חֶ֫דֶל

From the study of Isaiah 38:11

Range of meaning

A noun from the root ḥ-d-l, 'to cease, stop, leave off.' It appears only here, so the meaning has to be worked out from the root: 'cessation, the place or state where things stop.' The related adjective ḥādēl means 'fleeting, ceasing' (Ps 39:4 Eng., 'how fleeting I am') and 'forsaken, left off' (Isa 53:3, 'forsaken by men').

Against the English

KJV, BSB, WEB, ESV and others render 'world.' They follow the alternative reading ḥeled, 'duration, lifespan, the passing world.' That reading is attested elsewhere: Ps 49:1 has 'all inhabitants of ḥeled,' and Ps 39:5 and 89:47 also use the word. Vulgate's 'habitatorem quietis' ('dweller of rest/quiet') reflects the 'cessation' reading.

How it drifted

Not drift in the usual sense but a choice of reading. 'World' quietly replaces the word in the standard Hebrew text with a near-identical one.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 39 is striking. It uses ḥādēl ('fleeting,' v. 4 Eng.) and ḥeled ('my lifespan,' v. 5 Eng.) side by side, which shows how closely the two words were linked in Hebrew thinking about human frailty. Ps 49:1 'inhabitants of ḥeled' is the closest match to the phrase proposed by emendation.