Day 70 of 75 · Judgment and liberation

B-Y-Sh

bisha: what is wrong

בישא · באש

ܒ݁ܺܝܫܳܐ · ܒܐܫ

The feel

Bisha means bad, whatever is no good, from a rotten fish or a bad tree to the accuser. It appears 84 times. The Qala says what is wrong where most translations say evil, because the word covers that whole range. A related verb means to be indignant, as Yeshua was when the children were held back.

The root family

Form	Pattern	Transliteration	Script	Standard	Qala rendering
bisha	adjective / noun, m.	bišā	בישא ܒ݁ܺܝܫܳܐ	evil, bad, wicked	what is wrong; bad (84×)
bishata	adjective, f. pl.	bišātā	בישתא ܒ݁ܺܝܫܳܬ݂ܳܐ	evil things	what has spoiled (Mt 12:35)
etbesh	Ethpeel verb (from b-ʾ-sh)	weʾtbeʾš	ואתבאש ܘܶܐܬ݂ܒ݁ܶܐܫ	be much displeased	to be indignant (Mk 10:14)

Classical Syriac has a Peal, bʾesh, to be bad or go ill, and in the Gospels the family's verb appears in the Ethpeel, etbeʾsh, to be displeased or indignant (weʾtbeʾš, Mark 10:14).

In his voice

Matthew 6:13

And do not bring us to the trial, but rescue us from what is wrong.

bišā, "what is wrong." The last petition of the Prayer ends on this root. Most translations say evil or the evil one.

Matthew 12:35

A man with a good treasure brings out good things, and a man whose treasure has spoiled brings out what has spoiled.

bišā … bišātā, "spoiled … what has spoiled." The root comes three times in one sentence, for the person, the treasure, and what he brings out of it.

Mark 10:14

When Yeshua saw it, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and don't hold them back, for the reign of God belongs to ones like these.

weʾtbeʾš, "and he was indignant." Here the same family names ill feeling, stirred up by a wrong being done.

Practice

Name one thing quietly going bad in your life this week, a habit, a resentment, or a corner cut. Name it without drama, then say bisha (BEE-shah), what is wrong.

Connections

Ṭ-W-B, goodness interlinear bisha: bad, what is wrong etbesh: to be indignant

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