shame

בְּךָ בָטְחוּ וְלֹא־ בֽוֹשׁוּ (Tehillim 22:6), in You they trusted and were not ashamed; כִּי בְֹשְׁתִּי לִשְׁאוֹל מִן־הַמֶּלֶךְ (Ezra 8:22), for I was ashamed to ask of the king; and the reflexive, וְלֹא יִתְבּשָֽׁשׁוּ (Bereishis 2:25), and they were not ashamed. בּוֹשָׁה וְחָפֵרָה (Yirmiyahu 15:9), she is ashamed and disgraced, is stressed on the earlier syllable, and וּבוֹשָׁה הַֽחַמָּה (Yeshayahu 24:23), and the sun shall be ashamed, on the last. In the heavy form: וּמְשַׂנְאֵינוּ הֱבִישֽׁוֹתָ (Tehillim 44:8), and our haters You have put to shame; עֲצַת־עָנִי תָבִישׁוּ (Tehillim 14:6), you would shame the counsel of the poor; הֱבִשֹׁתָה כִּֽי־אֱלֹהִים מְאָסָֽם (Tehillim 53:6), You have put them to shame, for Hashem has rejected them; מֵבִישׁ וּמַחְפִּֽיר (Mishlei 19:26), one who shames and disgraces; and וּכְרָקָב בְּעַצְמוֹתָיו מְבִישָֽׁה (Mishlei 12:4), and she who shames is as rot in his bones.

The nouns are תְּכַסְּךָ בוּשָׁה (Ovadiah 1:10), shame shall cover you, and וּבשֶׁת פָּנַי כִּסָּֽתְנִי (Tehillim 44:16), and the shame of my face has covered me; and with a nun added, בָּשְׁנָה אֶפְרַיִם יִקָּח (Hoshea 10:6), Ephraim shall take shame. Rabbi Yonah wrote that the nun was added to disgrace the Baal, that it should be called בשנה, as in וְהַבֹּשֶׁת אָֽכְלָה אֶת־יְגִיעַ אֲבוֹתֵינוּ (Yirmiyahu 3:24), the shameful thing devoured our fathers' toil. It can also be taken at its plain sense, as the same pasuk says וְיֵבוֹשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵֽעֲצָתֽוֹ, Yisrael will be ashamed of its counsel.

וְהֶֽחֱזִיקָה בִּמְבֻשָֽׁיו (Devarim 25:11), and she takes hold of his testicles, which are the place of shame. So עֶרְיָה־ בֹשֶׁת (Michah 1:11), nakedness of shame, is nakedness uncovered, as וַֽחֲשׂוּפַי שֵׁת (Yeshayahu 20:4), with their nakedness bared.

וַיָּחִילוּ עַד־ בֹּוֹשׁ (Shoftim 3:25), and they waited until it was late, and וַיִּפְצְרוּ־בוֹ עַד־ בֹּשׁ (Melachim II 2:17), and they pressed him until it was late; בֹשֵׁשׁ מֹשֶׁה (Shemos 32:1), Moshe was late, and מַדּוּעַ בֹּשֵׁשׁ רִכְבּוֹ לָבוֹא (Shoftim 5:28), why is his chariot late in coming. The sense is ענין איחור, lateness.

כִּי חָפַרְתִּי אֶת הַבְּאֵר הַזֹּאת (Bereishis 21:30), that I dug this well, and חֲפָרוּהָ שָׂרִים (Bamidbar 21:18), princes dug it. On וְחָפַרְתָּ לָבֶטַח תִּשְׁכָּב (Iyov 11:18), you shall dig, and lie down in safety, he explains that you will need only to dig round your buildings and will not have to wall them or raise them up, since you will lie down in safety.

כִּי לַחְפֹּר אֶת כָּל הָאָרֶץ בָּאוּ (Yehoshua 2:2 in his edition), for they have come to search out the whole land, and מִשָּׁם חָפַר אֹכֶל (Iyov 39:29), from there it searches out food. It is searching and seeking, he says, because one who searches for a thing is like one who digs for it.

לַחְפֹּר פֵּרוֹת (Yeshayahu 2:20) he takes as the name of a bird; Rabbi Yonah explained that it is called so for its much pecking at fruit, and Radak says that is right, since the pasuk names וְלָעֲטַלֵּפִים, and to the bats, beside it, and men made images of birds and bats to bow down to. It may also be read, Radak says, as two words meaning to dig diggings: men would come to dig holes to hide in, as bats hide by day in holes, and so the next pasuk says לָבוֹא בְּנִקְרוֹת הַצֻּרִים (Yeshayahu 2:21), to go into the clefts of the rocks.

וְחָפְרָה הַלְּבָנָה (Yeshayahu 24:23), the moon shall be ashamed, and וּבֹשׁוּ הַחֹזִים וְחָפְרוּ הַקֹּסְמִים (Michah 3:7), the seers shall be put to shame and the diviners ashamed. All of these, he says, are shame. הֶחְפִּיר לְבָנוֹן (Yeshayahu 33:9), Levanon is ashamed, is said by way of figure, after the manner of הַגֶּפֶן הוֹבִישָׁה (Yoel 1:12), the vine is put to shame.

עַם חֵרֵף נַפְשׁוֹ לָמוּת (Shoftim 5:18), a people that laid its life open to death: they revealed and showed themselves in the battle, to die. So too בְּחָֽרְפָם בַּפְּלִשְׁתִּים (Shmuel II 23:9), when they laid themselves open against the Pelishtim. Some take בחרפם as sharpening, like וְכִלְיוֹתַי אֶשְׁתּוֹנָֽן (Tehillim 73:21), I was sharpened in my reins: their heart grew hot and sharp against the Pelishtim. The Targum renders אֲשֶׁר חִצָּיו שְׁנוּנִים (Yeshayahu 5:28), whose arrows are sharpened, and כְּחֶרֶב חַדָּה (Yeshayahu 49:2), like a sharp sword, with words of these letters, and Chazal speak of סכינא חריפא, a sharp knife (Menachos 74a). In the Targum's view בְּחָֽרְפָם בַּפְּלִשְׁתִּים is of reviling, since it renders it with a word of reviling, and its word for חֶרְפָּה (Bereishis 34:14), disgrace, is of the same kind.

It serves for reviling too, since reviling is the laying open of a man's blemishes and the publishing of them: חֵרַפְתִּי אֶת־מַֽעַרְכוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל (Shmuel I 17:10), I have taunted the ranks of Yisrael, אֶת־מִי חֵרַפְתָּ וְגִדַּפְתָּ (Yeshayahu 37:23), whom have you taunted and blasphemed, and כִּי לֹֽא־אוֹיֵב יְחָֽרְפֵנִי (Tehillim 55:13), it is no enemy who taunts me. The noun is חֶרְפָּה שָֽׁבְרָה לִבִּי (Tehillim 69:21), disgrace has broken my heart.

וְהִוא שִׁפְחָה נֶֽחֱרֶפֶת לְאִישׁ (Vayikra 19:20), and she is a maidservant נֶֽחֱרֶפֶת to a man, that is, designated for him and known to be his, and Chazal use the word this way (Kiddushin 6a). They read the pasuk of a Canaanite maidservant, half slave and half free, betrothed to an eved ivri, and on their reading that is the meaning of וְהָפְדֵּה לֹא נִפְדָּתָה (Vayikra 19:20), redeemed and not redeemed.

לֹא־יֶחֱרַף לְבָבִי (Iyov 27:6), my heart will not revile, he counts in the light form of reviling, with וְחֶרְפּוֹת חוֹרְפֶיךָ נָפְלוּ עָלָֽי (Tehillim 69:10), the taunts of those who taunt You have fallen on me. Some take it from the sense of בִּימֵי חָרְפִּי (Iyov 29:4), which means in the days of my youth. Radak's father explains it as drawing back: my heart will not go back on what I said, that I have not sinned, as in Arabic a thing that draws back is called מנחרא"ף.

In another sense, וְכָל־בֶּהֱמַת הָאָרֶץ עָלָיו תֶּחֱרָֽף (Yeshayahu 18:6), every beast of the land will winter upon it, which he explains as staying there through the days of winter. And וְקַיִץ וָחֹרֶף (Bereishis 8:22), summer and winter, בֵֽית־ הַחֹרֶף (Amos 3:15), the winter house, and מֵחֹרֶף עָצֵל לֹא־יַֽחֲרֹשׁ (Mishlei 20:4), which he explains: the sluggard will not plough for the cold of the winter.

He holds it more than בושה, shame, and the proof is the pesukim that pair the two: בּוֹשׁוּ וְגַם־ נִכְלְמוּ (Yeshayahu 45:16), they were ashamed and disgraced besides, and בֹּשְׁתִּי וְגַם־ נִכְלַמְתִּי (Yirmiyahu 31:19), I was ashamed and disgraced besides.

כְּלִמָּה is always from the side of disrepute, while shame is at times from the side of praise, coming from a man's humility.

כִּסְּתָה כְלִמָּה פָנָֽי (Tehillim 69:8), disgrace has covered my face, and in the plural מִכְּלִמּוֹת וָרֹֽק (Yeshayahu 50:6), from disgrace and spitting; in another pattern וּכְלִמּוּת עוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר לֹא תִשָּׁכֵֽחַ (Yirmiyahu 23:40), everlasting disgrace that is not forgotten.

גַּם־ הַכְלִים לֹא יָדָעוּ (Yirmiyahu 6:15), nor did they know disgrace: they did not feel it when a man disgraced them for the evil of their deeds.