Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity; It is stained with blood.
“Polluted with blood,” עקובה מדם, okube medam: עקב , okob, in Hebrew, means “to deceive,” and also, “to hold” or “retain.” עקב, okob, is the sole of the foot; hence עקב, okob, signifies “to supplant.” And there is no doubt but that “to deceive” is its meaning metaphorically. I will now come to the meaning of the Prophet; he says that the city was עקובה מדם, okube, medan; some say, “deceptive in blood,” because they did not openly kill men, but by lying in wait for them; and hence they elicit this sense. But I approve more of what they hold who say, that the city was “full of blood;” not that such is the strict sense of the Hebrew word; but we may properly render it, “occupied by blood.” Why so? Because עקב, okob, as I have said, means sometimes to hold, to stay, and to hinder. We may then properly and fitly say, that Gilead was “occupied” or “possessed by blood.” But here follows a clearer and a fuller explanation of this sentence — 