Hebrew word · H212

אוֹפָן

'ofan

wheel

A wheel: chariot wheel (Exod 14:25, where God removes the wheels of Pharaoh's chariots), threshing-cart wheel (Isa 28:27; Prov 20:26), and the wheels of the bronze water-stands in Solomon's temple, made 'like the workmanship of a chariot wheel' (1 Kgs 7:30–33).

Appears 35 times in 21 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) wheel

1a) chariot wheel

1b) wheel in Ezekiel's vision

1c) wheels of the ten bases beneath the lavers in Solomon's temple

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 Ezekiel 1:15

Range of meaning

A wheel: chariot wheel (Exod 14:25, where God removes the wheels of Pharaoh's chariots), threshing-cart wheel (Isa 28:27; Prov 20:26), and the wheels of the bronze water-stands in Solomon's temple, made 'like the workmanship of a chariot wheel' (1 Kgs 7:30–33). It is a technical, physical word with no built-in mystical meaning.

Against the English

'Wheel' is accurate. Because the passage later became famous, English readers tend to hear something exotic. Ezekiel's first hearers heard a plain object from the world of chariots and carts, set in a setting that is not plain at all.

How it drifted

Later Jewish tradition turned the wheels into a class of angels, the Ofanim (1 Enoch 61:10; 71:7; later synagogue liturgy: 'the Ofanim and the holy Chayyot'). In the 20th century popular writers reread them as machinery. Neither reading comes from this verse.

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Kgs 7:30–33 (temple stands); Exod 14:25; Isa 28:27. In Ezek 10:2, 6, 13 the wheels are also called galgal, 'whirling (wheel)', and 10:13 has a voice naming them that. Dan 7:9 gives God's throne 'wheels (galgal) of burning fire'. Sirach 49:8 sums up Ezekiel's vision as 'the chariot of the cherubim', echoing 1 Chr 28:18, where the ark's cherubim are called 'the chariot'. The Dead Sea Scrolls' Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice (4Q405 20–22) describe angelic praise around the throne-chariot and its wheels.

From the study of Ezekiel 1:16

Range of meaning

A wheel, especially the wheel of a chariot or cart (Exod 14:25; Isa 28:27; Nah 3:2; Prov 20:26 uses a threshing-wheel image). It is an everyday word for a piece of engineering, not a mystical one.

Against the English

"Wheel" is accurate. The danger is not the English word but what later traditions loaded onto it (see attestation).

Used elsewhere in the period

In 1 Kings 7:30–33 the bronze water-stands in Solomon's temple had wheels, and "the construction of the wheels was like the construction of a chariot wheel." The Hebrew is almost word for word our verse's opening (maʿăśēh hāʾôpannîm). 1 Chronicles 28:18 calls the cherub arrangement over the ark "the chariot" (merkābâ). Daniel 7:9 gives God's throne "wheels of burning fire." Later, Ophanim ("Wheels") became the name of a class of angels: 1 Enoch 61:10 and 71:7 list them beside cherubim and seraphim, and synagogue prayers still name them. Later Jewish mystical speculation about this chapter is called merkavah ("chariot") mysticism, and Mishnah Ḥagigah 2:1 limits who may expound it.

From the study of Proverbs 20:26

Range of meaning

A wheel: the wheels of Solomon's bronze stands (1 Kgs 7:30–33), the wheels of Pharaoh's chariots (Exod 14:25), the 'wheels' of Ezekiel's vision (Ezek 1:15–21), and in Isa 28:27–28 the wheel of a cart driven over grain to thresh it: 'nor is a cartwheel rolled over cumin… though he drives the wheel of his cart over it, he does not crush it'.

Against the English

KJV, ESV and YLT just say 'wheel', which leaves modern readers free to picture a torture wheel or a 'wheel of fortune'. NIV, NASB, BSB and WEB add 'threshing', which is an interpretation, but the one the winnowing in the first line strongly supports.

How it drifted

In European history 'the wheel' calls up 'breaking on the wheel', a method of execution, and medieval pictures of Fortune's turning wheel. Neither belongs to the Hebrew setting, although the Greek word in the LXX (trochos) does name a torture wheel in later Jewish writings such as 4 Maccabees.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 28:27–28 is the key parallel for threshing with a wheel. Threshing sledges (morag, ḥaruts) are also used as images of brutal judgment in war (Amos 1:3; Isa 41:15), and 2 Sam 12:31 (however it is read) puts iron threshing tools next to forced labour or punishment of the conquered. The LXX reads epibalei autois trochon, 'he will bring a wheel upon them'.

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 14:25 אֹפַ֣ן [the] wheel[s] of

    He caused their chariot wheels to wobble, so that they had difficulty driving. “Let us flee from the Israelites,” said the Egyptians, “for the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt!”

    Here: Grammatically singular, but meant collectively: 'the wheel(s)' of every chariot. It is the same word used for the wheels of Solomon's bronze stands (1 Kings 7:30–33) and of the throne-chariot in Ezekiel 1.

1 Kings · 6

  1. 1 Kings 7:30 אוֹפַנֵּ֨י wheels of

    Each stand had four bronze wheels with bronze axles and a basin resting on four supports, with wreaths at each side.

  2. 1 Kings 7:32 הָאֽוֹפַנִּ֗ים הָאֽוֹפַנִּ֖ים הָאוֹפַ֣ן the wheels, the wheel

    There were four wheels under the panels, and the axles of the wheels were attached to the stand; each wheel was a cubit and a half in diameter.

  3. 1 Kings 7:33 הָא֣וֹפַנִּ֔ים אוֹפַ֣ן the wheels, <the> wheel of

    The wheels were made like chariot wheels; their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of cast metal.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 20:26 אוֹפָֽן׃ a wheel

    A wise king separates out the wicked and drives the threshing wheel over them.

    Here: A wheel. With 'winnowing' in the first line, the farming setting points to the wheel of a threshing cart, rolled over grain to break the heads and loosen the kernels (Isa 28:27–28). The image is crushing, thorough judgment.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 28:27 וְאוֹפַ֣ן and a wheel of

    Surely caraway is not threshed with a sledge, and the wheel of a cart is not rolled over the cumin. But caraway is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.

Ezekiel · 25

  1. Ezekiel 1:15 אוֹפַ֨ן a wheel

    When I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces.

    Here: An ordinary word for a wheel, used elsewhere for chariot wheels, cart wheels and the wheeled bronze stands in Solomon's temple. The image of a vehicle has now been added to the creatures.

  2. Ezekiel 1:16 הָאוֹפַנִּ֤ים הָאוֹפַ֖ן הָאוֹפָֽן׃ the wheels, the wheel

    The workmanship of the wheels looked like the gleam of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. Their workmanship looked like a wheel within a wheel.

    Here: "The wheels": the ordinary word for a wheel, used for chariot wheels and for the wheels of the bronze stands in Solomon's temple. Here they are the four wheels beside the four living creatures (1:15).

  3. Ezekiel 1:19 הָאוֹפַנִּ֖ים הָאוֹפַנִּֽים׃ the wheels

    So as the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them, and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels also rose.

  4. Ezekiel 1:20 וְהָאוֹפַנִּ֗ים בָּאוֹפַנִּֽים׃ and the wheels, [was] in the wheels

    Wherever the spirit would go, they would go, and the wheels would rise alongside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

  5. Ezekiel 1:21 הָאֽוֹפַנִּים֙ בָּאוֹפַנִּֽים׃ the wheels, [was] in the wheels

    When the creatures moved, the wheels moved; when the creatures stood still, the wheels stood still; and when the creatures rose from the ground, the wheels rose alongside them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

  6. Ezekiel 3:13 הָאוֹפַנִּ֖ים the wheels

    It was the sound of the wings of the living creatures brushing against one another and the sound of the wheels beside them, a great rumbling sound.

  7. Ezekiel 10:6 הָאוֹפָֽן׃ the wheel

    When the LORD commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from within the wheelwork, from among the cherubim,” the man went in and stood beside a wheel.

  8. Ezekiel 10:9 אוֹפַנִּים֮ אוֹפַ֣ן וְאוֹפַ֣ן הָא֣וֹפַנִּ֔ים wheels, a wheel, and a wheel, the wheels

    Then I looked and saw four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub. And the wheels gleamed like a beryl stone.

  9. Ezekiel 10:10 הָאוֹפַ֖ן הָאוֹפָֽן׃ the wheel

    As for their appearance, all four had the same form, like a wheel within a wheel.

  10. Ezekiel 10:12 וְהָאֽוֹפַנִּ֗ים אוֹפַנֵּיהֶֽם׃ and the wheels, wheels their

    Their entire bodies, including their backs, hands, and wings, were full of eyes all around, as were their four wheels.

  11. Ezekiel 10:13 לָא֖וֹפַנִּ֑ים to the wheels

    I heard the wheels being called “the whirling wheels.”

  12. Ezekiel 10:16 הָאוֹפַנִּ֖ים הָאוֹפַנִּ֛ים the wheels

    When the cherubim moved, the wheels moved beside them, and even when they spread their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not veer away from their side.

  13. Ezekiel 10:19 וְהָאֽוֹפַנִּ֖ים and the wheels

    As I watched, the cherubim lifted their wings and rose up from the ground, with the wheels beside them as they went. And they stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the LORD, with the glory of the God of Israel above them.

  14. Ezekiel 11:22 וְהָאֽוֹפַנִּ֖ים and the wheels

    Then the cherubim, with the wheels beside them, spread their wings, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.

Nahum · 1

  1. Nahum 3:2 אוֹפָ֑ן a wheel

    The crack of the whip, the rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot!

    Here: A chariot wheel. The singular is collective: it means 'wheels' in general, the whole mass of rolling chariots.

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