Definition

a whip (literally, the Roman flagellum for criminals; figuratively, a disease)

Etymology

probably from the base of G3145 (μασσάομαι) (through the idea of contact);

Where the KJV renders it

• plague
• scourging

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Greek term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.