Gravel
King James Dictionary [1]
GRAV'EL, n.
1. Small stones or fragments of stone, or very small pebbles, larger than the particles of sand, but often intermixed with them. 2. In medicine, small calculous concretions in the kidneys and bladder.
GRAV'EL, To cover with gravel as, to gravel a walk.
1. To stick in the sand. 2. To puzzle to stop to embarrass. 3. To hurt the foot of a horse, by gravel lodged under the shoe.
Holman Bible Dictionary [2]
Lamentations 3:16
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [3]
grav´el ( חצץ , ḥācāc , from root חצץ , ḥācac , "to divide." Kindred roots have the meaning of "to cut," "to hew," "to sharpen," hence חץ , ḥēc , "arrow" ( 2 Kings 13:17; Psalm 64:7 and often); compare Arabic ḥaṣṣa , "to fall to the lot of," ḥiṣṣah , "portion"): In Proverbs 20:17 , we have:
"Bread of falsehood is sweet to a man;
But afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel."
And in Lamentations 3:16 :
"He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones; he hath covered me with ashes."
The only other occurrence of the word is in Psalm 77:17 , where it is the equivalent of ḥēc , "arrow" (see supra ):
"The clouds poured out water;
The skies sent out a sound:
Thine arrows also went abroad."
Proverbs 20:17 and Lamentations 3:16 both suggest the frequent occurrence of grit in the coarse bread, the source of the grit being not necessarily the grindstone, but possibly even small stones originally mingled with the wheat and never properly separated from it.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [4]
( חָצִוֹ , Chatsats', something Broken Off small; gravel-stone, Proverbs 20:17; Lamentations 3:16. In Psalm lxxvii. 7, חֲצָצֶיַךָ , "thine arrows," is regarded by Fulrst as a reduplicative form from הֵוֹ ; in Isaiah 48:19, מְ וֹתָיו , erroneously "the gravel thereof," is undoubtedly the same as in מֵ יךָ preceding, and stands elliptically for "[the issue of] its Bowels," sc. the sea's, i.e., the fish that spawn so numerously), comminuted rock, coarser than sand, but smaller than stones, forming a large part of what is known geologically as "drift" or diluvium over the surface of the earth. (See Land).
