Hebrew word · H2259

חֹבֵל

choelayikh

pilot

Ḥovel is derived from ḥevel, "rope" (H2256), and means "one who handles ropes": a sailor, especially one who works the rigging or steers. Rav, "chief, master", in front of it gives "master of the rope-men": the officer in charge of the crew.

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

sailor, seaman

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 Jonah 1:6

Range of meaning

Ḥovel is derived from ḥevel, "rope" (H2256), and means "one who handles ropes": a sailor, especially one who works the rigging or steers. Apart from this verse it occurs only in Ezekiel 27:8, 27–29, the lament over the ship of Tyre, where ḥovelim stand alongside mallaḥim ("sailors", the word used in Jonah 1:5). Rav, "chief, master", in front of it gives "master of the rope-men": the officer in charge of the crew.

Against the English

KJV and WEB "shipmaster", BSB and most moderns "captain", YLT "chief of the company". All are fair. What English loses is the hands-on, nautical flavour of the title ("boss of the rope-hands") and its rarity. To a Judean ear it was technical sea-language, used only in a Phoenician setting.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ezekiel 27 shows ḥovel as part of the vocabulary of the Phoenician sea trade. Rav as a title element matches Akkadian rab- ("chief of") in titles such as rab-šāqê (Rabshakeh, 2 Kgs 18:17) and rab-ṭabbāḥîm ("chief of the guard", 2 Kgs 25:8). The Septuagint translates the phrase with prōreus, the bow-officer or look-out, and the Vulgate with gubernator, "helmsman".

From the study of Ezekiel 27:27

Range of meaning

A seaman, literally a 'rope-man', from ḥevel 'rope, cord'. It refers to crew who handle lines and rigging. Some think it means senior hands or navigators, because Jonah 1:6 has rav haḥovel, 'chief of the ḥovelim', the ship's captain.

Against the English

KJV/ESV/WEB/YLT 'pilots'; NIV 'sailors'; BSB 'captains'. 'Pilots' and 'captains' suggest command rank, which the word alone does not clearly show. In Jonah, the person in charge is the chief of the ḥovelim, not the ḥovelim as a group.

How it drifted

Older English 'pilot' meant a helmsman or steersman. Today it brings to mind aircraft, or harbour pilots brought aboard. Neither fits a crewman handling ropes on an Iron Age ship.

Used elsewhere in the period

It appears in Ezekiel 27:8, 27, 28, 29 and Jonah 1:6. Verse 8 says Tyre's own 'wise men' served as her ḥovelim, which may suggest skilled seamen.

From the study of Ezekiel 27:28

Range of meaning

Seaman or sailor. The word is probably built on ḥevel, 'rope, cord', so literally a 'rope-handler', the man who works the rigging. It appears only in Ezek 27:8, 27, 28, 29 and Jonah 1:6 (rav ha-ḥōvēl, 'chief of the sailors' = ship's captain).

Against the English

KJV, ESV and NASB have 'pilots'. NIV has 'seamen' and BSB has 'sailors' here, though BSB uses 'captains' in v27. Today 'pilot' means a helmsman or harbour pilot, or someone who flies an aircraft, which is narrower and more specialised than the Hebrew. The verses around this one pair ḥōvēl with mallāḥ ('mariner') as two kinds of crew, so translators have to choose a pair of English words, and the choice is somewhat arbitrary.

How it drifted

'Pilot' in 1611 could mean a ship's steersman or navigator. The KJV followed the Vulgate's gubernatores ('steersmen') and the Greek kybernētai. Modern readers hear an even narrower technical role.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint renders it with κυβερνήτης (helmsman), and the Vulgate with gubernator. Jonah 1:6 shows that the chief ḥōvēl commanded the ship.

Where it appears

Ezekiel · 4

  1. Ezekiel 27:8 חֹבְלָֽיִךְ׃ [were] sailors your

    The men of Sidon and Arvad were your oarsmen. Your men of skill, O Tyre, were there as your captains.

    Here: 'Your rope-men', from ḥeḇel, 'rope'. These are the skilled deck crew who worked rigging and steering, translated 'pilots', 'helmsmen' or 'captains'. In vv. 27–29 they go down with the ship and cry out.

  2. Ezekiel 27:27 וְחֹבְלָ֑יִךְ and sailors your

    Your wealth, wares, and merchandise, your sailors, captains, and shipwrights, your merchants and all the warriors within you, with all the other people on board, will sink into the heart of the sea on the day of your downfall.

    Here: And your 'rope-men', from ḥevel, 'rope': crewmen who handle rigging and lines. Verse 8 calls Tyre's own wise men her ḥovelim. Jonah's ship has a 'chief of the ḥovelim' (Jonah 1:6).

  3. Ezekiel 27:28 חֹבְלָ֑יִךְ sailors your

    The countryside will shake when your sailors cry out.

    Here: 'Your sailors'. The 'your' is feminine, addressed to Tyre, who is pictured as the ship. The word probably comes from ḥevel, 'rope', so it means the men who work the rigging. Verse 8 calls them Tyre's own skilled men.

  4. Ezekiel 27:29 חֹבְלֵ֣י [the] sailors of

    All who handle the oars will abandon their ships. The sailors and all the captains of the sea will stand on the shore.

Jonah · 1

  1. Jonah 1:6 הַחֹבֵ֔ל the sailor[s]

    The captain approached him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call upon your God. Perhaps this God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”

    Here: Literally "the rope-man", from ḥevel, "rope". The singular with the article stands for the whole crew of rope-handlers, so "chief of the rope-men" means the ship's master or captain.

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