Aramaic word · H1981

הֲלַךְ

mahlekhin

to go

To walk, go about, live one's life (the same image as Hebrew hālak).

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to walk, go

1a) (P'al) walking about (participle)

1b) (Aphel) to walk

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Daniel 3:25

Range of meaning

To walk, go about, live one's life (the same image as Hebrew hālak).

Against the English

'Walking (around) in the midst of the fire' is accurate in all major versions.

Used elsewhere in the period

Daniel 4:37 uses the identical form: 'those who walk (mahləkîn) in pride he is able to humble'. The Hebrew root appears in Isaiah 43:2: 'when you walk (tēlēk) through fire you shall not be burned'.

Where it appears

Daniel · 3

  1. Daniel 3:25 מַהְלְכִ֣ין [they are] walking

    “Look!” he exclaimed. “I see four men, unbound and unharmed, walking around in the fire—and the fourth looks like a son of the gods!”

    Here: 'Walking about.' They are moving freely around inside the furnace, not lying where they fell (v. 23 says they 'fell' in bound). Daniel 4:37 uses the same form for 'those who walk in pride'.

  2. Daniel 4:29 מְהַלֵּ֥ךְ walking about

    Twelve months later, as he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon,

  3. Daniel 4:37 מַהְלְכִ֣ין [are] walking

    Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, for all His works are true and all His ways are just. And He is able to humble those who walk in pride.

    Here: 'Walking, going about': their habitual way of life. It echoes 4:29, where the king was walking on the roof of his palace when he made his boast.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.