I. Name

Sakkuth occurs under the form Sikkût in Amos 5.26, and is followed by Kiyyûn. The Masoretic vocalisation of both names is that for idols (Abominations, gillulim). The real pronunciation must have been Sakkut, if we may identify this name with the obscure Babylonian god Sakkud (or Sakkut). Already LXX and CD took the name to be a word with the basic meaning “hut” (sukkat): not “Sakkuth, your king”, but “tent of the Moloch” (LXX; also Acts 7.43), or “tabernacle of your king” (CD VII 14). Some moder…