The meaning of Sheshach in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
she'-shak (sheshakh, as if "humiliation"; compare shakhakh, "to crouch"): The general explanation is that this is "a cypherform of 'Babel' (Babylon)" which is the word given as equivalent to "Sheshach" by the Targum (Jeremiah 25:26; Jeremiah 51:41; the Septuagint omits in both passages). By the device known as Atbas 'atbas, i.e. disguising a name by substituting the last letter of the alphabet for the first, the letter next to the last for the second, etc., sh-sh-k is substituted for babhel. This theory has not failed of opposition. Delitzsch holds that "Sheshach" represents Sis-ku-KI of an old Babylonian regal register, which may have stood for a part of the city of Babylon. (For a refutation of this interpretation see Schrader, KAT2, 415; COT, II, 108 f.) Lauth, too, takes "Sheshach" to be a Hebraization of Siska, a Babylonian district. Winckler and Sayce read Uru-azagga. Finally, Cheyne and a number of critics hold that the word has crept into the text, being "a conceit of later editors."
See further JEREMIAH, 6.
Horace J. Wolf
See more on the meaning of Sheshach in the Bible:
Sheshach {Easton's Bible Dictionary}
Sheshach {Hitchcock's Bible Name}
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