Qir-Hareseth; Kir-Heres – Quiver

Qir-Hareseth; Kir-Heres

kur-har'-seth, -ha-re'-seth> (qir-charesh, Isaiah 16:7; in 2 Kings 3:25 the King James Version reads Kir-haraseth (pausal form)); (qir cheres, Jeremiah 48:31,Jeremiah 48:36; in Isaiah 16:11 the King James Version reads Kir-haresh (pausal form)): Modern scholars unanimously identify this city with Kir of Moab. In Jehoram's invasion of Moab it alone withstood his attack; and on the city wall the king of Moab sacrificed his son (2 Kings 3:25). It was obviously the capital, i.e. Kir Moab. The name is generally taken to mean "city of the sun." Cheyne, however, points out (EB, under the word):

(1) that this explanation was unknown to the ancients;

(2) that"kir" is nowhere suposed to mean "city," except in the compound names Kir-heres, Kir-hareseth, and Kir Moab;

(3) that cheres, "sun," nowhere has a feminine ending, and

(4) that Isaiah 16:7 Septuagint and Aquila.) indicates "d" and not "r" in the second part of the name (Deseth). He suggests, therefore, that we should possibly read qiryath chadhdshah, "new city."

W. Ewing

Qoph

kof (qoph): The 19th letter of the Hebrew alphabet; transliterated in this Encyclopedia as q (intense k). It came also to be used for the number 100. For name, etc., see ALPHABET.

Quail

kwal (selaw; ortugometra; Latin Coturnix vulgaris): A game bird of the family Coturnix, closely related to "partridges" (which see). Quail and partridges are near relatives, the partridge a little larger and of brighter color. Quail are like the gray, brown and tan of earth. Their plumage is cut and penciled by markings, and their flesh juicy and delicate food. Their habits are very similar. They nest on the ground and brood on from 12 to 20 eggs. The quail are more friendly birds and live in the open, brooding along roads and around fields. They have a longer, fuller wing than the partridge and can make stronger flight. In Palestine they were migratory. They are first mentioned in Exodus 16:13: "And it came to pass at even, that the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the camp." This describes a large flock in migration, so that they passed as a cloud. Numbers 11:31–33: "And there went forth a wind from Yahweh, and brought quail from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, about a day's journey on this side, and a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and about two cubits above the face of the earth. And the people rose up all that day, and all the night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp"; compare Psalms 78:26–30:

"He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens;

And by his power he guided the south wind.

He rained flesh also upon them as the dust,

And winged birds as the sand of the seas:

And he let it fall in the midst of their camp,

Round about their habitations.

So they did eat, and were well filled;

And he gave them their own desire."

Again the birds are mentioned in migration. Those that fell around the camp and the bread that was sent from heaven are described in Psalms 105:39–42. Commentators have had trouble with the above references. They cause the natural historian none--they are so in keeping with the location and the laws of Nature. First the Hebrew selaw means "to be fat." That would be precisely the condition of the quail after a winter of feeding in the South. The time was early spring, our April, and the quail were flocking from Africa and spreading in clouds--even to Europe. They were birds of earth, heavy feeders and of plump, full body. Migration was such an effort that when forced to cross a large body of water they always waited until the wind blew in the direction of their course, lest they tire and fall. Their average was about 16 birds to each nest. If half a brood escaped, they yet multiplied in such numbers as easily to form clouds in migration. Pliny writes of their coming into Italy in such numbers, and so exhausted with their long flight, that if they sighted a sailing vessel they settled upon it by hundreds and in such numbers as to sink it. Taking into consideration the diminutive vessels of that age and the myriads of birds, this does not appear incredible. Now compare these facts with the text. Israelites were encamped on the Sinai Peninsula. The birds were in migration. The quail followed the Red Sea until they reached the point of the peninsula where they selected the narrowest place, and when the wind was with them they crossed the water. Not far from the shore arose the smoke from the campfires of the Israelites. This bewildered them, and, weary from their journey, they began to settle in confused thousands over and around the camp. Then the Israelites arose and, with the ever-ready "throw sticks," killed a certain number for every soul of the camp and spread the bodies on the sand to dry, just as Herodotus (ii. 77) records that the Egyptians always had done (see Rawlinson, Herodotus, II, for an illustration of catching and drying quail). Nature and natural history can account for this incident, with no need to call in the miraculous.

Gene Stratton-Porter

Quarrel

kwor'-el: Originally (1) "a complaint" (compare "querulous"), or (2) "a cause of complaint," and so (3) "a contention."

(1) In the King James Version Mark 6:19 (the Revised Version (British and American) "set herself"; the colloquial "had it in for him" is an exact translation) and Colossians 3:13 (momphe, "complaint"; so the Revised Version (British and American)).

(2) In 2 Kings 5:7 ('anah, "be opportune," the Revised Version margin "an occasion").

(3) In the King James Version Leviticus 26:25 (loose translation of naqam, "vengeance"; so the Revised Version (British and American)).

Compare Sirach 31:29 the King James Version (the Revised Version (British and American) "conflict") and Proverbs 20:3 the Revised Version (British and American) (the King James Version, "meddling").

Quarries

kwor'-iz (pecilim (Judges 3:19,Revelation 2:26, "graven images"), shebharim (Joshua 7:5, "Shebarim," the Revised Version margin "the quarries")):

Pesilim is elsewhere translated "graven images" (Deuteronomy 7:5; Psalms 78:58; Isaiah 10:10; Micah 5:13, etc.) and is a plural form of pecel, "graven image" (Exodus 20:4, etc.), from pacal, "to carve." It occurs in the story of Ehud and Eglon and refers to images or hewn stones in the vicinity of Gilgal, Shebharim is plural of shebher, "breach," "fracture," more often "destruction" (e.g. Proverbs 16:18), from shabhar, "to break." The form shebarim is also found in Job 41:25, "consternation," the King James Version "breakings." In Joshua 7:5 Shebarim is the point to which the Israelites were chased after their first attack upon Ai.

See SHEBARIM.

Quarries in Palestine are not usually very deep because there is plenty of good stone to be found at the surface. The quarryman seeks a thick stratum of firm limestone which has a favorable exposure. The vertical joint-planes divide the stratum into large blocks which the quarryman dislodges with the aid of crowbars. These great blocks he skillfully cleaves by inserting several wedges in a line in holes made by a pick, and driving the wedges in with a heavy hammer. In these days gunpowder is occasionally used, especially when there are not favorable joint-planes producing blocks capable of being moved by the crowbar.

Another method, which is employed where stones of great size are wanted, is to carve the stones out of the rock by cutting channels around them with the pick. In the limestone quarries of Ba`albek and the granite quarries of Acwan at the first cataract of the Nile, enormous stones may be seen which were abandoned while in process of being removed by this method. The channels are wide enough to admit the body of the workman, and the marks of the picks on the sides of the channels are plainly visible.

Alfred Ely Day

Quarter

kwor'-ter: Literally, of course, "the fourth part," and so of the four "ends" (qatsah) in Jeremiah 49:36, and the King James Version of the four "corners" (so the Revised Version (British and American), gonia) in Revelation 20:8. Hence, "any part" and in this sense used freely for various words by the King James Version. the Revised Version (British and American) has usually dropped "quarter," but unfortunately has retained it in Numbers 34:3; Joshua 15:5; Joshua 18:14,Joshua 18:15, and introduced it in Joshua 18:12,Joshua 18:14,Joshua 18:20 for pe'ah, usually rendered "side." The result is very obscure. Elsewhere in the Revised Version (British and American) only in the phrase "from every quarter" (Genesis 19:4; Isaiah 56:11; Mark 1:45).

Compare BORDER; COAST.

Quartus

kwor'-tus (Kouartos): A Christian in Corinth who with "Erastus the treasurer of the city" sent greetings to the Christian community in Rome (Romans 16:23). He is known to Paul only as a Christian, "the brother."

Quaternion

kwa-tur'-ni-un (tetradion): The name given to a company of four soldiers of Herod's army (Acts 12:4). To four such companies Peter had been handed over, who would take their turn of acting as guard over the prisoner, each of the four watches of the night according to Roman reckoning, which Herod Agrippa I would follow. In the castle of Antonia Peter was thus closely secured, in order that Herod, who had already killed James, the brother of John, with the sword (Acts 12:2), might, after the solemnities of the Passover, make sure of his death likewise. On the night before his intended execution he was sleeping in his cell between two soldiers, "bound with two chains," his left hand chained to one and his right to the other. The other two soldiers of the quaternion mounted guard before the door, and are spoken of as "the first and the second guard" (Acts 12:10) whom Peter and his angel guide had to pass on the way to liberty. The Greek word thus rendered is not found in the Septuagint or anywhere else in the New Testament.

T. Nicol.

Queen

kwen: The Bible applies this term:

(1) To the wife of a king ("queen consort") (malkah). In the Book of Esther it is the title given to Vashti (1:9) and Esther (2:22); compare Song of Songs 6:8 f. Another Hebrew word for queen consort is gebhirah, literally "mistress" (compare 1 Kings 11:19, the wife of Pharaoh; 2 Kings 10:13, "the children of the king and the children of the queen"). In Nehemiah 2:6 and Psalms 45:9 we find the expression sheghal, which some trace back to shaghal, "to ravish," a rather doubtful derivation. Still another term is sarah, literally, "princess" (Isaiah 49:23). The Septuagint sometimes uses the word basilissa; compare Psalms 45:9.

(2) To a female ruler or sovereign ("queen regnant"). The only instances are those of the queen (malkah) of Sheba (1 Kings 10:1–13; compare 2 Chronicles 9:1–12) and of Candace, the queen (basilissa) of the Ethiopians (Acts 8:27). In Matthew 12:42 (compare Luke 11:31) Christ refers to the queen of the south (basilissa notou), meaning, of course, the queen of Sheba.

(3) To a heathen deity, melekheth ha-shamayim, "the queen of heaven" (Jeremiah 7:18; Jeremiah 44:17).

See QUEEN OF HEAVEN.

(4) Metaphorically, to the city of Babylon (Rome) (Revelation 18:7): an expression denoting sovereign contempt and imaginary dignity and power.

William Baur

Queen Mother

(gebhirah, literally, "mistress," then a female ruler, and sometimes simply the wife of a king ("queen," 1 Kings 11:19); in Daniel 5:10 the term malketha' "queen," really means the mother of the king): It stands to reason that among a people whose rulers are polygamists the mother of the new king or chief at once becomes a person of great consequence. The records of the Books of Kings prove it. The gebhirah, or queen mother, occupied a position of high social and political importance; she took rank almost with the king. When Bath-sheba, the mother of Solomon, desired "to speak unto him for Adonijah," her son "rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a throne to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand" (1 Kings 2:19). And again, in 2 Kings 24:15, it is expressly stated that Nebuchadnezzar carried away the king's mother into captivity; Jeremiah calls her gebhirah (29:2). The king was Jehoiachin (Jeconiah, Jeremiah 29:2), and his mother's name was Nehushta (2 Kings 24:8). This was the royal pair whose impending doom the prophet was told to forecast (Jeremiah 13:18). Here again the queen mother is mentioned with the king, thus emphasizing her exalted position. Now we understand why Asa removed Maacah his (grand?)mother from being queen (queen mother), as we are told in 1 Kings 15:13 (compare 2 Chronicles 15:16). She had used her powerful influence to further the cause of idolatry. In this connection Athaliah's coup d'etat may be briefly mentioned. After the violent death of her son Ahaziah (2 Kings 9:27), she usurped the royal power and reigned for some time in her own name (2 Kings 11:3; compare 2 Chronicles 22:12). This was, of course, a revolutionary undertaking, being a radical departure from the usual traditions.

And finally, the political importance of the gebhirah is illustrated by the fact that in the Books of Kings, with two exceptions, the names of the Jewish kings are recorded together with those of their respective mothers; they are as follows: Naamah, the Ammonitess, the mother of Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:21; compare 14:31, and 2 Chronicles 12:13); Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom (1 Kings 15:2) or Absalom (2 Chronicles 11:20) the mother of Abijah; Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom, the mother (grandmother?) of Asa (1 Kings 15:10; compare 2 Chronicles 15:16); Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi, the mother of Jehoshaphat (1 Kings 22:42; compare 2 Chronicles 20:31); Athaliah, the grand-daughter of Omri, the mother of Ahaziah (2 Kings 8:26; compare 2 Chronicles 22:2); Zibiah of Beersheba, the mother of Jehoash (2 Kings 12:1; compare 2 Chronicles 24:1); Jehoaddin (Jehoaddan, 2 Chronicles 25:1) of Jerusalem, the mother of Amaziah (2 Kings 14:2); Jecoliah (Jechiliah, 2 Chronicles 26:3) of Jerusalem, the mother of Azariah (2 Kings 15:2) or Uzziah (2 Kings 15:13,2 Kings 15:30, etc.; compare 2 Chronicles 26:3); Jerusha (Jerushah, 2 Chronicles 27:1), the daughter of Zadok, the mother of Jotham (2 Kings 15:33); Abi (Abijah, 2 Chronicles 29:1), the daughter of Zechariah, the mother of Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:2); Hephzibah, the mother of Manasseh (2 Kings 21:1); Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah, the mother of Amon (2 Kings 21:19); Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath, the mother of Josiah (2 Kings 22:1); Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, the mother of Jehoahaz (2 Kings 23:31); Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah, the mother of Jehoiakim (2 Kings 23:36); Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem, the mother of Jehoiachin (2 Kings 24:8); Hamutal (Hamital), the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, the mother Of Zedekiah (2 Kings 24:18). The exceptions are Jehoram and Ahaz.

William Baur

Queen Of Heaven

(melekheth ha-shamayim, although there is another reading, mele'kheth, "worship" or "goddess"): Occurs only in two passages: Jeremiah 7:18; Jeremiah 44:17–19,Jeremiah 44:25, where the prophet denounces the wrath of God upon the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem who have given themselves up to the worship of the host of heaven. This is no doubt a part of the astral worship which is found largely developed among the Jews in the later period of their history in Canaan. It is first mentioned in 2 Kings 17:16 as practiced by the men of the Northern Kingdom when Samaria had fallen and the ten tribes were being carried away into captivity. Moses is represented as warning the Israelites against the worship of the sun and moon and stars and all the host of heaven, practiced by the people of Canaan (Deuteronomy 4:19; Deuteronomy 17:3) and the existence of such worship among the Canaanites and neighboring nations is attested from an early period (compare Job 31:26–28). The worship of the heavenly bodies was widely spread in the East and in Arabia; and the Babylonian pantheon was full of astral deities, where each divinity corresponded either to an astral phenomenon or to some circumstance or occurrence in Nature which is connected with the course of the stars (Jeremias, The Old Testament in the Light of the Ancient East, I, 100). From the prophets we gather that before the exile the worship of the host of heaven had become established among all classes and in all the towns of Israel (Jer ubi supra; Ezekiel 8:16). In that worship the queen of heaven had a conspicuous place; and if, as seems probable from the cakes which were offered, she is to be identified with the Assyrian Ishtar and the Canaanite Astarte, the worship itself was of a grossly immoral and debasing character. That this Ishtar cult was of great antiquity and widely spread in ancient Babylonia may be seen from the symbols of it found in recent excavations (see Nippur, II, 236). How far the astral theorists like Winckler and Jeremias are entitled to link up with this worship the mourning for Josiah, the lamentations over Tammuz, the story of Jephthah's daughter, and even--the narrative of the misfortunes and the exaltation of Joseph, is questionable. But that the people of Judah in the days before the exile had given themselves over to the worst and vilest forms of heathen worship and incurred the grievous displeasure of Yahweh is made clear by the denunciation of the worship of the queen of heaven by Jeremiah.

T. Nicol.

Queen Of Sheba

she'-ba (1 Kings 10:1–13; 2 Chronicles 9:1–12, called in Mt 12:42; Lu 11:31, "the queen of the south" (basilissa notou)):

1. Old Testament Accounts:

The two Old Testament accounts of the coming of the queen of Sheba (see SHEBA) to Solomon differ slightly from one another, and, of the two, that in 1 Kings is the older. (1) The words "concerning the name of Yahweh" (1 Kings 10:1) are lacking in 2 Chronicles; while the Septuagint in 1 Kings has "and the name of Yahweh," apparently a correction of the Massoretic Text. (2) For 1 Kings 10:9, "because Yahweh loved Israel for ever," 2 Chronicles 9:8 has "because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever"; the Septuagint in 1 Kings has "because Yahweh loved Israel, to establish it forever." (3) In the last verse of each account we find another difference: 2 Chronicles 9:12 says that Solomon gave to the queen all her desire, "besides that which she had brought unto the king." i.e. according to some, besides the equivalent of what she had brought to him; 1 Kings 10:13 margin has" besides that which he gave her according to the hand of king Solomon," i.e. besides gifts commensurate with his own wealth and power (SBOT), or be sides gifts which he gave her qua king.

2. The Narrative:

The narrative tells of the queen of Sheba, on hearing of Solomon's great wisdom, coming to test him with perplexing questions or riddles (compare Judges 14:12). She brought presents to the king, and interviewed him: "And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built" (i.e. the palace, not the temple) as well as its arrangements, "and his burnt-offering which he offered in the house of Yahweh (so read and translate with the Revised Version margin in 1 Kings 10:5, and also in 2 Chronicles 9:4); there was no more spirit in her": the half of Solomon's wisdom had not been told her. "Happy," she said to him, "are thy wives (so read with Septuagint, Syriac and Old Latin versions), happy are these thy servants." She then exchanged gifts with him and returned to her own land.

The narrative is a complement of that in 1 Kings 3:16–28, where the king's justice is exemplified; here his wisdom.

3. Employed by Jesus:

The narrative is referred to by Jesus in Matthew 12:42; Luke 11:31, where He refuses to accede to the request of the scribes and Pharisees for a sign from Him. He tells them that no sign will be given them except that of Jonah, whose sign was his preaching, one that proved sufficient to the Ninevites; and `behold something greater than Jonah is here.' The men of Nineveh will be a living condemnation of them "in the judgment" (compare Luke 16:31); and so will the "queen of the south" who came from the ends of the earth after hearing of Solomon's wisdom, `and behold something greater than Solomon is here.' The only sign to be given is that of the wisdom of Jesus, a wisdom far greater than that of Solomon (see D. Smith, Days of His Flesh, 176 ff).

4. Eastern Literature:

Eastern literature has much to say about the queen of Sheba. The Arabs called her Bilqis. Abyssinian legend declares that she came from Ethiopia, her name being Maqeda, and that she had a son by Solomon. See Delitzsch, Iris, 116-27; ZDMG, X, 19 f; J Pr T, VI, 524 ff (1880). Gressmann (in Schriften des Altes Testament, II, 1,203) has further references to Wilhelm Hertz, Gesammelte Abhandlungen, 1905, 413 ff; Bezold, Kebra Nagast, 1905, and also ZDMG, 60, 666 ff. For the Mohammedan story, see Koran xxvii, with notes in Sale's translation.

David Francis Roberts

Quench

kwench, kwensh: Where the word is used of fire or of thirst it has the usual meaning: "to allay," "to extinguish," "to suppress," "to cool." In the Old Testament it is frequently applied to the affections and passions (see 2 Kings 22:17; Song of Songs 8:7; Isaiah 42:3; Jeremiah 4:4; Jeremiah 21:12). Quenching the coal or the light of Israel may mean slaying a dear one or a brilliant leader. In the New Testament it is also used figuratively, as in Ephesians 6:16 the shield of faith quenches the fiery darts of the evil one. In Mark 9:48, sbennumi, and its derivative are applied with reference to Gehenna (translated "hell"). The same word is also used of resisting the gifts of the Holy Spirit in 1 Thessalonians 5:19.

G. H. Gerberding

Question

kwes'-chun: The noun for dabhar, "word," in 1 Kings 10:3 parallel 2 Chronicles 9:2, with "hard question" for chidhah, "dark saying," "riddle," in 1 Kings 10:1 parallel 2 Chronicles 9:1. In the New Testament for zetema, the synonym zetesis (and 1 Timothy 1:4, ekzetesis), being rendered "questionings" by the Revised Version (British and American) (the King James Version does not distinguish). In Mark 11:29 for logos, "word" (so the Revised Version margin). The verb in the sense "ask a question" in 2 Chronicles 31:9 for darash, and Luke 2:46; Luke 23:9 for eperotao (compare the American Standard Revised Version, the English Revised Version margin John 16:23). Elsewhere the verb is for suzeteo, "dispute" (Mark 1:27, etc.; compare Acts 6:9; Acts 9:29). "Called in question," Acts 19:40 the King James Version, represents egkaleo, "call into court," but in Acts 23:6; Acts 24:21, "I am called in question" is for krinomai, "I am being judged."

Burton Scott Easton

Quick; Quicken

kwik, kwik'-'n: Translates in the King James Version four different words:

(1) chayah,

(2) michyah,

(3) ruach, and

(4) zao.

Of these words (1) and (4) had simply the sense of life, and this idea was in 1611 adequately given, by the word "quick," although this sense of the word has long been somewhat obscured. As the translation of ruach (Isaiah 11:3) "quick" as found in the King James Version signified "acute." In this passage the Revised Version (British and American) substitutes "delight" for "quick understanding." In Leviticus 13:10,Leviticus 13:24 the Revised Version (British and American) retains the rendering "quick," although originally the word michyah must in some way have involved the conception of life, which no longer belongs to the English word "quick." It is not clear exactly in what sense the flesh in the sore or scar was thought of as living, especially as it was plainly regarded as in an unhealthy condition. Possibly the condition under consideration resembled what is sometimes idiomatically styled in English "proud flesh," and was thought of as a peculiar manifestation of life.

To quicken also means a reviving, a refreshing, an increasing of life (Psalms 71:20; Psalms 85:6; Psalms 119:37,Psalms 119:40,Psalms 119:88; Isaiah 57:10). It often has reference to the resurrection from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:36) and is so used in many places in the King James Version. Where it refers to the giving of spiritual life the American Standard Revised Version has changed it in every case (Ephesians 2:1,Ephesians 2:5; Colossians 2:13; compare John 5:21).

David Foster Estes

Quicksands

kwik'-sandz.

See SYRTIS.

Quiet

kwi'-et: Verb or adjective only in English Versions of the Bible, "quietness" being used for the noun. No special Hebrew or Greek words are represented, but in the Old Testament usually for some form or derivative of shaqaT, "be undisturbed" (Judges 18:7; compare Proverbs 1:33, sha'ar, "to loll," "be at ease"; Ecclesiastes 9:17, nachath, "quiet," "be set on"). For "them that are quiet in the land", in Psalms 35:20, see MEEKNESS; POOR. For "quiet prince in Jeremiah 51:59, the Revised Version (British and American) substitutes "chief chamberlain," margin "quartermaster." "Jacob was a quiet (tam, "gentle"] man" (Genesis 25:27, the King James Version "plain"). In the New Testament, it is the translation of hesuchazo, "to refrain from gossip or meddlesomehess": "that ye study to be quiet": (1 Thessalonians 4:11), and of hesuchios, "gentle": "a meek and quiet spirit" (1 Peter 3:4; compare 1 Timothy 2:2).

M. O. Evans

Quintus Memmius

kwin'-tus mem'-us.

See MEMMIUS, QUINTUS.

Quirinius

kwi-rin'-i-us.

See CHRONOLOGY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, sec. I, 1, (2); LUKE, THE GOSPEL OF, sec. 5.

Quit

kwit: Same derivation as "quiet," so that "to be quit" (Exodus 21:19,Exodus 21:28; Joshua 2:20 the King James Version) is "to be relieved of responsibility," naqah, naqi, "guiltless" (so the Revised Version (British and American) Joshua 2:20). Hence, "to quit one's self" means "to be freed by discharging a duty." The phrase in English Versions of the Bible, however, is a gloss for in 1 Samuel 4:9 it is used for hayah, "to be," while in 1 Corinthians 16:13 andrizomai, means "to behave like a man."

Quiver

kwiv'-er (ashpah, teli; pharetra (Sirach 26:12)): A case or sheath for carrying arrows, a part of the ordinary equipment of the warrior, both foot-soldier and charioteer (Job 39:23; Isaiah 22:6), and also of the huntsman (Genesis 27:3). Figuratively of a group in passages where children (Psalms 127:5) or prophets of Yahweh (Isaiah 49:2) are spoken of as arrows. Arrows are called bene 'ashpah, "sons of the quiver" (Lamentations 3:13). By identifying the arrows with the death they produce, the quiver is likened to an open grave (Jeremiah 5:16).