The curious noun κραββατος (krabbatos) describes a mat or make-shift mattress, apparently made from twigs and leaves, since it stems from the Macedonian word γραβος (grabos), meaning oak. This same Macedonian word also became the Greek noun γραβιον (grabion), which describes a torch made from a bundle of twigs. Where the Macedonians got this word from isn't clear, but it appears to be not Indo-European, or so say the experts.

Here at Abarim Publications we are of course shamelessly biased, but since everybody is guessing, here's our two cents worth: The Macedonian word is spelled with a single b but the Greek one has a double one. That draws our attention to the Hebrew verb רבב (rabab), which speaks of being much or many, and especially many becoming one (many arrows, many rain drops, many instructions, many branches), which would perfectly describe our bundle or twigs. The leading k can then be explained from the common Hebrew prefix כ (ke), meaning like. In Deuteronomy 32:2, Psalm 72:6 and Micah 5:7 appears the term כרביבים (krabybim), meaning "like showers" (literally: like the many).

Part of the pun would be that the familiar noun ραββι (rabbi), meaning rabbi, derives from this verb רבב (rabab), which suggests that the New Testament's familiar image of the paralyzed man upon his κραββατος (krabbatos) may be considered to represent the common Jewish population that's kept lame upon its debilitating rabbinical tradition (see Deuteronomy 21:22-23 and compare Matthew 23:23 to Matthew 13:32). Also note that the name of the feast of Pesah (Passover), namely פסח (pesah), closely relates to the adjective פסח (piseah), lame or cripple.

But whatever its pedigree, our noun κραββατος (krabbatos) is used 12 times in the New Testament; see full concordance. Another word for bed, and describing a proper bed rather than a bundle of twigs, is κλινη (kline) and its diminutive κλινιδιον (klinidion), literally meaning recliner.

The noun σακκος (sakkos) means sackcloth, the item of rough fabric that people would wear while in mourning. It is used 4 times in the New Testament; see full concordance.

From this Greek word indeed comes our English word sack, but it's actually Semitic (as are many Greek words). Its Hebrew equivalent is שק (saq), sackcloth, a word of puzzling pedigree but possibly of Egyptian extraction. In the patriarchal era, Egypt dominated trade in the Levant and the chances are excellent that they invented the sack for bulk goods, made from cheap, rough but sturdy cloth. On the other hand, the sack first appears in the records of Egypt's 19th dynasty (1292 - 1189 BC), while the story of Jacob plays about 500 years earlier.

The שק (saq) is introduced in the Biblical narrative when Joseph is sold into Egypt and his bloody varicolored coat is delivered to his father Jacob, who subsequently tears his own robes and puts sackcloth on his loins (Genesis 37:34). What may have inspired Jacob to do this is not immediately clear, but sackcloth appears to have been mostly made from goat hair (possibly even evolved out of a bundled up goat skin). The Hebrew word for goat, namely שעיר (sa'ir), stems from a root that means to be horrified or greatly afraid (hence also Mount Seir, the haunt of Jacob's brother Esau). Even in Greek, the word for tragedy stems from the word for goat: τραγος (tragos). The adjective ποικιλος (poikilos) means variegated or many-colored and shares its root with πικρος (pikros), bitter, perhaps "because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain" (Ecclesiastes 1:18).

From Jacob with his loins in sackcloth, the story continues with Jacob's remaining sons, as they take their empty sacks (Genesis 42:25: same word) to Egypt, to have them filled with grain. Egypt abounded in grain, because Joseph had filled the store houses there, having gone from rags to riches, from being an abhorred man of sorrows to effective ruler and savior of the civilized world (compare Isaiah 53:3 with Matthew 26:64).

Spelled strikingly similar to our mystery noun שק (saq) is the verb שקה (shaqa), to give to drink (although pointed somewhat differently by the Masoretes in the middle ages), from which come words for drinking vessels such as a שקת (shoqet) trough (Genesis 24:20), and the word משקה (masqeh), cup-bearer (Genesis 40:2). It appears that the relationship of the two words שקת (shoqet) and שק (shaq) may in some way be explained by the story of the cup-bearer and chief baker (which in turn appears to meditate on the so-called complex mind: the mind that consists of a pas de deux of the scientific ratio and the artistic imagination; see our article on the verb δοκεω, dokeo, meaning to imagine).

Another word of interest is the verb נשק (nashaq), which means to kiss (see κυνεω, kuneo, to kiss), but which originally appears to have expressed a nearing of parties (perhaps physically as well as emotionally or even intellectually and legally). Its Arabic cognate is a verb that means to fasten together or arrange in order. Noun נשק (nesheq) means equipment or outfit. In certain common constructions, the leading "n" drops off: in Genesis 27:26, Isaac says to Jacob (thinking he is Esau): "Please come close and kiss (שקה, sheqah) me, my son" (Matthew 26:48-49).