Topic
Couch
10 passages cited, from 3 classic reference works.
These works date from 1884–1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- Genesis 4:7ISBE
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
- Genesis 49:4Easton
Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.
- Genesis 49:9ISBE
Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
- Genesis 49:14ISBE
¶ Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:
- Numbers 24:9ISBE
He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.
- Deuteronomy 33:13ISBE
¶ And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath,
- Judges 5:16ISBE
Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.
- 1 Chronicles 5:1Easton
Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright.
- Job 7:13Easton
When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;
- Psalms 6:6Easton
I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 4 references
(Gen. 49:4; 1 Chr. 5:1; Job 7:13; Ps. 6:6, etc.), a seat for repose or rest. (See BED.)
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 0 references
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 6 references
kouch (substantive.).
See BED.
Couch (verb): rabhats, "to crouch," "lurk," as a beast in readiness to spring on its prey. "If thou doest not well, sin coucheth at the door" (Ge 4:7, the King James Version "lieth"), waiting for it to open. Cain is warned to beware of the first temptations to evil, in his case especially a sullen and jealous disposition (compare Dante, Inferno, I, 30). See ABEL; CAIN. The tribe of Judah is compared for its bravery to a recumbent lion or lioness (Ge 49:9; compare Nu 24:9 f); and Issachar to "a strong ass, couching down between the sheepfolds" (Ge 49:14, the King James Version "between two burdens"; compare Jud 5:16). "The deep that coucheth beneath" (De 33:13), probably the springs of water, or possibly, as Driver suggests, "the subterranean deep, pictured as a gigantic monster."
See ABYSS.
M. O. Evans
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884); International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.