Aramaic word · H2255

חֲבַל

titchabal

to destroy

The verb ḥăbal means to harm, wound, damage or ruin. In the intensive form used here it means to injure badly or destroy (Daniel 2:44; 4:23; 6:23; 7:14 for an indestructible kingdom). The noun ḥăbûlâ means harm or injury done to someone, and so a wrong or crime.

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

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to hurt, destroy

1a) (Pael) to hurt, destroy

1b) (Ithpael) to be destroyed

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 6:22

Range of meaning

The verb ḥăbal means to harm, wound, damage or ruin. In the intensive form used here it means to injure badly or destroy (Daniel 2:44; 4:23; 6:23; 7:14 for an indestructible kingdom). The noun ḥăbûlâ means harm or injury done to someone, and so a wrong or crime. A related noun ḥăbāl means 'wound, damage' (3:25; 6:23).

Against the English

KJV: 'have not hurt me … have I done no hurt.' YLT: 'not injured me … injury I have not done.' Both keep the repeated root. BSB ('hurt … wrong'), NASB ('crime') and NIV ('wrong') turn the second into a moral or legal word and lose the echo.

Used elsewhere in the period

Biblical Aramaic: Daniel 2:44 and 7:14 (a kingdom that 'will not be destroyed'); 3:25 (the men in the furnace have 'no harm'); 4:23; 6:23 ('no wound was found on him'); Ezra 6:12 (anyone who would 'destroy' the temple). The same root is used for damage in Aramaic legal papyri from Persian-period Egypt.

From the study of Daniel 6:26

Range of meaning

Harm, damage, injure, ruin, destroy. The passive or reflexive form means "be harmed, be destroyed." The noun ḥăbāl means "harm, damage."

Against the English

"Will not be destroyed" is right. But English hides the link to the lion story, where the same root is translated "harm/hurt."

Used elsewhere in the period

Daniel 6:22: "they have not harmed me" (lāʾ ḥabbəlûnî). 6:23: "no harm (ḥăbāl) was found on him." Daniel 2:44: "a kingdom that will never be destroyed" (lāʾ titḥabbal). 7:14: the Son of Man's kingdom "will not be destroyed." Ezra 4:22 and 6:12 use it of harm to the realm or the temple.

Where it appears

Ezra · 1

  1. Ezra 6:12 לְחַבָּלָ֛ה to destroy

    May God, who has caused His Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to alter this decree or to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued the decree. Let it be carried out with diligence.

    Here: "To ruin". It stands right next to "to alter" with no "and" between them. The effect is "to alter, that is, to ruin": tampering with the order would mean wrecking the house.

Daniel · 5

  1. Daniel 2:44 תִתְחַבַּ֔ל it will be destroyed

    In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will shatter all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself stand forever.

    Here: "Will be ruined/destroyed." Daniel uses the same root for the lions that did not 'harm' Daniel (6:22) and for God's kingdom that 'will not be destroyed' (6:26; 7:14). Nothing can damage it.

  2. Daniel 4:23 וְחַבְּל֗וּהִי and destroy it

    And you, O king, saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying: ‘Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave the stump with its roots in the ground, with a band of iron and bronze around it, in the tender grass of the field. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and graze with the beasts of the field till seven times pass him by.’

    Here: 'And ruin it': an intensive form, meaning to wreck or damage thoroughly. The felling is meant to look total.

  3. Daniel 6:22 חַבְּל֑וּנִי they harmed me

    My God sent His angel and shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, for I was found innocent in His sight, and I have done no wrong against you, O king.”

    Here: 'They harmed me.' The verb is in an intensive form, used for wounding, mangling or ruining. The root ḥ-b-l comes back twice: in 'harm (ḥăbûlâ) I did not do' at the end of this verse, and in 'no wound (ḥăbāl) was found on him' in 6:23.

  4. Daniel 6:26 תִתְחַבַּ֔ל it will be destroyed

    I hereby decree that in every part of my kingdom, men are to tremble in fear before the God of Daniel: For He is the living God, and He endures forever; His kingdom will never be destroyed, and His dominion will never end.

    Here: "Will not be ruined or damaged." Daniel has just used the same root about himself: the lions "have not harmed me" and "no harm was found on him" (6:22-23). The kingdom is as safe from ruin as its servant was.

  5. Daniel 7:14 תִתְחַבַּֽל׃ פ it will be destroyed

    And He was given dominion, glory, and kingship, that the people of every nation and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

    Here: 'Will be destroyed / ruined', a passive verb. It is the same word as Daniel 2:44 ('a kingdom that will never be destroyed'), tying this vision to the stone that smashes the statue in chapter 2.

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