Neglected Physical Dimensions of “Shame” Terminology in the Hebrew Bible 1 The subject of shame has received considerable attention from biblical scholars interested in the fields of psychology and sociology 2. Corresponding to these two fields, most recent studies on shame assert the importance of shame’s internal-psychological dimensions and especially its external-social dimensions. According to modern psycho-analytic studies, shame denotes internal feelings of worthlessness and negative internal evaluation (sometimes overlapping with guilt) in response to perceived social or individual ideals 3. Shame can function positively to prevent disgrace or negatively to diminish self-worth 4. In the social sciences, shame This article is an expanded version of a paper delivered at the Society of 1 Biblical Literature Annual Meeting (New Orleans, November, 2009). Special thanks to A. Lynch, D. Lambert, M. Bates, and A. Sherwood for reading and commenting on earlier drafts. See L.M. BECHTEL, “Shame as Sanction of Social Control in Biblical 2 Israel : Judicial, Political and Social Shaming”, JSOT 49 (1991) 47-76; ID., “ The Perception of Shame within the Divine-Human Relationship in Biblical Israel ”, Uncovering Ancient Stones. Essays in Memory of H. Neil Richardson (ed. L.M. HOPFE) (Winona Lake, MI 1994) 79-92; S.M. OLYAN, “Honor, Shame, and Covenant Relations in Ancient Israel and its Environment”, JBL 115 (1996) 201-218; V H. MATTHEWS, “Honor and Shame in Gender-Related . Situations in the Hebrew Bible”, Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and in the Ancient Near East (eds. V H. MATTHEWS – B.M. LEVINSON – T. FRYMER- . KENSKY) (New York 2004) 97-112; R. RABICHEV, “The Mediterranean Concepts of Honour and Shame as Seen in the Depiction of the Biblical Women ”, RT 3 (1996) 51-63. See J. STIEBERT, The Construction of Shame in the Hebrew Bible 3 (JSOTSS 346; Sheffield 2002) 8, 168. Stiebert’s definition of shame captures psychological and sociological aspects: “Shame ... is an emotion focused on the vulnerability and conspicuousness of one’s [subjective, internalized] self- image ... in terms of a perceived [objective, external] ... ideal ” (3). Though integrating sociological insights, Stiebert (108-109; 128; 165-166) develops the psychological dimensions of shame in the prophets, arguing that most of the biblical material is ill suited to yield the kind of data pursued by adherents of the Mediterranean shame-honor paradigm. Positive dimensions of shame have occupied the attention of recent 4