, or arrogant manner; to strut; to look big.
12. (v. t.) To increase the size, bulk, or dimensions of; to cause to rise, dilate, or increase; as, rains and dissolving snow swell the rivers in spring; immigration swells the population.
13. (v. t.) To aggravate; to heighten.
14. (v. t.) To raise to arrogance; to puff up; to inflate; as, to be swelled with pride or haughtiness.
15. (v. t.) To augment gradually in force or loudness, as the sound of a note.
16. (n.) The act of swelling.
17. (n.) Gradual increase.
18. (n.) Increase or augmentation in bulk; protuberance.
19. (n.) Increase in height; elevation; rise.
20. (n.) Increase of force, intensity, or volume of sound.
21. (n.) Increase of power in style, or of rhetorical force.
22. (n.) A gradual ascent, or rounded elevation, of land; as, an extensive plain abounding with little swells.
23. (n.) A wave, or billow; especially, a succession of large waves; the roll of the sea after a storm; as, a heavy swell sets into the harbor.
24. (n.) A gradual increase and decrease of the volume of sound; the crescendo and diminuendo combined; -- generally indicated by the sign.
25. (n.) A showy, dashing person; a dandy.
26. (a.) Having the characteristics of a person of rank and importance; showy; dandified; distinguished; as, a swell person; a swell neighborhood.
Strong's Hebrew
6638. tsabah -- to swell, swell up... to
swell,
swell up. Transliteration: tsabah Phonetic Spelling: (tsaw-baw') Short
Definition:
swell.
... root Definition to
swell,
swell up NASB Word Usage
swell (2).
... /hebrew/6638.htm - 5k 1216. batseq -- to swell
... << 1215, 1216. batseq. 1217 >>. to swell. Transliteration: batseq Phonetic
Spelling: (baw-tsake') Short Definition: swell. Word Origin ...
/hebrew/1216.htm - 5k
1158. baah -- to inquire, cause to swell or boil up
... to inquire, cause to swell or boil up. Transliteration: baah Phonetic Spelling:
(baw-aw') Short Definition: inquire. ... cause, inquire, seek up, swell out. ...
/hebrew/1158.htm - 6k
1921. hadar -- to honor, adorn, perhaps to swell
... << 1920, 1921. hadar. 1922 >>. to honor, adorn, perhaps to swell. Transliteration:
hadar Phonetic Spelling: (haw-dar') Short Definition: honor. Word Origin a prim ...
/hebrew/1921.htm - 6k
6075. aphal -- to swell
... to swell. Transliteration: aphal Phonetic Spelling: (aw-fal') Short Definition:
up. ... A primitive root; to swell; figuratively, be elated -- be lifted up, presume. ...
/hebrew/6075.htm - 5k
6075a. aphal -- to swell
... aphal. 6075b >>. to swell. Transliteration: aphal Short Definition: proud. Word
Origin a prim. root Definition to swell NASB Word Usage proud (1). ...
/hebrew/6075a.htm - 5k
6639. tsabeh -- swelling, swollen
... tsabeh. 6640 >>. swelling, swollen. Transliteration: tsabeh Phonetic Spelling:
(tsaw-beh') Short Definition: swell. ... swell. From tsabah; turgid -- swell. ...
/hebrew/6639.htm - 6k
6117. aqab -- to follow at the heel, assail insidiously ...
... A primitive root; properly, to swell out or up; used only as denominative from aqeb,
to seize by the heel; figuratively, to circumvent (as if tripping up the ...
/hebrew/6117.htm - 6k
7736. shud -- waste
... waste A primitive root; properly, to swell up, ie Figuratively (by implication of
insolence) to devastate -- waste. << 7735, 7736. shud. 7737 >>. Strong's Numbers
/hebrew/7736.htm - 5k
1218. Botsqath -- a city in Judah
... Bozcath, Boskath. From batseq; a swell of ground; Botscath, a place in Palestine --
Bozcath, Boskath. see HEBREW batseq. << 1217, 1218. Botsqath. 1219 >>. ...
/hebrew/1218.htm - 6k
