Adder

Adder is the English translation of several distinct Hebrew words that denote venomous serpents in the Old Testament. The term akshub, rendered adder in Psalm 140:3 and cited by Paul in Romans 3:13, describes a coiling or lying-in-wait serpent. Pethen (Psalm 58:4; 91:13) refers to a serpent that was supposedly deaf to the charmer's call, used as a figure of those who stop their ears against God's word. Tsiphoni (Proverbs 23:32; Isaiah 11:8) describes the serpent whose bite comes with delayed, deadly effect — used as a warning against wine.

These varied terms reflect the biblical world's awareness of multiple species of dangerous snakes in the Levant and Arabian Peninsula. In prophetic and wisdom literature the adder functions as an image of treachery, lethal power, and the consequences of sin, while in eschatological passages such as Isaiah 11:8 the nursing child playing over the adder's hole pictures the restoration of creation's original harmony.