StrongerBible

betsa

בֶּצַע

HebrewH1215gain, covetousness, ...

Appears 23 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 37:26Exo 18:21Jdg 5:191Sa 8:3Job 22:3Psa 30:9(10)Psa 119:36Pro 1:19Pro 15:27Pro 28:16Isa 33:15Isa 56:11Isa 57:17Jer 6:13Jer 8:10Jer 22:17Jer 51:13Ezk 22:13Ezk 22:27Ezk 33:31Mic 4:13Hab 2:9Mal 3:14
Root family
Word studyBEH-tsahnoun

What betsa means

gain: the material advantage a person gets, most often profit seized by greed, fraud, or violence

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

At its core this word simply means what someone gains, the profit or advantage that comes to them. But in the vast majority of its uses the gain is tainted: money extorted, taken by force, or grabbed through dishonest dealing. So English Bibles reach for phrases like unjust gain, dishonest gain, ill-gotten profit, or filthy lucre, and the prophets turn the word into a standing charge against grasping leaders who bleed the people for personal profit.

The same word still keeps a plainer, morally neutral edge in one recurring setting: the blunt question what is the profit? or what do we get out of it? There the speaker is weighing whether a course of action pays off at all, with no built-in verdict that the gain is wicked.

A third shade is concrete rather than moral: the gain taken in war, the plunder or spoil carried off from a defeated enemy. All three run back to one idea, the thing a person comes away with, while the context decides whether that thing is honest profit, greedy loot, or battlefield spoil.

Nuances

1aunjust gain: profit gotten by greed, extortion, bribery, or violence, and the greedy craving for it
Exo 18:211Sa 8:3Psa 119:36Pro 1:19Pro 15:27Pro 28:16Jer 6:13Jer 8:10Jer 22:17Ezk 22:13Ezk 22:27Ezk 33:31
1bprofit, advantage, benefit: what one stands to get, weighed in the plain question "what is the profit in it?"
Gen 37:26Job 22:3Psa 30:9(10)Mal 3:14
1cplunder, spoil: the gain carried off from a defeated enemy in war
Jdg 5:19Mic 4:13

What scholars say about betsa

The noun derives from the verb בָּצַע "to cut off, break off," the sense developing from a piece cut off to gain or profit, and predominantly to gain seized by violence or fraud. HALOT and BDB gloss it "gain made by violence, unjust gain, profit," noting the frequent idiom בֹּצֵעַ בֶּצַע "one greedy for gain." A neutral sense "profit, advantage" surfaces in rhetorical questions (Gen 37:26; Job 22:3; Ps 30:9; Mal 3:14), and a concrete "spoil" sense in Judg 5:19 and Mic 4:13. TDOT highlights the word's heavy prophetic use as an indictment of covetous leaders in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Jer 51:13 is text-critically debated, since its form can be parsed from the cognate verb of cutting off.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. בֶּצַעlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. בֶּצַעlexicon
  • D. Kellermann, "בָּצַע bāṣaʿ," in TDOTtheological-dictionary

All attested forms of בֶּצַע

m s absolute

בָּצַע, בֶּצַע

Exo 18:21, 1Sa 8:3, Psa 119:36, Pro 1:19, Pro 15:27, Jer 6:13, Jer 8:10, Ezk 22:27

m s construct

בֶּצַע

Jdg 5:19, Isa 33:15

m s construct

בִּצְעָם

Ezk 33:31, Mic 4:13

m s construct

בִּצְעוֹ

Isa 56:11, Isa 57:17

m s construct

בִּצְעֵךְ

Ezk 22:13

m s construct

בִּצְעֶךָ

Jer 22:17

qal infinitive-construct construct

בִּצְעֵ

Jer 51:13