course, result in death. The liver’s vital role to life is acknowledged in that it is used figuratively in depicting profound sorrow.​—La 2:11.

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, when looking for guidance as to his military maneuvers, “looked into the liver” as a form of divination.​—Eze 21:21; see DIVINATION.

[Heb., tsav].

Lizards are four-legged reptiles, generally small, with long tails and scaly skin. The lizard’s legs are attached far enough out at the sides to enable it to rest its belly on the ground without folding its feet under it. More than 40 kinds are found in Palestine. They are to be found in trees, in warm crevices of rocks, and on walls and ceilings in homes. The lizard is included among the unclean “swarming creatures” at Leviticus 11:29. It is suggested that the Hebrew name for it is derived from a root meaning “cleave to ground.” The Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament by Brown, Driver, and Briggs (1980, p. 839) suggests “lizard” as the translation. Evidently the Hebrew term tsav at least includes the Agamidae family of lizards, for the equivalent Arabic term dabb refers to the Egyptian spiny-tailed lizard (Uromastix aegyptius), the largest of the species of Agamidae found in Israel.​—See CHAMELEON; GECKO; SAND LIZARD.

Lexicons generally suggest that the Hebrew word koʹach also refers to a kind of lizard. Since the root meaning of the name is “power” or “strength,” it may refer to the desert monitor lizard (Varanus griseus), a powerful, large lizard. It inhabits dry, sandy desert areas. In Palestine this lizard reaches a length of about 1.2 m (4 ft). It is an eater of carrion and is on the list of “unclean” foods.​—Le 11:29, 30.

Another creature listed as unclean for Israelite use as food is referred to by the Hebrew word choʹmet, at Leviticus 11:30. Some recent translations (RS; NW) render this “sand lizard.” The sand lizard is possibly a skink.

See BURDEN.

The Hebrew word leʹchem and the Greek word arʹtos (both meaning “bread”) are also rendered ‘loaf.’ (1Sa 10:4; Mt 14:17) Bread loaves, generally made from barley or wheat flour (2Ki 4:42; Joh 6:9; compare Ex 34:22 with Le 23:17), were often circular. (Jg 7:13; 1Sa 10:3; Jer 37:21) In fact, the Hebrew word kik·karʹ (round loaf) literally means “something round.” (1Sa 2:36) Of course, loaves were also formed into other shapes. An Egyptian papyrus document mentions over 30 different forms of bread.

Ancient specimens from Bible lands include relatively thin round, oval, triangular, and wedge-shaped cakes or loaves and thick, long loaves. (See BREAD; CAKE.) However, the thick loaves, like those of the Western world, do not appear to have been common in the ancient Middle East. Even today Oriental bread is baked in thin loaves, usually from 1 to 2.5 cm (0.5 to 1 in.) in thickness and about 18 cm (7 in.) in diameter.

Since they were relatively thin and, if unleavened, brittle, loaves of bread were broken rather than cut. So in itself there is nothing special about Jesus’ ‘breaking’ the loaf used at the institution of the Lord’s Evening Meal (Mt 26:26), it being the customary way to partake of bread.​—Mt 14:19; 15:36; Mr 6:41; 8:6; Lu 9:16; Ac 2:42, 46, Int.

(Lo-amʹmi) [Not My People].

The name of the second son borne by Hosea’s wife Gomer. Jehovah commanded that the child be given this meaningful name to show that He had disowned faithless Israel. (Ho 1:8, 9) It has been suggested that this boy was not Hosea’s offspring but a child of Gomer’s adultery (Ho 1:2), for when Jezreel was born, it was said that Gomer “bore to him [Hosea] a son,” whereas regarding Lo-ammi it is merely said that “she proceeded to become pregnant and give birth to a son.”​—Ho 1:3, 8.

Anything, especially money, given for temporary use, with expectation of future return or the delivery of an equivalent.

Often very high interest was charged in nations of antiquity, and people unable to repay loans were treated harshly. Interest rates requiring one half of a man’s crop for use of a field are known from ancient records, and the requiring that a merchant repay double what he borrowed was not viewed as unlawful. (Ancient Near Eastern Texts, edited by J. Pritchard, 1974, pp. 168, 170) At times the treatment of a debtor was very harsh.​—Livy, II, XXIII, 2-7; compare Mt 18:28-30.

In ancient Israel, however, the situation was quite different. Ordinarily loans of money or foodstuffs were made to poor fellow Israelites who were the victims of financial reverses, and the Law prohibited exacting interest from them. For an Israelite to have accepted interest from a needy fellow Israelite would have meant profiting from that one’s adversity. (Ex 22:25; Le 25:35-37; De 15:7, 8; 23:19) Foreigners, though, could be required to pay interest. But even this provision of the Law may have applied to business loans only and not to cases of actual need. Often foreigners were in Israel as transient merchants and could