LIP. The diverse usage of the Heb. and Gr. terms for “lip” illustrates the manner in which a primary organ of the body was employed to describe a number of widely variant phenomena. The Heb. word שָׂפָה, H8557, found in Akkad. as shaptu meant basically the lips of the mount (Ps 22:7 KJV; Prov 5:3 RSV, etc.) or the lips as the organ of speech (Exod 6:12; Lev 5:4; Ps 106:33 KJV, etc.). By metonymy the lips became understood as the language or manner of speaking of individuals and nations alike (Gen 11:1 RSV; Prov 17:7 KJV), as well as the gossip of casual conversationalists (Prov 17:4 RSV; Ezek 36:3). It was used of an unknown language only once in the OT (“voice,” Ps 81:5). The extension of the term by metaphorical usage naturally suggested the brink or shore of the sea or the bank of a river (Gen 22:17; 41:3; Dan 12:5, etc.). By further derivation the word sāpāh was used to designate the border or edge of something, as with a garment or curtain (Exod 26:4, 10; 28:26; etc.). The brim of the “molten sea” or cast bronze laver which occupied a conspicuous position in the courtyard of the Solomonic Temple is described in 1 Kings 7:23-26. It was employed also to describe the border of the altar mentioned in Ezekiel 43:13, a reference in which Babylonian constructional terms for the design and building of ziggurats occurred. Despite these extensions of meanings, however, the primary application of the term was to the human lips.

Another closely related Heb. word, שָׂפָם, H8559, referred to the upper lip or the mustache, and always in the oriental sense of covering it with the hand or with some garment similar to a veil indicating shame or grief (cf. Lev 13:45; 2 Sam 19:4; Mic 3:7). Under special circumstances this procedure did not need to be observed, e.g. Ezekiel who was forbidden to indulge in the customary mourning rites, having been informed that his wife was about to die (Ezek 24:17, 22). Because the Hebrews were deficient in their knowledge of the physiology of the nervous system they assigned emotional and ethical qualities to bodily organs, including the lips. They not merely spoke but rejoiced (Ps 71:23), quivered fearfully (Hab 3:16), preserved knowledge (Prov 5:2), offered praise (Ps 63:3), and besides being righteous (Prov 16:13) could be lying (Ps 120:2), uncircumcised (Exod 6:12, 30), perverse (Prov 4:24), and so on. Literary parallelism with the tongue or mouth was common in poetry (Pss 34:13; 51:15). The close association between the thoughts and the lips was stressed in Proverbs 16:23.

In the NT the Gr. word χεῖλος, G5927, was used both literally and metaphorically in exactly the same sense as in the OT (Matt 15:8; Rom 3:13; Heb 13:15; 1 Pet 3:10 [LXX]).