The meaning of Carcass; Carcase in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
kar'-kas: The dead body of a beast; used sometimes in a contemptuous way of the dead body of a human being. The use of the word as applied to a living body is not found in either Old Testament or New Testament. (1) It occurs as a translation of the Hebrew pegher, in Genesis 15:11; this Hebrew word is also translated "dead body" in Numbers 14:29; I Samuel 17:46; Isaiah 34:3; Isaiah 66:24; Ezekiel 6:5; Ezekiel 43:7, Ezekiel 43:9, and "corpse" in Nahum 3:3. (2) The Hebrew nebhelah, is also translated "carcass" in Leviticus 5:2; Leviticus 11:8, Leviticus 11:11; Jeremiah 16:18, but as "dead body" in Deuteronomy 28:26 ("body," Joshua 8:29; I Kings 13:22, I Kings 13:29; II Kings 9:37); Isaiah 5:25; Jeremiah 7:33; Jeremiah 16:4; Jeremiah 19:7. (3) In Judges 14:8 the word mappelah, from naphal, "to incline" or "fall," is also translated "carcass." (4) In Matthew 24:28 the word "carcase" (not "carcass") is used to render the Greek ptoma, the reference probably being here to the dead body of an animal For the body of a human being the Greek is translated "corpse" (Matthew 14:12; Mark 6:29; Mark 15:45), and "dead bodies" (Revelation 11:8-9).
W. N. Stearns
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