חֶ֫בֶר

From the study of Proverbs 21:9

Range of meaning

Association, company, a band of people joined together. The root ḥ-b-r means to join, unite or bind. The same noun can mean a magical 'binding' or spell (Deuteronomy 18:11; Isaiah 47:9, 12). The related noun ḥaver means 'companion' (Psalm 119:63).

Against the English

BSB, WEB, ESV and NASB take it as a house 'shared' with her, which matches the root. KJV (following the Geneva Bible) has 'a wide house'. That reads the phrase as a spacious house, so that a big home is still not big enough. YLT's literal 'a house of company' keeps the root but is hard to follow.

How it drifted

The phrase is rare: it appears only here and in 25:24. Translators have guessed differently at it since antiquity.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Hosea 6:9 the noun means a 'band' or 'company' of priests. The Septuagint renders the phrase oikos koinos, 'a common house'. The Vulgate has in domo communi, 'in a common house'. Medieval and Reformation translators sometimes took it as 'wide'. A few modern scholars have proposed meanings from related languages, such as 'storehouse' or 'large house', but these remain uncertain.

From the study of Isaiah 47:9

Range of meaning

From ḥāḇar, 'to join, unite, bind'. It can mean an association or company (Hos 6:9, a 'band' of priests; Prov 21:9, a 'shared house') or a spell, a 'binding' (Deut 18:11 ḥōḇēr ḥāḇer, 'one who binds spells'; Ps 58:5, a charmer 'binding spells skilfully'; Isa 47:9, 12).

Against the English

BSB: 'spells'. KJV and WEB: 'enchantments'. YLT: 'charms'. All capture magic, but none conveys the image of binding behind the word.

Used elsewhere in the period

Binding and tying knots appear often in Mesopotamian magic. Anti-witchcraft rituals speak of untying knots and breaking bonds that witches had tied. The Hebrew word fits this world, but the exact technique meant cannot be pinned down.

From the study of Isaiah 47:12

Range of meaning

From the root ḥ-b-r, 'to join, unite, bind'. Nouns from this root mean (1) an association or company (Hos 6:9, 'a band of priests'; Prov 21:9, a 'shared house'), and (2) a spell or charm, the 'binding' word of an incantation. The expression ḥōvēr ḥever, 'one who binds a binding', appears in the list of banned practitioners in Deut 18:11 and of the snake-charmer in Ps 58:5.

Against the English

BSB has 'spells', KJV and WEB 'enchantments', YLT 'charms'. All of them lose the root picture of binding: a word-formula that ties up a demon, a disease, an enemy or an evil fate.

How it drifted

'Enchantment' in modern English mostly means delight or fascination ('an enchanting evening'), so the KJV wording now sounds harmless or even pleasant.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 18:11; Ps 58:5; Isa 47:9, 12. Binding is a central idea in Mesopotamian incantation literature, where both hostile witchcraft and the exorcist's counter-rituals are described as binding and loosing (the anti-witchcraft series Maqlû is full of this language).