Literally: A Bad business
Idiomatically: Mishap or disastrous affair

When something really screws up badly you would refer to it as an "Esek Bish." This Talmudic phrase (Baba Kama 99b) combines the words "esek" meaning business - a word that is used in modern Hebrew - and the Aramaic word, "Bish", a word that does not stand alone in modern Hebrew. If your business is going great you would say "Ha-esek poreiach" (business is blooming). However, there is another kind of business which has nothing to do with commerce, rather with behind-the-scenes machinations, especially in politics: When it goes badly and you are caught, that is an "esek bish" but don't worry; within a few days everything will be back to "business as usual" ("asakim karagil").

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