כֶּלֶב

כֶּ֫לֶב noun masculine^{1 Sam 24,15} dog (Late Hebrew id.; Phoenician כלב; Aramaic כַּלְבָּא, , Arabic ; Ethiopic Assyrian kalbu Dl^{HWB 328}) — absolute ׳כ Dom 7,5 + 16 t., כָּ֑לֶב Sl 59,7; Sl 59,15 plural כְּלָבִים 1 Kong 14,11 + 12 t.; construct כַּלְבֵי Job 30,1 suffix כְּלָבֶיךָ Sl 68,24 — dog:
\ \ a. literal 1 Kong 14,11; 1 Kong 16,4; 1 Kong 21,19 (twice in verse); 1 Kong 21,23; 1 Kong 21,24; 1 Kong 22,38; 2 Kong 9,10; 2 Kong 9,36 (all of fierce, hungry dogs, devouring dead bodies and licking blood); compare Jer 15,3 and (לְשׁוֺן כְּלָבֶיךָ) Sl 68,24 eating torn flesh, 2 Mos 22,30 (E), כַּלְבֵי צאֹנִי = my sheep-dogs, only Job 30,1 (in both these with implied inferiority); dog-sacrifice was a heathen rite Es 66,3 (Di and others); see especially RS^{Semitic i, 273} (291), 325 (343); invarious simile Dom 7,5; Ord 26,11; Ord 26,17; Sl 59,7; Sl 59,15 in proverbial sayings: לֹא לִשֹׁנוֺ ׳יֶחֱרַץכֿ 2 Mos 11,7 (see I. חרץ); מֵת טוֺב מִןֿ ׳לְכ הָאַרְיֵה הַמֵּת Praed 9,4.
\ \ b. applied, figurative, to men, in contempt 1 Sam 17,43, so of psalmist's enemies Sl 22,17; Sl 22,21, or in excessive humility 2 Kong 8,13 still more emphatically מֵת ׳כ a dead dog, הַמֵּת ׳הַכּ 2 Sam 9,8; 2 Sam 16,9 also ׳ראֹשׁ כ 2 Sam 3,8 כְּלָבִים אִלְּמִים Es 56,10 (of misleading prophets), עַזֵּי נֶפֶשׁ ׳הַכּ vEs 56,11 (id.); ׳כ was name given to male temple-prostitutes 5 Mos 23,19 (see Dr; compare קָדֵשׁ).