sechok · laughter, derision

What it means

sechok (שְׂחוֹק) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “laughter, derision”.

Laughter; it may be of joy or of mockery.

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. The sound a person makes when something gives him joy.
2. A person others mock and laugh at.
3. Something done for pastime, not in earnest.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

How it is translated

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

• laughter ×9
• laughingstock ×5
• Like sport ×1

Where it appears

• Job×3
• Psalms×1
• Proverbs×2
• Ecclesiastes×4
• Jeremiah×4
• Lamentations×1

• Job 8:21

  He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with acclamation.

• Job 12:4

  An object of laughter to his companion I am, one who called on Eloah and he answered him; an object of laughter is the righteous, the blameless.

• Psalms 126:2

  Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “YHWH has done great things with these.”

• Proverbs 10:23

  Like sport to the senseless one is doing infamy, and wisdom to a man of insight.

• Proverbs 14:13

  Even in laughter the heart aches, and the end of joy is grief.

• Ecclesiastes 2:2

  Of laughter I said, “Madness!” and of joy, “What does this do?”

• Ecclesiastes 7:3

  Better is grief than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made better.

• Ecclesiastes 7:6

  For like the sound of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the senseless; and this too is vapor.

• Ecclesiastes 10:19

  For laughter they make bread, and wine gladdens life, and silver answers everything.

• Jeremiah 20:7

  You seduced me, YHWH, and I let myself be seduced; you were stronger than I and prevailed; I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.

• Jeremiah 48:26

  Make him drunk, for against YHWH he has made himself great; and Moab will splash in his vomit, and he too will become a laughingstock.

• Jeremiah 48:27

  And was not Israel the laughingstock for you? Was he found among thieves, that whenever you speak of him you shake your head?

• Jeremiah 48:39

  How it is dismayed! Wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! And Moab will become a laughingstock and a terror to all who are around him.

• Lamentations 3:14

  I have become a laughingstock to all my people, their song all the day.

And 1 more times.