כּוּשׁ (kush)

The Hebrew noun Kush refers primarily to the land and people located along the southern Nile, an area that corresponds to modern Ethiopia and Sudan. The name itself carries the meaning "black," a descriptor likely rooted in the physical appearance of the region or its inhabitants. In the biblical narrative, this territory appears most frequently in Isaiah, where it serves as a symbol of distant power and the far reaches of God’s creation.

Beyond the geographical entity, the word identifies two specific individuals in Scripture. The first is Cush, a son of Ham and grandson of Noah, who appears in Genesis 10 as an ancestor of various nations including Nimrod. The second is a Benjamite mentioned only in the superscription of Psalm 7, identified as a contemporary of King David. These distinct uses show how the same term bridges ancient genealogy and historical biography.

Translators typically render Kush as "Cush" or "Ethiopia," preserving the proper noun status rather than translating the meaning directly. This distinction helps readers recognize that while the word describes a people, it functions in the text as a specific place name. The references to this region often highlight the universality of biblical themes, showing that God’s concern extends beyond Israel to the nations of the south.