Adder

Only five verses speak of the adder, and none of them is kind to it. Jacob blesses Dan as “an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels”; the psalmist says the wicked are like “the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear” and have “adders’ poison” under their lips. Proverbs 23:32 says wine “stingeth like an adder.” Then comes a promise in Psalm 91:13, “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder,” a picture of safety in the middle of danger. Whether it is a bite, a poisoned word or a rescue, the snake is small and the harm is real.

5 verses

Genesis

Genesis 49:17

Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

Psalms

Psalms 58:4

Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;

Psalms 91:13

Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Psalms 140:3

They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips. Selah.

Proverbs

Proverbs 23:32

At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

(Ps. 140:3; Rom. 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) (Ps. 58:4; 91:13); elsewhere “asp.” (3.) Tziphoni (“hissing”) (Prov. 23:32); elsewhere rendered “cockatrice,” Isa. 11:8; 14:29; 59:5; Jer. 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 Gen. 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.

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From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

This word is used for any poisonous snake, and is applied in this general sense by the translators of the Authorized Version. The word adder occurs five times in the text of the Authorized Version (see below), and three times int he margin as synonymous with cockatrice , viz., (Isaiah 11:8; 14:29; 59:5) It represents four Hebrew words:

(1.) Acshub is found only in (Psalms 140:3) and may be represented by the Toxicoa of Egypt and North Africa.

(2.) Pethen. [ASP]

(3.) Tsepha , or Tsiphoni , occurs five times in the Hebrew Bible. In (Proverbs 23:32) it is it is translated adder, and in (Isaiah 11:8; 14:29; 59:5; Jeremiah 8:17) it is rendered cockatrice . From Jeremiah we learn that it was of a hostile nature, and from the parallelism of (Isaiah 11:8) it appears that the Tsiphoni was considered even more dreadful than the Pethen .

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(4.) Shephipon occurs only in (Genesis 49:17) where it is used to characterize the tribe of Dan. The habit of lurking int he sand and biting at the horse’s heels here alluded to suits the character of a well-known species of venomous snake, and helps to identify it with the celebrated horned viper, the asp of Cleopatra (Cerastes), which is found abundantly in the dry sandy deserts of Egypt, Syria and Arabia. The cerastes is extremely venomous. Bruce compelled a specimen to scratch eighteen pigeons upon the thigh as quickly as possible, and they all died in nearly the same interval of time.