Pilled
Pilled (Ge 30:37-38) is a rendering of פָּצִל, patsal, to strip of the bark, being the same as "strakes," i.e. streaks, in the same connection (ver. 57). PEELED (Isa 18:2; Eze 29:18), however, is a different word in the original, מָרִט, maradt, signifying to polish. The verb "to pill" appears in Old English as identical in meaning with "to peel=to strip," and in this sense is used in the above passages from Genesis. Of the next stage in its meaning as =-plunder, we have traces in the word "pillage," pilfer. If the difference between the two forms be more than accidental, it would seem as if, in the English of the 17th century, "peel" was used for the latter signification. The 'people scattered and peeled" are generally interpreted to mean those that have been plundered of all they have. Comp.
"Peeling their prisoners." —Milton, P. R. 4.
"To peel the chiefs, the people to devour." —Dryden, Homer, Iliad (Richardson).
The soldiers of Nebuchadnezzar's army (Eze 29:18), however, have their shoulder peeled in the literal sense. The skin is worn off with carrying earth to pile up the mounds during the protracted siege of Tyre. SEE TYRE.
