Hebrew word · H222

אוּרִיאֵל

'uri'el

Uriel

A personal name made of ʾûr ('light', or 'flame') + ʾēl ('God'): 'God is my light' or 'my light is God'. Names like this, which make a short statement about God, were common in Israel.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

A man living at the time of Divided Monarchy, first mentioned at 1Ch.15.5

§ Uriel = "God (El) is my light"

1) chief of the Levitical line of Kohath in David's time

2) maternal grandfather of Abijah

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 1 Chronicles 15:5

Range of meaning

A personal name made of ʾûr ('light', or 'flame') + ʾēl ('God'): 'God is my light' or 'my light is God'. Names like this, which make a short statement about God, were common in Israel.

Against the English

All versions write 'Uriel'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Another Uriel is the Kohathite son of Tahath in the genealogy at 1 Chr 6:24 (Heb 6:9). A third, from Gibeah, is the grandfather of King Abijah (2 Chr 13:2). Centuries later, Jewish writings such as 1 Enoch (9:1; 20:2) and 4 Ezra used the name for an archangel.

Where it appears

1 Chronicles · 3

  1. 1 Chronicles 6:24 אוּרִיאֵ֣ל Uriel

    Tahath his son, Uriel his son, Uzziah his son, and Shaul his son.

  2. 1 Chronicles 15:5 אוּרִיאֵ֣ל Uriel

    From the Kohathites, Uriel the chief and 120 of his relatives;

    Here: A personal name meaning 'my light is God' or 'God is my light'. He is the head of the Kohathite contingent, probably the Uriel of the Kohathite line in 1 Chr 6:24 (Hebrew 6:9).

  3. 1 Chronicles 15:11 לְאֽוּרִיאֵ֤ל <to> Uriel

    David summoned the priests Zadok and Abiathar and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab.

    Here: Name meaning 'God is my light'. He is head of the Kohathite clan (v. 5), the clan Numbers 4 assigns to carry the most holy objects, so he heads the list.

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 13:2 אוּרִיאֵ֖ל Uriel

    and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother’s name was Micaiah daughter of Uriel; she was from Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

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