Bruisers and Bleeders
When one person injures another, the Bible states that the damager must pay “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth...” (Ex. 21:24). Of course, the rabbis teach (Bava Kamma 83b-84a) that this does not refer to any sort of actual bodily payment, but rather to monetary compensation. That Biblical verse continues to list further examples of payments which are assessed as commensurate with the bodily damage done, “...a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound [petza], and a wound for a wound [chaburah]” (Ex. 21:24–25). In this passage, two different words for “wound” are used — petza and chaburah. Similarly, after Lemech accidently murdered his ancestor Cain and his son Tubal-Cain, he said to his wives, “For a man I have killed by my wound [petza] / And a child, with my wound [chaburah]” (Gen. 4:23). In that passage as well, the two words for “wound” — petza and chaburah — appear side-by-side, as they do in several other cases (Isa. 1:6, Prov. 20:30). This essay explores these two Hebrew synonyms, as well as the Hebrew verb chovel in the sense of “wounding/injury.”
Rashi (to Ex. 21:25) clarifies the difference between petza and chaburah by explaining that petza refers to a wound that bleeds due to an opening in one’s epidermis, while chaburah refers to a wound by which blood collects underneath the surface of one’s skin, but does not come out (thus leaving a red mark on one’s exterior). The Vilna Gaon (to Isa. 1:6, Prov. 20:30) similarly explains that petza refers to an “open wound” or “bleeding laceration,” while chaburah refers to a “bruise.”
In light of Rashi’s explanation, Malbim and Rabbi Shlomo Aharon Wertheimer (1866-1935) write that the word chaburah is related to the term chibbur (“connection/attachment”) in reference to the pooling of blood beneath the skin. When the prophet Yirmiyahu rhetorically asks whether a leopard/tiger change its "spots" (13:23), the word denoting those “spots” is chavarburot. Ibn Saruk, Ibn Janach, and Radak explain that this word is a declension of the word chaburah, as it too denotes a discoloration of the skin’s surface.
The term petza (spelled with a final AYIN), whose root is technically PEH-TZADI-AYIN, is often understood to be derived from three-letter root PEH-TZADI-HEY (potzeh), which means “to open.” For example, when the ground was “opened up” to allow for Cain’s burial (Gen. 4:11) or to swallow Korach’s men (Deut. 11:6), the word potzeh is used. The connection between petza and potzeh is based on the interchangeability of the letters AYIN and HEY. If we follow this approach, we can easily understand why Rashi explains petza as referring specially to “open wounds,” rather than to mere “bruises.” This etymology of petza is adopted by Malbim and Rabbi Wertheimer, in addition to Rabbi Moshe Ashkenazi-Tedeschi (Otzar Nirdafim §27) and Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (to Gen. 4:11, Ex. 21:25). Interestingly, Rabbi Hirsch notes that petza and potzeh both refer to a forced “opening,” as the ground in the cases of Cain and Korach had no choice in allowing itself to be opened, just like the victim who is left with a petza did not choose to receive such an injury.
After citing Rashi’s way of differentiating between petza and chaburah, Ibn Ezra (long commentary to Ex. 21:25) cites Rabbi Saadia Gaon (882–942) as explaining that petza refers to a “broken bone,” while chaburah refer to a “bleeding wound.” Elsewhere, Ibn Ezra (short commentary to Ex. 21:25 and in his commentary to Isa. 1:6) repeats this understanding, but adds that chaburah relates to “attachment” because in this context it refers specifically to a “wound” that has an accumulation of liquid “attached” to it that appears in the form of puss and other signs of infection.
