Yesterday a friend wrote to me asking, "I was wondering if you have any insight on Proverbs 30:28... KJV says ‘spider’ and most others say ‘lizard.’ Just curious about the confusion ... seems like two totally different creatures, although small, vastly unique from each other."

It’s true-- check it out. Every major translation other than the KJV and NKJV contains lizard instead of spider:

Proverbs 30:28
KJV	The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.
NKJV	The spider* skillfully grasps with its hands, And it is in kings’ palaces. *Or lizard
RV/ASV	The lizard taketh hold with her hands, Yet is she in kings’ palaces.
RSV/ESV	the lizard you can take in your hands, yet it is in kings’ palaces.
NASB	The lizard you may grasp with the hands, Yet it is in kings’ palaces.
NIV/TNIV	a lizard can be caught with the hand, yet it is found in kings’ palaces.
JPS	You can catch the lizard in your hand, Yet it is found in royal palaces.
NRSV	the lizard* can be grasped in the hand, yet it is found in kings’ palaces. *Or spider
NLT	Lizards—they are easy to catch, but they are found even in kings’ palaces.
HCSB	a lizard* can be caught in your hands, yet it lives in kings’ palaces. *Or spider
NET	a lizard you can catch with the hand, but it gets into the palaces of the king.
NETS	and the lizard, though dependent on its hands and being easily caught, it lives in the king’s fortresses.

So, of course I turned to Accordance. I opened up both the NASB and BHS Hebrew Bible modules side by side because I knew that I didn't know the Hebrew word for spider/lizard off the top of my head and the NASB has Hebrew tagging. After determining ‏‏שׂממית/semamit was the word in question, I triple clicked on it to open the Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT).

It's a lizard. Maybe even a gecko. Now I'm picturing in my mind the one from the Geico commercials. In fact, in keeping with the context of Prov 30:28, I can picture the little fellow, hanging out in the king's court, with one hand on the throne and the other on his hip, doling out advice and other clever quips.

To double-check, I switched over to Brown-Drivers-Briggs Hebrew lexicon. It's still a lizard of some kind. Definitely not a spider.

So where in the world did the King James translators get "spider"?

I've come to the point in the last couple of years that when I want a quick answer to questions like that, I simply turn first to the NET Bible notes. Sure, commentaries are great for more in depth information, but the NET Bible notes have the answer in a nutshell--usually. I mean, normally there's an answer for everything in those 60K+ notes.

Sure enough, the NET Bible seemed to have it covered:

"The KJV, agreeing with Tg. Prov 30:28, translated this term as ‘spider.’ But almost all modern English versions and commentators, following the Greek and the Latin versions, have ‘lizard.’”

Okay, so this made a good bit of sense to me. The KJV Old Testament translators had a reputation for being very familiar with Jewish literature. Perhaps even the meaning of ‏שׂממית was in question, and they turned to the Targums for answers.

For the curious, here is Prov 30:28 in the LXX and Latin as referred to in the NET Bible Note:

LXX	καὶ καλαβώτης χερσὶν ἐρειδόμενος καὶ εὐάλωτος ὢν κατοικεῖ ἐν ὀχυρώμασιν βασιλέως
VULGATE	stilio manibus nititur et moratur in aedibus regis

As expected, both the LXX and the Vulgate refer to a lizard (or a spotted lizard, or a gecko).

Now, I’ve got the Targums in Accordance as well, but I’ve never really used them much. In fact, I discovered in trying to look up Proverbs 30:28 that I didn’t even have the newest release. After installing the updated set of modules, I was able to look up the passage.

There is indeed a different word here, ‏אקמת/’qmt. I couldn’t find the word in either Hebrew Lexicon, and it does not seem to be similar to the Hebrew word for spider (‏עכביש/‘akkavish). However, if I understand the nature of the Targums correctly, Proverbs was actually copied from the Syriac Peshitta. So, this really isn’t even Hebrew/Aramaic, but rather Syriac. And thus, this is really outside my language skills. Further, I don’t have an English translation of the Targum for Prov 30:28. However, the English gloss in Accordance for ‏אקמת/’qmt is lizard.

Regardless I would be interested in further information. Perhaps Iyov (if you’re back from your travels) or John Hobbins might offer some insight.

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UPDATE: As expected, Iyov provided helpful information in the comments:

“It is well known that the KJV translators relied on Rashi [Britannica | Wikipedia] at many points -- and Rashi gave the translation here as "erinée" (Old French, in Modern French, "araignée" -- spider). Whether Rashi relied the Targums, I cannot say, but all later Jewish commentators refer back to Rashi.

I would find it a bit remarkable if the KJV used the Targums -- I do not believe they were expert in Aramaic, and Targum to Proverbs is a bit obscure even today.”

So it seems to me--at this point--that it may indeed be the NET Bible notes that are in error. The source for “spider” in the KJV & NKJV seems to be the medieval commentator Rashi, not the Targum on Prov 30:28, which according to the English gloss in Accordance, also uses a word for lizard, not spider.

Tags: Proverbs, Targums, NET, KJV

I recently switched from my trusty New American Standard Bible (which I have been using since 1980!) to the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Whereas the NASB is pretty literal, all the time, the HCSB is literal most of the time; but the translators gave themselves the freedom to be dynamic in their translation when the literal sense would make no sense.

As I've been teaching from the HCSB and reading through it, too, I enjoy its freshness because it is the first Bible I've ever used as my primary translation that is outside the Tyndale tradition. And although sometimes I find it's renderings odd (like "deluge" instead of "flood" in Genesis), I am also delighted when I come across a word or phrase that communicates a biblical meaning in both a new and precise way.

One of these is the HCSB's use of "slacker" for "lazy" (רָפָה/raphah) in Exodus and "sluggard" (עָצֵל/atsel) in Proverbs.

The Mirriam-Webster Dictionary defines slacker as "a person who shirks work or obligation." See if that definition works in these verses:

But require the same quota of bricks from them as they were making before; do not reduce it. For they are slackers—that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ (Ex 5:8)

But he said, “You are slackers. Slackers! That is why you are saying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to the Lord.’ (Ex 5:17)

Go to the ant, you slacker!
Observe its ways and become wise. (Prov 6:6)

How long will you stay in bed, you slacker?
When will you get up from your sleep? (Prov 6:9)

Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,
so the slacker is to the one who sends him on an errand. (Prov 10:26)

The slacker craves, yet has nothing,
but the diligent is fully satisfied. (Prov 13:4)

A slacker’s way is like a thorny hedge,
but the path of the upright is a highway. (Prov 15:9)

The slacker buries his hand in the bowl;
he doesn’t even bring it back to his mouth. (Prov 19:24)

The slacker does not plow during planting season;a
at harvest time he looks,b and there is nothing. (Prov 20:4)

A slacker’s craving will kill him
because his hands refuse to work. (Prov 21:25)

The slacker says, “There’s a lion outside!
I’ll be killed in the streets!" (Prov 22:13)

I went by the field of a slacker
and by the vineyard of a man lacking sense. (Prov 24:30)

The slacker says, “There’s a lion in the road—
a lion in the public square!" (Prov 26:13)

A door turns on its hinge,
and a slacker, on his bed. (Prov 26:14)

The slacker buries his hand in the bowl;
he is too weary to bring it to his mouth. (Prov 26:15)

In his own eyes, a slacker is wiser
than seven men who can answer sensibly. (Prov 26:16)


Don't you just love the word "slacker"? What a great word to use in these contexts. You know, when I used to teach high school, I got to use the word "slacker" a lot. Thanks to the HCSB, I'll be able to continue using it!

Tags: HCSB, Proverbs