SCORPION (עַקְרָב, H6832; σκορπίος, G5026; scorpion all Eng. VSS). There is no problem about the tr., for this Heb. name is used today; one route up the great escarpment across the Negev is the Ascent of the Scorpions. Of the world’s 500 species some twelve are known from the various regions of Pal., from the Negev desert to the moist woodlands of the N. Even though they vary in size, proportions and color, the outline of a scorpion, with its pair of heavy pincers and forward-curving sting-tipped tail, makes it immediately recognizable. Size itself is no indication of potency of venom; at least one Middle E species has a most serious sting, but none is likely to kill a healthy person. Scorpions are classified near the spiders and, like them, they are entirely carnivorous. The sting is used with precision to paralyze the prey, which is then consumed by pumping digestive juices into it and sucking out the broken-down tissues.

Toward nightfall scorpions emerge from the holes and crevices where they have spent the day and wander in search of prey. They do not normally attack humans but react instinctively if trodden on. Scorpions are mostly mentioned fig., with reference to their unpleasantness and danger. 1 Kings 12:11, “chastise you with scorpions,” may refer to a many-thonged whip armed with hooked metal knobs and known as the scorpion (1 Macc 6:51). The Lord’s reference, “If he asks for an egg, will [he] give him a scorpion?” (Luke 11:12) could well have been made as He indicated a scorpion under a roadside stone. The contrast is striking; the “body” segment in some species is fat and almost egg-shaped, but this saying could echo a proverb.

Bibliography Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 20 (1951), 137.