Strong's Definition
from an unused root means. to yelp, or else to attack; a dog; hence (by euphemism) a male prostitute
KJV Usage: dog
STEPBible — Tyndale Abridged Hebrew Lexicon
כֶּ֫לֶב (ke.lev) — dog. 1) dog 1a) dog (literal) 1b) contempt or abasement (fig.) 1c) of pagan sacrifice 1d) of male cult prostitute (fig.)
UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew
noun m
Domestic Animals
dog = relatively small light brown domestic animal, feeding on anything from household refuse to animal carcasses and excreta; ◄ |iCanis familiaris putiatini|i*; ► extremely unclean animal and therefore not to be eaten, though used for hunting and for watching sheep; ≈ considered almost as unclean as a pig; associated with all sorts of uncleanness, aggression, greediness, low status; used as derogatory term for male shrine prostitutes
EXO 11:7 · EXO 22:30 · JDG 7:5 · 1SA 17:43 · 1SA 24:15 · 2SA 3:8 · 2SA 9:8 · 2SA 16:9 · 1KI 14:11 · 1KI 16:4 · 1KI 21:19 · 1KI 21:19 · 1KI 21:23 · 1KI 21:24 · 1KI 22:38 · 2KI 8:13 · 2KI 9:10 · 2KI 9:36 · JOB 30:1 · PSA 22:17 · PSA 22:21 · PSA 59:7 · PSA 59:15 · PSA 68:24 · PRO 26:11 · PRO 26:17 · ECC 9:4 · ISA 56:10 · ISA 56:11 · ISA 66:3 · JER 15:3
Prostitutes | ≈ זֹנָה
dog, male shrine prostitute = male person involved in sexual intercourse in or around a sanctuary, probably for religious reasons; ≈ practice was prohibited in Mosaic law and for that reason regarded as despicable, hence the epithet "dog"
UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon
כֶּ֫לֶב n.m. I S 24:15 dog (NH id.; Ph. כלב; Aram. כֶּ֫לְבָּא, Syriac; Ar. Arabic; Eth. Ethiopic As. kalbu DI HWB 328)—abs. כ׳ Ju 7:5 + 16 t., כָּ֑לֶב ψ 59:7, 15; pl. כְּלָבִים 1 K 14:11 + 12 t.; cstr. כַּלְבֵי Jb 30:1; sf. כְּלָבֶיךָ ψ 68:24;—dog: lit. 1 K 14:11 16:4 21:19, 19, 23, 24 22:38 2 K 9:10, 36 (all of fierce, hungry dogs, devouring dead bodies and licking blood); cf. Je 15:3 and (לְשׁוֹן כְּלָבֶיךָ) ψ 68:24; eating torn flesh, Ex 22:30 (E), כַּלְבֵי צֹאנִי = my sheep-dogs, only Jb 30:1 (in both these with implied inferiority); dog-sacrifice was a heathen rite Is 66:3 (Di al.); v. esp. RS Sem. 1, 273 (291), 325 (343); in various sim. Ju 7:5 Pr 26:11, 17 ψ 59:7, 15; in proverbial sayings: לֹא יֶֽחֱרַץ־כ׳ לְשֹׁנוֹ Ex 11:7 (v. I. חרץ);לְכ׳ מֵת טוֹב מִן־הָאַרְיֵה הַמֵּֽת Ec 9:4.
applied, fig., to men, in contempt I S 17:43, so of psalmist’s enemies ψ 22:17, 21, or in excessive humility 2 K 8:13; still more emphatically כ׳ מֵת a dead dog, הָכּ׳ הַמֵּת 2 S 9:8 16:9; also רֹאשׁ כ׳ 3:8; כְּלָבִים אִלְּמִים Is 56:10 (of misleading prophets), הַכּ׳ עַזֵּי נֶפֶשׁ v 11 (id.); כ׳ was name given to male temple-prostitutes Dt 23:19 (v. Dr; cf. קָדֵשׁ).
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