Bible Dictionary: Liver

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ATS Bible Dictionary

Liver

Le 3:4. This organ in man was regarded by the ancients as the seat of the passions. Idolaters consulted the liver of the victim offered in sacrifice, for purposes of divination, Ezekiel 21:21.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(Hebrews kabhed, "heavy;" hence the liver, as being the heaviest of the viscera, Exodus 29:13, 22; Leviticus 3:4, 1, 10, 15) was burnt upon the altar, and not used as sacrificial food. In Ezek. 21:21 there is allusion, in the statement that the king of Babylon "looked upon the liver," to one of the most ancient of all modes of divination. The first recorded instance of divination (q.v.) is that of the teraphim of Laban. By the teraphim the LXX. and Josephus understood "the liver of goats." By the "caul above the liver," in Leviticus 4:9; 7:4, etc., some understand the great lobe of the liver itself.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

1. (n.) One who, or that which, lives.

2. (n.) A resident; a dweller; as, a liver in Brooklyn.

3. (n.) One whose course of life has some marked characteristic (expressed by an adjective); as, a free liver.

4. (n.) A very large glandular and vascular organ in the visceral cavity of all vertebrates.

5. (n.) The glossy ibis (Ibis falcinellus); -- said to have given its name to the city of Liverpool.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

LIVER

liv'-er (qabhedh, derived from a root meaning "to be heavy," being the heaviest of the viscera; Septuagint hepar): The word is usually joined with the Hebrew yothereth (see CAUL) (Exodus 29:13, 22 Leviticus 9:10, 19) as a special portion set aside for the burnt offering.

This represents the large lobe or flap of the liver, Lobos tou hepatos (thus, Septuagint and Josephus, Ant, III, ix, 2, (228)). Others, however, interpret it as the membrane which covers the upper part of the liver, sometimes called the "lesser omenturn." Thus, the Vulgate: reticulurn iecoris. It extends from the fissures of the liver to the curve of the stomach. Still others consider it to be the "fatty mass at the opening of the liver, which reaches to the kidneys and becomes visible upon the removal of the lesser omentum or membrane" (Driver and White, Leviticus, 65).

As in the scholastic psychology of the Middle Ages, the liver played an important part in the science of Semitic peoples. It was the seat of feeling, and thus became synonymous with temper, disposition, character (compare Assyrian kabittu, "liver", "temper," "character," and Arabic kabid, vulgar kibdi). Thus, Jeremiah expresses his profound grief with the words: "My liver is poured upon the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people" (Lamentations 2:11). The liver is also considered one of the most important and vital parts of the body (compare Virgil, cerebrum, iecur domicilia vitae). A hurt in it is equivalent to death. So we find the fate of a man enticed by the flattering of a loose woman compared to that of the ox that "goeth to the slaughter.... till an arrow strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life" (Proverbs 7:22, 23; the rest of the verse is obscure as to its meaning).

In a few passages of the Old Testament, kabhedh ("liver") and kabhodh ("glory") have been confounded, and we are in uncertainty as to the right translation Several authors, to give but one example, would read kabhedh in Psalm 16:9, for reasons of Hebrew poetical parallelism: "Therefore my heart is glad and my liver (English Versions of the Bible, "glory") rejoiceth." While this is quite possible, it is not easy to decide, as according to Jewish interpretation "my glory" is synonymous with "my soul," which would present as proper a parallelism.

The liver has always played an important role in heathen divination, of which we have many examples in old and modern times among the Greeks, Etrurians, Romans and now among African tribes. The prophet Ezekiel gives us a Biblical instance. The king of Babylon, who had been seeking to find out whether he should attack Jerusalem, inquired by shaking "arrows to and fro, he consulted the teraphim, he looked in the liver" (Ezekiel 21:21 (Hebrew 21:26); compare Tobit 6:4;; 8:2).

See ASTROLOGY, 3; DIVINATION.

H. L. E. Luering

Greek

4698. splagchnon -- the inward parts (heart, liver, lungs, etc.) ...
... the inward parts (heart, liver, lungs, etc.), fig. ... Word Origin of uncertain origin
Definition the inward parts (heart, liver, lungs, etc.), fig. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4698.htm - 7k

4697. splagchnizomai -- to be moved in the inward parts, ie to ...
... moved. Cognate: 4697 -- "from , 'the inward parts,' especially the nobler
entrails -- the heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys. These ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4697.htm - 7k

Strong's Hebrew

3516. kabed -- liver
... 3515, 3516. kabed. 3517 . liver. Transliteration: kabed Phonetic Spelling:
(kaw-bade') Short Definition: liver. Word Origin from ...
/hebrew/3516.htm - 6k

3508. yothereth -- appendage
... caul, the lobe or flap of the liver. Feminine active participle of yathar; the lobe
or flap of the liver (as if redundant or outhanging) -- caul. ...
/hebrew/3508.htm - 6k

Library

Trick with the Liver.
... Book IV. Chapter XL."Trick with the Liver. And they exhibit a liver
seemingly bearing an inscription in this manner. With the ...
/.../hippolytus/the refutation of all heresies/chapter xl trick with the liver.htm

Of the Unknown Purpose of Some of the Intestines.
... intestines. What is the use of the spleen? What of the liver? Organs which
appear as it were to be made up [1913] of disordered blood. ...
/.../lactantius/on the workmanship of god/chap xiv of the unknown purpose.htm

Homer's Obligations to the Sacred Writers.
... Scream o'er the fiend, and riot in his blood,. Incessant gore the liver in his breast,.
Th' immortal liver grows, and gives th' immortal feast.". ...
/.../chapter xxviii homers obligations to the.htm

A Brief Examination of the Construction of Our Bodies from a ...
... of such a kind that without them it is not possible that human life should exist,
we consider as being in three parts; in the brain, the heart, and the liver. ...
/.../gregory/gregory of nyssa dogmatic treatises etc/xxx a brief examination of.htm

Tobacco.
... the stomach, tobacco not only causes an excretion of mucus from the mouth, throat,
and breathing organs, but it produces an overtaxing of the liver; that is ...
/.../judy/questionable amusements and worthy substitutes/i tobacco.htm

On the Negative Spirit
... any attempts to deal with the problem of strong drink by religious offices or
intercessions, and said that a picture of a drunkard's liver would be more ...
//christianbookshelf.org/chesterton/heretics/ii on the negative spirit.htm

The Nature of Heavenly Contemplation; with the Time, Place, and ...
... As in the body, the stomach must turn the food into chyle and prepare for the liver,
the liver and spleen turn it into blood and prepare for the heart and brain ...
/.../baxter/the saints everlasting rest/chapter xiii the nature of.htm

Reference to the Processes of Digestion and Nutrition.
... since some of it loses its nutritive power even in the stomach, and some during
the second change, and the digestion that takes place in the liver is separated ...
/.../chapter v reference to the processes.htm

Of Certain Sorts of Mortification which are More General. ...
... 3. The true ground of the necessity of abstraction is this, because the Divine union
in spirit (which is the end of an internal liver) cannot be attained ...
/.../chapter vi of certain sorts.htm

Of the Mortification of Anger by Patience. ...
... 4. Even the most solitary liver will not have reason to complain of want of occasions
to exercise patience, for, besides the crosses happening by God's ...
/.../chapter vii of the mortification.htm

Thesaurus

Liver (16 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary (Hebrews kabhed, "heavy;" hence the liver, as being the
heaviest of the viscera, Exodus 29:13, 22; Leviticus 3:4, 1, 10, 15) was ...
/l/liver.htm - 16k

Caul (12 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary (Hebrews yothe'reth; ie, "something redundant"), the membrane
which covers the upper part of the liver (Exodus 29:13, 22; Leviticus 3 ...
/c/caul.htm - 12k

Lobe (19 Occurrences)
... 4. (n.) A round projecting part of an organ, as of the liver, lungs, brain, etc.
5. (n.) The projecting part of a cam wheel or of a non-circular gear wheel. ...
/l/lobe.htm - 12k

Redundance (11 Occurrences)
... Exodus 29:13 and thou hast taken all the fat which is covering the inwards, and
the redundance on the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat which 'is' on them ...
/r/redundance.htm - 10k

Appendage (11 Occurrences)
... Exodus 29:13 You shall take all the fat that covers the innards, the cover of the
liver, the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the ...
/a/appendage.htm - 9k

Kidneys (15 Occurrences)
... Exodus 29:13 You shall take all the fat that covers the innards, the cover of the
liver, the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the ...
/k/kidneys.htm - 16k

Joining (43 Occurrences)
... Exodus 29:13 And take all the fat covering the inside of the ox, and the fat joining
the liver and the two kidneys with the fat round them, and let them be ...
/j/joining.htm - 19k

Inwards (24 Occurrences)
... Exodus 29:13 And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the
caul that is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them ...
/i/inwards.htm - 14k

Innards (15 Occurrences)
... Exodus 29:13 You shall take all the fat that covers the innards, the cover of the
liver, the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the ...
/i/innards.htm - 10k

Flanks (7 Occurrences)
... Leviticus 3:4 And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the
flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. ...
/f/flanks.htm - 8k

Bible Concordance

Liver (16 Occurrences)

Hebrews 12:16 And that there may not be any evil liver, or any man without respect for God, like Esau, who let his birthright go for a plate of food.
(BBE)

Exodus 29:13 You shall take all the fat that covers the innards, the cover of the liver, the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Exodus 29:22 Also you shall take some of the ram's fat, the fat tail, the fat that covers the innards, the cover of the liver, the two kidneys, the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of consecration),
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 3:4 and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the cover on the liver, with the kidneys, he shall take away.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 3:10 and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the cover on the liver, with the kidneys, he shall take away.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 3:15 and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the cover on the liver, with the kidneys, he shall take away.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 4:9 and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the cover on the liver, with the kidneys, he shall take away,
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 7:4 and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the cover on the liver, with the kidneys, shall he take away;
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 8:16 He took all the fat that was on the innards, and the cover of the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat; and Moses burned it on the altar.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 8:25 He took the fat, and the fat tail, and all the fat that was on the innards, and the cover of the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and the right thigh;
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 9:10 but the fat, and the kidneys, and the cover from the liver of the sin offering, he burned upon the altar; as Yahweh commanded Moses.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Leviticus 9:19 and the fat of the bull and of the ram, the fat tail, and that which covers the innards, and the kidneys, and the cover of the liver:
(WEB KJV JPS ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Job 20:25 He draws it forth, and it comes out of his body. Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver. Terrors are on him.
(WEB NIV)

Proverbs 7:23 Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn't know that it will cost his life.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)

Lamentations 2:11 My eyes do fail with tears, my heart is troubled; My liver is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, Because the young children and the infants swoon in the streets of the city.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT)

Ezekiel 21:21 For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he shook the arrows back and forth, he consulted the teraphim, he looked in the liver.
(WEB KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Subtopics

Liver

Liver: Burnt in Sacrifice

Liver: Superstitious Rites With

Related Terms

Caul (12 Occurrences)

Lobe (19 Occurrences)

Redundance (11 Occurrences)

Appendage (11 Occurrences)

Kidneys (15 Occurrences)

Joining (43 Occurrences)

Inwards (24 Occurrences)