WARNING – this article examines explicitly graphic language of the Bible, and is ONLY written to the warrior priests amongst us – the sensitive and easily offended can choose to stop reading NOW to avoid being shocked or offended.
The Bible is not for sissies, pantywaists, snowflakes, the easily offended, or those who can’t handle the explicit, graphic language used as examples of how not to live. It is a gross misperception that the Bible does not use what many today consider to be questionable, off color, vulgar, or downright sexually graphic language – language that one normally only hears coming out of the mouth of a construction worker or longshoreman. Not so fast – Biblical language contains all of the above, and even numerous sexual innuendos – Does this shock you? If it does, then it is time for you to Grow Up!
Strong and Graphic Language About The Bride
The Bible uses some pretty strong language referring to Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem – the Wife (or Bride) of Yahweh / Yeshua. Below are a few examples from both Older and Newer Covenant scriptures.
The Older Covenant Scripture calls her:
• a thief [H1589 גָּנַב ganab] who joins with the adulterer [H5003 נָאַף na’aph] (Psalm 50:18)
• a mouthy person who deceives [H4820 מִרמָה mirmah] and slanders [H1848 דָּפִי dophiy] (Psalm 50:19)
• a rebellious [H6588 פֶּשַׁע pesha] child and brood of liars [H8267 שֶׁקֶר sheqer] (Isaiah 57:4)
• a murderer, or assassin [H7523 רָצחַ ratsach] (Isaiah 1:21; Ezekiel 23:45)
• an unfaithful sister [H4604 מַעַל ma`al; H898 בָּגַד bagad ] (1 Chronicles 9:1; Psalms 78:8; 37; Jeremiah 3:8-11)
• a bride who says she has done nothing wrong (Proverbs 30:20; Jeremiah 2:35)
• a whore, whoremonger, prostitute, or harlot [H2181 זָנָה zanah] (Isaiah 1:21; Psalm 106:39; Hosea 4:12, 9:1; etc.)
• an adulterer [H5003 נָאַף na’aph] (Psalm 50:18; Jeremiah 9:2, 23:10; Malachi 3:4-5; etc.)
• a lustful neighing female camel sniffing the wind in her lust [H4684 מַצְהָלָה matshalah] (Jeremiah 2:23-24. 13:27)
• a chaser after well endowed men (Ezekiel 23:20)
The Newer Covenant Scripture calls her:
• a betrayer [G4273 προδότης prodotes] and a murderer [G5406 φονεύς phoneus] (Acts 7:52)
• a quarreling strife ridden people [G2054 ἔρις eris] (1 Corinthians 1:12; 3:3)
• a people that allows sexual sin [G4202 πορνεία porneia] that is condemned even by pagans (1 Corinthians 5:1)
• a people that brings lawsuits [G2917 κρίμα krima] against fellow members (1 Corinthians 6:7)
• a lukewarm [G5513 χλιαρός chliaros] people that Yeshua wants to projectile vomit out of his mouth (Revelation 3:16)
And those strong or graphic words are the gentler language used in the scriptures! Are you shocked?
Strong Language About The Religious Leadership
Matthew 23:27 – “Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and Pharisees! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look fine on the outside but inside are full of dead people’s bones and all kinds of rottenness.”
Calling someone a hypocrite, viper, or whitewashed tomb in Yeshua’s time was not polite language. Hypocrite in the Greek has the definition of feigning moral character, deceit. Today it would be equivalent to calling someone a prideful, arrogant, immoral, lying, two-faced butthead full of brown fecal matter! I’m being polite, but surely you get the picture. Out of the mouths of construction workers, carpenters, stonemasons, or longshoremen. Are you shocked?
Sexual Innuendos – The Song of Songs (Song of Solomon)
Sexual innuendos can be found throughout the scriptures, especially in the Song of Songs:
Songs 1:13-14 “the man I love is a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts;”
• resting between my breasts means: “to spend the night, to stay overnight”
Songs 2:3 “Like an apple tree among the other trees in the forest is my darling among the other men. I love to sit in his shadow; my darling’s fruit is sweet to my taste.”
• Tasting his fruit means: “kissing”
• The apple tree motif is used as a symbol sexual desire (also used in Songs 2:5, 7, 9).
Songs 4:6 “I will get myself to the mountain of myrrh, to the hill of frankincense.”
Songs 5:1 “I am eating my honeycomb along with my honey.”
• Both innuendos for engaging in sex
Songs 5:4-5 “My beloved put in his hand by the hole, and my bowels were moved for him. My hands were dripping with myrrh; pure myrrh ran off my fingers onto the handle of the bolt. Eat, friends, and drink! Drink freely, O lovers!”
• Hole and Handle of the bolt are euphemisms for vagina and penis. Bowels is a euphemism for the organs of procreation, i.e. the womb. The term drink freely compares becoming drunk on wine with enjoying the physical love of one’s spouse. I’ll leave the hands dripping with myrrh to your imagination.
Songs 8:2 “I would give you spiced wine to drink, fresh juice from my pomegranates.”
• The Beloved expresses her desire for her lover to kiss and suckle her breasts when they are in the privacy of her home indoors.
And you thought the Bible was just a dull set of stories without even a hint of innuendo. Are you shocked?
You may wish to scroll down to the Why – Why – Why is the Bible so Explicit and Graphic? section before continuing to read.
Blatant Sexual Language
• Mamzer [H4464 מַמזֵר], yeled [H3206 יֶלֶד], zuwr [H2114 זוּר], and nothosis [G3541 νόθος] are terms used interchangeably in scripture translated as bastard, as illegitimate child, or as illegitimate offspring (Deuteronomy 23:2; Hosea 1:2, 5:7).
• Zera [H2233 זֶרַע], zowb [H2101 זוֹב], zuwb [H2100 זוּב], and shkabah [H7902 שְׁכָבָה] are used interchangeably in scripture translated as seed, semen, discharge, menstruation, or seminal emission (Genesis 38:9, Leviticus 15:2-5, 15:16, 15:19, 15:25).
• Basar [H1320 בָּשָׂר] is normally translated as flesh, but is also a euphemism for male or female genitals (Leviticus 15:2-5, 15:19).
• Yada [H3045 יָדַע] means to know: a euphemism for have sex with. Yada’s association with the town of Sodom is where we get the modern term sodomy which means anal sex (Genesis 19:4-5).
And you thought the Bible had no sexually blatant language. Are you shocked, yet?
Middle School Topics Found in Scripture – Who Knew?
Middle school boys are a fun bunch to mentor. Little do they know, however, that two of their favorite summer camp late night cabin topics are spoken of in the Bible – one in fairly mild language, and another in very graphic language.
Their Favorite 6th Grade Topic:
Isaiah 26:17-18a puts it this way: “Like a pregnant woman who writhes and cries out in her pangs when she is near to giving birth, so were we because of you, O Yahweh; We were pregnant, we writhed, but we have given birth to wind.”
Today we would not say we gave birth to wind, but would say “We farted.” Oh, grow up. The fart jokes are endemic to 6th grade boys at summer camp. I’ve heard them all a dozen times. The middle school munchkins are amazed to learn that their Bibles actually address this topic. Perhaps you are amazed, too.
Their Favorite 7th Grade Topic:
Ezekiel 23:19-20 puts it this way: “She played the whore in the land of Egypt and lusted after her paramours, whose members are like those of donkeys.” Penis jokes are endemic to 7th grade boys at summer camp, who all try to outdo each other and tell the “biggest penis” joke. Oh, grow up. I’ve heard all the pecker jokes a dozen times over as well. Again, the middle school munchkins are amazed to learn that their Bibles actually address this topic. Perhaps you are amazed, too.
You’ve Got To Be Kidding – That’s Just Gross
We’ve all heard someone exclaim one vulgar expression or another. But who would even think that these vulgar expressions come straight out of the Bible. You are about to be shocked. For instance, the saying “He’s hung like a horse and can shoot a big load” comes from the same Favorite 7th Grade Topic scripture listed above, “whose members are like those of donkeys” but also includes the final words: “and whose emission is like that of stallions” (Ezekiel 23:19-20). Who knew?
King David, in Psalm 58:7 says: “May they vanish like urine that drains away.” Today we’d say, in the immortal words of Ron Weasley to Harry Potter: “I wish you’d just ‘P*ss off’.” And who hasn’t heard the angry retort: “Why don’t you just go eat yer sh*t and drink yer p*ss!” This expression isn’t just found once in the Bible, but twice. What in the world?
For you KJV lovers, here’s how the KJV puts 2 Kings 18:27: “But Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? [Hath he] not [sent me] to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?” And then repeats it again in Isaiah 36:12! Other translations use the words waste or excrement, water or urine. What in the world?
And now you know where these vulgar sayings come from: The Bible. Now, Are you totally shocked? Oh grow up. Biblical language is not for sissies.
Why – Why – Why is the Bible so Explicit and Graphic?
2 Peter 2:6 – “Yahweh condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, reducing them to ashes and ruin, as a warning to those in the future who would live ungodly lives.”
Jude 1:7 – “Sodom, Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, following a pattern like theirs, committing sexual sins and perversions, lie exposed as a warning of the everlasting fire awaiting those who must undergo punishment.”
Why would the Bible include all that graphic, vulgar, often sexually explicit language? It does not use such language just to shock your socks off, but to shock you out of complacency – to wake you up, to force you to grow up.
Every section above and its scriptures given, with only one exception, are given as strong examples of how NOT to think, speak, and act – as a mirror to look into your own behavior to see if your thinking, speaking, and acting is likewise – and as stern warnings to future generations that punishment will be meted out for engaging in the same behaviors. Similar examples can also be found in Deuteronomy 29:23; Isaiah13:19; and Jeremiah 50:40. Further study of those scriptures also frequently details the punishment Yahweh will mete out for those who do act in such vile manners. That punishment is to be thrown into the eternal Lake of Fire – the second death.
The one exception is the section above on the Song of Songs – the Song of Solomon, which details how thoroughly a husband and wife are to enjoy each other’s touch, taste, and smell – how to thoroughly enjoy each other’s bodies and love.
Conclusions
Ecclesiastes 1:9 – “What has been is what will be, what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.”
The Bible is loaded with language that today would be considered questionable, off color, vulgar, or downright sexually graphic language, but which can be easily located in many passages and verses, much to the surprise and shock of today’s sensitive and easily offended pantywaists, milksops, or cowards. It uses that language to wake you up, to force you to grow up.
Ecclesiastes warns us not to be surprised – ain’t nuthin new under the sun! It should come as no surprise, therefore, that some of those expressions – language that one normally only hears coming out of the mouth of a construction worker or longshoreman – are still used today, using modern equivalents for the ancient Hebrew words. Are you shocked? Oh grow up. Biblical language is not for sissies, pantywaists, snowflakes, or the easily offended – it is for those who are courageous, warrior priests.
Final Thought
The prophetic signs are burgeoning and not abating. The impact of Wormwood on the Earth is still expected in April 2029. Time is incredibly short – Yeshua Ha’Mashiach is coming soon – so be of great cheer, keep looking up, and keep maintaining an attitude of gratitude. Be sure you are believing The Truth, not The Lie. Be sure Yeshua is your Redeemer, King, and High Priest, and your sins are forgiven.
Articles in this Series
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Rapture Party 