כֶּ֫לֶב noun masculine^{1Sam 24:15} dog (Late Hebrew id.; Phoenician כלב; Aramaic כַּלְבָּא, , Arabic ; Ethiopic Assyrian kalbu Dl^{HWB 328}) — absolute ׳כ Judges 7:5 16t., כָּ֑לֶב Psalm 59:7; Psalm 59:15; plural כְּלָבִים 1 Kings 14:11 12t.; construct כַּלְבֵי Job 30:1; suffix כְּלָבֶיךָ Psalm 68:24; — dog:

a. literal 1 Kings 14:11; 1 Kings 16:4; 1 Kings 21:19 (twice in verse); 1 Kings 21:23,24; 1 Kings 22:38; 2 Kings 9:10,36 (all of fierce, hungry dogs, devouring dead bodies and licking blood); compare Jeremiah 15:3 and (לְשׁוֺן כְּלָבֶיךָ) Psalm 68:24; eating torn flesh, Exodus 22:30 (E), כַּלְבֵי צאֹנִי = my sheep-dogs, only Job 30:1 (in both these with implied inferiority); dog-sacrifice was a heathen rite Isaiah 66:3 (Di and others); see especially RS^{Semitic i, 273} (291), 325 (343); invarious simile Judges 7:5; Proverbs 26:11,17; Psalm 59:7; Psalm 59:15; in proverbial sayings: לֹא לִשֹׁנוֺ ׳יֶחֱרַץכֿ Exodus 11:7 (see I. חרץ); מֵת טוֺב מִןֿ ׳לְכ הָאַרְיֵה הַמֵּת Ecclesiastes 9:4.

b. applied, figurative, to men, in contempt 1 Samuel 17:43, so of psalmist's enemies Psalm 22:17; Psalm 22:21, or in excessive humility 2 Kings 8:13; still more emphatically מֵת ׳כ a dead dog, הַמֵּת ׳הַכּ 2 Samuel 9:8; 2 Samuel 16:9; also ׳ראֹשׁ כ 2 Samuel 3:8; כְּלָבִים אִלְּמִים Isaiah 56:10 (of misleading prophets), עַזֵּי נֶפֶשׁ ׳הַכּ Isaiah 56:11 (id.); ׳כ was name given to male temple-prostitutes Deuteronomy 23:19 (see Dr; compare קָדֵשׁ).