Hebrew word · H2254

חָבַל

chavol

to destroy

Hebrew has two roots spelled חבל that look the same: 'To take in pledge, seize as collateral' (Exod 22:26; Deut 24:6, 17; Job 22:6; Prov 20:16; 27:13). This is what a creditor does when he takes a man's cloak or millstone as security for a loan. Strong's lists both under one number.

Appears 27 times in 23 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to bind

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to bind

2) to take a pledge, lay to pledge

2a) (Qal) to hold by a pledge, take in pledge, hold in pledge

2b) (Niphal) to give a pledge, become pledged

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 Proverbs 13:13

Range of meaning

Hebrew has two roots spelled חבל that look the same:

  1. 'To take in pledge, seize as collateral' (Exod 22:26; Deut 24:6, 17; Job 22:6; Prov 20:16; 27:13). This is what a creditor does when he takes a man's cloak or millstone as security for a loan.
  2. 'To act corruptly, ruin, damage' (Neh 1:7; Isa 10:27; Eccl 5:6; Job 34:31).

Strong's lists both under one number. The passive form used here is rare.

Against the English

The KJV ('shall be destroyed') and ESV ('brings destruction on himself') follow the 'ruin' root. The NASB ('will be in debt to it'), and in a looser way the BSB, NIV and WEB ('pay the penalty' / 'pay for it'), follow the 'pledge' root. The supplied data shows the same split: the lemma is tagged 'to destroy', but the gloss in context is 'he will be pledged'.

Used elsewhere in the period

The pledge sense is common in the law codes and in Proverbs itself (20:16; 27:13, 'take his garment in pledge'). The Latin Vulgate translates the clause ipse se in futurum obligat, 'he binds himself for the future', which looks like the pledge or debt reading. The Greek Septuagint goes its own way ('will be despised by it'). Several modern commentators, Waltke among them, prefer 'will be held in pledge to it'.

From the study of Amos 2:8

Range of meaning

(1) Take something as a pledge, i.e. hold a debtor's goods as collateral (security for a loan), or seize them when a debt goes unpaid. (2) A separate root with the same letters means 'act corruptly' or 'ruin'. The pledge sense is certain here because the object is garments.

Against the English

English 'pledge' now usually means a promise or a donation commitment ('a pledge drive'). The Hebrew means collateral physically taken from a debtor. KJV 'clothes laid to pledge' and BSB/WEB 'taken in pledge' are accurate, but modern ears miss that this is about seizing goods.

How it drifted

In English, 'pledge' moved from 'something handed over as security' toward 'a solemn promise'. The older sense survives in legal language and in 'pawn'.

Used elsewhere in the period

This is the technical term of Israel's pledge laws: Exod 22:25 ('if you take your neighbor's cloak in pledge, return it to him before sunset'); Deut 24:6 (no millstones taken in pledge), 24:17 (never take a widow's garment in pledge); Ezek 18:7, 12, 16; Job 22:6; 24:3, 9. Outside the Bible, the Yavneh-Yam (Mesad Hashavyahu) ostracon (a letter written on a pottery sherd, late 7th century BC) is a field worker's petition to an official, asking for the return of his garment, which an overseer had seized.

From the study of Deuteronomy 24:17

Range of meaning

To take something as a pledge or collateral, to seize it in security for a debt. The noun ḥăbōl/ḥăbōlâ means 'pledge'. It is a different root from the ḥābal that means 'act corruptly' or 'destroy'.

Against the English

'Take in pledge' (KJV/WEB/ESV) and 'take as security' (BSB/NIV) are accurate. Neither shows that in practice the creditor might seize the item, sometimes when the debt fell due rather than when the loan was made, and so take a person's only covering.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deuteronomy 24:6 (a millstone may not be taken in pledge, 'for that is taking a life'). Exodus 22:26–27 and Deuteronomy 24:12–13 (a poor man's cloak must be returned by sunset because it is 'his only covering… what else will he sleep in?'). Amos 2:8 ('on garments taken in pledge they lie down beside every altar'). Job 22:6 and 24:3 ('they take the widow's ox for a pledge'). Ezekiel 18:7, 12, 16. Outside the Bible, the 7th-century BC Mesad Hashavyahu (Yavneh-Yam) ostracon records a field labourer begging an official to make an overseer return his seized garment.

Similar words

Where it appears

Exodus · 2

  1. Exodus 22:26 חָבֹ֥ל תַּחְבֹּ֖ל certainly [if] <to take as pledge>, you will take as pledge

    If you take your neighbor’s cloak as collateral, return it to him by sunset,

    Here: The verb's bare form, placed in front of the same verb to strengthen it. The pair reads something like 'if you do in fact take a pledge', drawing attention to the act. The strengthening does not make it a command.

Deuteronomy · 3

  1. Deuteronomy 24:6 יַחֲבֹ֥ל חֹבֵֽל׃ ס anyone will take as pledge, [is] taking as pledge

    Do not take a pair of millstones or even an upper millstone as security for a debt, because that would be taking one’s livelihood as security.

  2. Deuteronomy 24:17 תַחֲבֹ֔ל you will take as pledge

    Do not deny justice to the foreigner or the fatherless, and do not take a widow’s cloak as security.

    Here: To take an item as security for a loan or debt. Here it is forbidden outright for a widow's garment. Elsewhere the law only regulates the practice: take it, but return it by nightfall (24:12–13; Exodus 22:26).

Nehemiah · 2

  1. Nehemiah 1:7 חֲבֹ֖ל חָבַ֣לְנוּ surely <to act corruptly>, we have acted corruptly

    We have behaved corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, statutes, and ordinances that You gave Your servant Moses.

    Here: The bare verbal idea, 'ruining', placed in front of the same verb for force. It opens the sentence with the word of damage before anything else is said.

Job · 5

  1. Job 17:1 חֻ֭בָּלָה it is broken

    “My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.

  2. Job 22:6 תַחְבֹּ֣ל you have held in pledge

    For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers and deprived the naked of their clothing.

    Here: To take a debtor's goods as collateral, the legal practice called distraint. The verb form marks repeated or habitual action: "you were in the habit of seizing pledges." As with the regular idiom, the people themselves are the grammatical object: literally "you pledged your brothers."

  3. Job 24:3 יַ֝חְבְּל֗וּ they take as pledge

    They drive away the donkey of the fatherless and take the widow’s ox in pledge.

  4. Job 24:9 יַחְבֹּֽלוּ׃ they take pledges

    The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast; the nursing child of the poor is seized for a debt.

  5. Job 34:31 אֶחְבֹּֽל׃ I will act corruptly

    Suppose someone says to God, ‘I have endured my punishment; I will offend no more.

    Here: 'I will not act corruptly', or 'I will not do damage'. The same verb appears in Nehemiah 1:7 ('we have acted very corruptly against you'). It describes destructive, ruinous wrongdoing, not giving offence in the modern social sense. Its imperfect form points to the future: from now on I will not.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 7:14 יְחַבֶּל־ he is in labor with

    Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.

    Here: An intensive verb form for the pains of labor (the same form is used of a mother in Song 8:5). The subject is masculine, so the picture is deliberately odd: the attacker is 'heavy' with harm and straining to bring it out. The verb is in the ongoing tense: he is in labor now.

Proverbs · 3

  1. Proverbs 13:13 יֵחָ֣בֶל he will be pledged

    He who despises instruction will pay the penalty, but the one who respects a command will be rewarded.

    Here: A passive verb from a root that can mean either 'take as collateral' or 'ruin'. The likeliest sense is 'he will be held in pledge', bound like a debtor whose security has been seized. The sense 'he will be ruined' is also possible, and that is the sense the supplied lemma gives.

  2. Proverbs 20:16 חַבְלֵֽהוּ׃ hold in pledge it

    Take the garment of the one who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.

  3. Proverbs 27:13 חַבְלֵֽהוּ׃ hold in pledge it

    Take the garment of him who posts security for a stranger; get collateral if it is for a foreigner.

Ecclesiastes · 1

  1. Ecclesiastes 5:6 וְחִבֵּ֖ל and he will destroy

    Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, and do not tell the messenger that your vow was a mistake. Why should God be angry with your words and destroy the work of your hands?

Song of Songs · 3

  1. Song of Songs 2:15 מְחַבְּלִ֣ים [which] ruin

    Catch for us the foxes—the little foxes that ruin the vineyards—for our vineyards are in bloom.

  2. Song of Songs 8:5 חִבְּלַ֣תְךָ חִבְּלָ֥ה she was in labor with you, she was in labor

    Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? I roused you under the apple tree; there your mother conceived you; there she travailed and brought you forth.

    Here: 'She labored with you'. The verb belongs to the word for birth pangs (ḥēbel). Some take it as 'conceived you' (BSB, WEB, NIV), but it more likely means the writhing of labor.

Isaiah · 4

  1. Isaiah 10:27 וְחֻבַּ֥ל and it will be broken

    On that day the burden will be lifted from your shoulders, and the yoke from your neck. The yoke will be broken because your neck will be too large.

    Here: A passive form, 'will be ruined / broken to pieces'. The yoke is not just taken off but wrecked so it cannot be used again. Some scholars think the Hebrew wording here is slightly disturbed, but the sense 'destroyed' is clear.

  2. Isaiah 13:5 לְחַבֵּ֖ל to destroy

    They are coming from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens—the LORD and the weapons of His wrath—to destroy the whole country.

  3. Isaiah 32:7 לְחַבֵּ֤ל to ruin

    The weapons of the scoundrel are destructive; he hatches plots to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just.

    Here: An intensive form meaning to wreck or ruin something completely (compare Mic 2:10, "destroyed with a grievous destruction"). It states the purpose of the schemes: to bring the poor to ruin.

  4. Isaiah 54:16 לְחַבֵּֽל׃ to ruin

    Behold, I have created the craftsman who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its task; and I have created the destroyer to wreak havoc.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 18:16 חָבָ֔ל he has taken as pledge

    He does not oppress another, or retain a pledge, or commit robbery. He gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.

    Here: 'He has not taken in pledge.' Noun and verb share a root: 'a pledge he has not pledged.' Taken literally, he did not seize collateral at all. Verse 7 says instead that the righteous man returns the pledge (see debates).

Amos · 1

  1. Amos 2:8 חֲבֻלִים֙ taken in pledge

    They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. And in the house of their God, they drink wine obtained through fines.

    Here: A passive form: 'seized as security for a debt'. This is the exact legal term from the pledge laws (Exod 22:25; Deut 24:6, 17), and it brings those laws to mind straight away.

Micah · 1

  1. Micah 2:10 תְּחַבֵּ֖ל it will destroy

    Arise and depart, for this is not your place of rest, because its defilement brings destruction—a grievous destruction!

    Here: 'She will ruin' (or, with the same form, 'you will ruin'). The polluted land turns destructive. The same root also means 'to take something in pledge' (as security for a loan), which may be a deliberate echo of the creditors' abuses in 2:8–9.

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