kushi · Cushite

What it means

kushi (כּוּשִׁי) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “Cushite”.

A person from Cush, the region south of Egypt (toward present-day Sudan). Joab's messenger is called this (2 Samuel 18), and so is Ebed-melech, who pulled Jeremiah out of the cistern (Jeremiah 38). In the plural, the Cushites as a people. It says nothing good or bad about the person, only where they come from.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. Someone from Cush, south of Egypt.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• Cushite ×14
• Cushites ×9

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• 2 Samuel×8
• 2 Chronicles×7
• Jeremiah×5
• Daniel×1
• Amos×1
• Zephaniah×1

• 2 Samuel 18:21

  Joab said to the Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed down to Joab and ran.

• 2 Samuel 18:22

  Ahimaaz son of Zadok spoke again to Joab, “Whatever happens, please let me also run after the Cushite.” Joab said, “Why will you run, my son, when you have no news that finds reward?”

• 2 Samuel 18:23

  He said, “Whatever happens, I will run.” He said to him, “Run.” So Ahimaaz ran by the road of the plain and passed the Cushite.

• 2 Samuel 18:31

  And there the Cushite came, and the Cushite said, “Receive the news, my lord the king, that YHWH has done you justice today from the hand of all who rise up against you.”

• 2 Samuel 18:32

  The king said to the Cushite, “Is it well with the young man, with Absalom?” The Cushite said, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rose up against you for evil be like the young man.”

• 2 Chronicles 12:3

  with a thousand two hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen; and there was no number to the people who came with him from Egypt: Libyans, Sukkites, and Cushites.

• 2 Chronicles 14:9

  Zerah the Cushite came out against them with a force of a thousand thousands and three hundred chariots, and came as far as Mareshah.

• 2 Chronicles 14:12

  YHWH struck the Cushites before Asa and before Judah, and the Cushites fled.

• 2 Chronicles 14:13

  Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar; and of the Cushites there fell until they had no life left, for they were broken before YHWH and before his camp. And they carried away very much spoil.

• 2 Chronicles 16:8

  Were not the Cushites and the Libyans a numerous force, with chariots and horsemen in very great number? Yet because you relied on YHWH, he gave them into your hand.

• 2 Chronicles 21:16

  YHWH stirred up against Joram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabs who are beside the Cushites.

• Jeremiah 13:23

  Can the Cushite change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then you also will be able to do good, you who are taught to do evil.

• Jeremiah 38:7

  And Ebed-melech the Cushite, a man, a court official, and he was in the house of the king, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern —now the king was sitting in the gate of Benjamin—

• Jeremiah 38:10

  Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Cushite, saying, “Take with you from here thirty men, and bring up Jeremiah the prophet from the cistern before he dies.”

• Jeremiah 38:12

  And Ebed-melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Put, please, the old rags and the worn-out clothes under your armpits, beneath the ropes.” And Jeremiah did so.

• Jeremiah 39:16

  “Go, and say to Ebed-melech the Cushite, saying, ‘Thus says YHWH Tsevaot, the Elohim of Israel: Look, I am bringing my words to this city for evil and not for good, and they will be before you on that day.

• Daniel 11:43

  And he will rule over the hidden treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and the Cushites will be at his steps.

• Amos 9:7

  Are you not like the children of the Cushites to me, children of Israel? declares YHWH. Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?

• Zephaniah 2:12

  “You too, Cushites, they will be pierced by my sword.”

And 4 more times.