Adder: (Psalms 140:3; Romans 3:13) ("asp") is the rendering of,1. Akshub ("coiling" or "lying in wait"), properly an asp or viper,
found only in this passage.
2. Pethen ("twisting") a viper or venomous serpent identified with
the cobra (Naja haje)
(Psalms 58:4; 91:13) elsewhere "asp."
3. Tziphoni ("hissing")
(Proverbs 23:32) elsewhere rendered "cockatrice,"
(Isaiah 11:8; 14:29; 59:5; Jeremiah 8:17) as it is here in the margin of the
Authorized Version. The Revised Version has "basilisk." This may
have been the yellow viper, the Daboia xanthina, the largest and
most dangerous of the vipers of Palestine.
4. Shephiphon ("creeping"), occurring only in
(Genesis 49:17) the small
speckled venomous snake, the "horned snake," or cerastes. Dan
is compared to this serpent, which springs from its
hiding-place on the passer-by.
(See BASILISK)
(See COCKATRICE)
(See SERPENT)
