Thus the adj. comes first, and its primary mean- ing is painful, which is the only sense it now retains. Job 5" ' For he maketh sore, and bindeth up' (n"Nj:, LXX d\7fri' TToie?). But this literal meaning is rare, the word having early adopted
• Comp. the similar use of D'n^K in 1 S 281>. t These verses (i.«. '8 20) are without adequate reason declared by Duhm and Cheyne to be non-Isaianlc.
SOREK
SOSTHEXKS
607
the (ig. sense of severe, (jrietwus. The transition may be illustrated from Shaks. Tempest, v. i. 288 —
* Steph. — O toiicb me not ; 1 am not Stephano^ but a cramp. Pr<jg. — You'd be king o* the isle, sirrah?
Steph. — 1 bhould have been a sore one, then * —
where there is a play on the word.
Is 27' ' In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan ' (•■^FrC ^^"^Tr» IjXX rrjif ^d;^aipaf tt^v dylav) ; Ezk 14^ 'when I send my four sore judgments upon Jeru- salem' (C"'"!C, LXX rdf TToi-Tjpds) ; -Wis 10'^ 'In a Bore contliet slie gave him the victory' (d^ii'a laxvf^v) ; He lO-^ ' Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he lie thought wortliy?' (Triircf) X<'povoi). Even when the reference is to sufiering or disease, 'sore' almost always means severe rather than literally painful, as Dt 28^ 'With a sore botch ' {Tl I'Df?). Cf. Udall, Erasimis, i. 21), ' Making the law more heavy and sore ' ; Tavemer's Bible, 3 Mac 3 '«»<"''« ' The kyng maketh a sore decree ' ; Lk 15" Rhem. ' And after he had spent al, there fel a sore famine in that countrie ' (XimJs iax^pos). In the passage just quoted Tindale and otliers have merely ' great ( AV and KV ' mighty '), and it is probable that the word ' sore ' itself often means no more than that. Cf. Is 24'" Cov. ' The earth shal geve a greate crack, it shal have a sore ruyne, and take an horrible fall.' But this is most fre(]uently seen in the adverb.
The adv. 'sore' ('sorely' occurs twice) never means in AV lit. ' painfully,' often, however, severely, grievously,* as 1 S 1* 'And her adversary also provoked her sore ' (oyj-cj .^nny .nnpy;!) ; Mt 17" 'He is lunatick, and sore vexed' ((taituJs iriaxc, KV ' suftereth grievously'). But the usual mean- ing is greatly, exceedingly (Germ, schr), as Is 38-' = 2 K 2l^ ' Hezeki.ah wept sore' (Vnj -j^ '■i.'pir' Ti?'!, LXX (K\av<T€i' 'Efe/clat K\avfffii} /ieydXif). The adv. nto in Heh. is often tr'' ' sore,' and aipliSpa occa- sionally (1 Mac 2''' & 9»8 16--, Mt 17«) in Greek. Cf. Chaucer, Prologue, 148—
* Of sraale houndes had she, that she fedde With rocsted (lesh, or milk and wostel-breed. But sore weep slie if oon of hem were deed. Or if men smuot it \vith a yerde smerte.'
The phrase 'lie sore on' occurs in Jg 14". See LiK in vol. ii. p. 113.
The subst. occurs rarely : Lv 13"- ", Ps 38" (»JJ a plague-spot) ; Ps 77* ' My sore ran in the niglit ' ('^.'i ")'., Rv • my hand was stretched out ') ; Is 1' 'wounds and bruises and putrifying sores' (n;5 n;-!;p RV ' festering sores,' RVm ' fresh stripes ') ; Lk 10=" ' full of sores ' (riXxu/wSi-os) ; 16'-', Rev 16»- " (Altos). J. Ha.stings.
SOREK, The Valley of (piMy Sijj ; B 'K\awp-hx,i A XdndppoKs -wp.Jx ; vallis Sorer). — The valley or tvAdy (Heb. nnhnl) in which Delilah lived (Jg 16'). Eusebiua and Jerome (Otunn.) connect the valley with Caphtiftorcc, a vill.ige to the north of Elentheropolis and near Saraa {Zadp), that is, Zorah (Sur'ah), the home of Samson's father. Capharsorec is now Khvrhet Snrik, to the north of M7irly SurAr, which is identilied with ' the valley of Sorek,' and not far from Utir'ah.
The W'Ady iStirdr is one of the great features of Southern Palestine. It rises to the N. of Jerus., near liireh (Beeroth), and, running between Nchy Snmwil and Jems., passes KuJCnick and 'Ain Kdrim. It now becomes deep and narrow, and below 'Akur is joined by Wddy cs-Sikkeh, which rises in the valley of Kephaim, close to Jerusalem, and passes Bittir. Nortli of Kliurbct 'JSrma (one of the sites proposed for Kiriath-jearim) it becomes a
* In the Scotch Litur^^y ' Kore ' is cbaneed into ' grievously ' in the ' ('Ommunion * — ' whereas you offend God so sore in retusini; this holy baiK|Uct.'
t The Ai- probably represent* the last port of S'<x«^-
narrow gorge with precipices on its northern side, and, a little lower, it emerges from the hill-country of Judah and enters the Shephelah, or lowland. Here, in a fertile well-watered basin, it is joined by Ifddy Ghurab, which, after passing Kuryet el- '£nab (another proposed site for Kiriath-jearim), runs in from the jS.W., and by Wddy enNajil, which comes from the south. On the northern slopes of the basin are Zorah and Eshtaol, and between them ' the camp of Dan ' (Mahaneh-dan), the early liome and buri;il -place of Samson (Jg 13'-'' 10^'). Un the southern slope is Beth-shemesh (Ain 5/i«;«.s), prettily situated above the rich corn lields, and commanding a line view down the broad fertile valley which runs past the vinej'ards of Timnath, Makkedah, and Jaoneel to the sea.