kar'-kas: The dead body of a beast; used sometimes in a contemptuous way of the dead body of a human being. The use of the word as applied to a living body is not found in either Old Testament or New Testament.
(1) It occurs as a translation of the Hebrew pegher, inGe 15:11; this Hebrew word is also translated "dead body" inNu 14:29;1Sa 17:46;Isa 34:3;66:24;Eze 6:5;43:7:9, and "corpse" inNa 3:3.
(2) The Hebrew nebhelah, is also translated "carcass" inLe 5:2;11:8,11;Jer 16:18, but as "dead body" inDe 28:26("body,"Jos 8:29;1Ki 13:22,29;2Ki 9:37);Isa 5:25;Jer 7:33;16:4;19:7.
(3) InJud 14:8the word mappelah, from naphal, "to incline" or "fall," is also translated "carcass."
(4) InMt 24:28the word "carcase" (not "carcass") is used to render the Greek ptoma, the reference probably being here to the dead body of an animal For the body of a human being the Greek is translated "corpse" (Mt 14:12;Mr 6:29;15:45), and "dead bodies" (Re 11:8,9).
W. N. Stearns