לַ֫עַג
la.ag (H3933)
derision
AI Word Study
# The Hebrew Word לַעַג (La'ag): Derision and Mockery The Hebrew word *la'ag* carries the meaning of derision—a form of contemptuous mockery or scornful ridicule directed at a person or thing. Based on its seven occurrences throughout the biblical text, this term represents a specific social act: the public expression of contempt through derisive speech or behavior. The word appears infrequently enough to suggest it names a particular type of communication rather than serving as a general term for criticism or disagreement. The rarity of *la'ag* (appearing only seven times in the entire Bible) indicates that biblical authors reserved this word for especially pointed or contemptuous forms of mockery. When employed, it likely marked a serious social offense—the deliberate humiliation of another through ridicule. This specificity distinguishes it from milder forms of disapproval or dispute, suggesting that derision of this kind carried significant social weight in ancient Hebrew contexts. The term's limited distribution suggests it was deployed selectively to describe particularly egregious or memorable instances of contemptuous behavior, making it a semantically distinct category within the broader spectrum of negative social interactions.
AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.
What man is like Job, who drinks scorn like water,
You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those who are around us.
We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and derision to those who are around us.
Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scoffing of those who are at ease, with the contempt of the proud.
“The Lord Yahweh says: ‘You will drink of your sister’s cup, which is deep and large. You will be ridiculed and held in derision. It contains much.
therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh: The Lord Yahweh says to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which have become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are all around;
They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a faulty bow. Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.