Aramaic word · H1983

הֲלָךְ

vahalakh

toll

Probably from Akkadian ilku: the duty owed by people holding land from the crown. It was originally military or labour service, and by the Persian period it had mostly been converted into a silver payment, in effect a land tax.

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

toll, custom duty, tribute

Aramaic of ha.lakh (הָלַךְ ": walk" H1980)

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 Ezra 4:13

Range of meaning

Probably from Akkadian ilku: the duty owed by people holding land from the crown. It was originally military or labour service, and by the Persian period it had mostly been converted into a silver payment, in effect a land tax. The older explanation comes from the verb hălak 'to go', so a fee for travel, a road toll.

Against the English

English has 'toll' (BSB, WEB) and 'custom' (KJV). Today 'toll' suggests a road or bridge fee, and 'customs' a border duty. If the word is ilku, what was meant was a land-and-service obligation.

How it drifted

Medieval Jewish and later Christian interpreters had no Akkadian sources. They explained the word from the familiar verb 'to go', which gave 'toll'. Akkadian business archives, published from the late 19th century on, showed ilku as a common tax term.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ilku is everywhere in Babylonian legal texts. In the Persian-period Murašû archive from Nippur (5th century BC, the reign of this same Artaxerxes and his successors), holders of crown land pay ilku in silver. Ezra 4:20 and 7:24 use the same term.

From the study of Ezra 4:20

Range of meaning

Most likely a duty owed by those who held land from the crown: originally service, such as labour or military duty, and in the Persian period often paid in silver instead.

Against the English

"Toll" (BSB, WEB, ESV), "custom" (KJV). "Toll" comes from an older guess that the word was the verb hălak, "to go," meaning a fee on travellers.

How it drifted

The "road toll" sense is a guess from the word's appearance. Once the Akkadian loanword ilku was identified, most modern lexicons (e.g. HALOT) preferred a land-tied obligation.

Used elsewhere in the period

Akkadian ilku, the duty attached to land grants. It is heavily documented in the Murashu business archive from Nippur, which dates to the reigns of Artaxerxes I and Darius II, the very era of this letter. Ezra 4:13; 7:24.

Where it appears

Ezra · 3

  1. Ezra 4:13 וַהֲלָךְ֙ and toll

    Let it now be known to the king that if that city is rebuilt and its walls are restored, they will not pay tribute, duty, or toll, and the royal treasury will suffer.

    Here: Traditionally linked to the verb 'to go', which gave the reading 'road toll'. Most specialists now trace it to Akkadian ilku, the service owed by holders of crown land, which by Persian times was usually paid in silver as a land tax.

  2. Ezra 4:20 וַהֲלָ֖ךְ and toll

    And mighty kings have ruled over Jerusalem and exercised authority over the whole region west of the Euphrates; and tribute, duty, and toll were paid to them.

    Here: Most likely borrowed from Akkadian ilku, a duty tied to land: originally service owed to the king, later often paid in silver. The traditional gloss "toll" comes from guessing a link to the verb "to go."

  3. Ezra 7:24 וַהֲלָ֔ךְ and toll

    And be advised that you have no authority to impose tribute, duty, or toll on any of the priests, Levites, singers, doorkeepers, temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.

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