Dictionaries :: Hiss

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Hiss:

to express contempt (Job 27:23). The destruction of the temple is thus spoken of (1Ki 9:8). Zechariah (Zec 10:8) speaks of the Lord gathering the house of Judah as it were with a hiss: "I will hiss for them." This expression may be "derived from the noise made to attract bees in hiving, or from the sound naturally made to attract a person's attention."

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Hiss:

his (sharaq): "To hiss" has two applications:

(1) to call,

(2) to express contempt or scorn.

(1) It is the translation of sharaq, a mimetic word meaning to hiss or whistle, to call (bees, etc.), (a) Isa 5:26, "I will hiss unto them from the ends of the earth," the Revised Version (British and American) "hiss for them (margin "him") from the end of the earth"; 7:18, "Yahweh will hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria"; namely, Egyptians whose land was noted for flies (18:1) and Assyrians whose country was pre-eminently one of bees. Dangerous enemies are compared to bees in De 1:44; Ps 118:12 (Skinner's Isaiah): Zec 10:8, "I will hiss for them, and gather them" (His own people, who will come at His call).

(2) More often, to hiss is to express contempt or derision (1Ki 9:8; Job 27:23; Jer 19:8, etc.). In this sense we have also frequently a hissing (2Ch 29:8; Jer 19:8; 25:9,18; 29:18; 51:37; Mic 6:16, shereqah); Jer 18:16, sheriqoth or sheruqoth; Ecclesiasticus 22:1, "Every one will hiss him (the slothful man) out in his disgrace" (eksurisso, "to hiss out"); The Wisdom of Solomon 17:9, "hissing of serpents" (surigmos).

Written by W. L. Walker

King James Dictionary

Hiss: Whistle.

And He will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will HISS unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly. (Isaiah 5:26)