Hebrew word · H2310
חָדֵל
chadel
rejected|fleeting
An adjective from the verb ḥādal, 'to cease, stop, refrain, leave off, let alone'. Its range runs from 'ceasing, transient' (Ps 39:4) to 'lacking' or 'left off, forsaken' (Isa 53:3, ḥădal ʾîšîm, 'forsaken/shunned by people'). It also covers 'the one who refrains' (Ezek 3:27).
Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament.
What it means
rejected, forbearing, transient, fleeting, lacking
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
- Range of meaning
An adjective from the verb ḥādal, 'to cease, stop, refrain, leave off, let alone'. Its range runs from 'ceasing, transient' (Ps 39:4) to 'lacking' or 'left off, forsaken' (Isa 53:3, ḥădal ʾîšîm, 'forsaken/shunned by people'). It also covers 'the one who refrains' (Ezek 3:27). The basic idea is stopping or dropping out, not physical feebleness.
- Against the English
KJV and WEB have 'frail', NASB 'transient', ESV 'fleeting', and BSB and NIV make it 'how fleeting my life is'. 'Fleeting' and 'transient' keep the idea of ending soon. To a modern ear 'frail' suggests a weak, sickly or elderly body, which is a different picture.
- How it drifted
In 1611 'frail' still kept some of its Latin root sense (fragilis, 'breakable, perishable'), and early modern usage could mean 'short-lived'. Since then the word has narrowed to physical delicacy, so the KJV wording now points readers toward bodily weakness rather than how soon life ends.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The verb ḥādal is common: building 'ceased' (Gen 11:8), thunder 'ceases' (Exod 9:29). The book of Job uses it in passages closely tied to this psalm. In Job 7:16 Job says 'Let me alone (ḥădal mimmennî), for my days are a breath (hevel)', the same 'breath' word used in Ps 39:5. Job 10:20 asks 'Are not my days few? Let him cease (yeḥdal)… so that I may brighten up a little (ʾavlîgāh)', which is the very verb of Ps 39:13. Job 14:6 says 'Look away from him, that he may rest (yeḥdāl)', and compare Ps 39:13, 'Look away from me'. The Greek Septuagint (LXX) translated ḥādēl here as hysterō, 'I lack, fall short'.
- Range of meaning
chadel is an adjective from chadal, 'to cease, stop, leave off, hold back'. It can mean 'ceasing / lacking' (frail, transient: 'how fleeting I am', Ps 39:4 [Heb. 39:5]) or 'left off from, forsaken'. With ishim ('men') it can mean (1) forsaken by people, (2) lacking people, without companions, or (3) ceasing from among people, the least of men, barely counted as human.
- Against the English
BSB, KJV, ESV and NIV have 'rejected by/of men'. YLT has 'left of men'. The Vulgate has novissimus virorum, 'the last/lowest of men'. 'Rejected' suggests an active decision against someone or something he offered. The Hebrew picture is quieter and bleaker: people left off from him, dropped him, or he hardly counted among humans at all (compare 52:14, 'his appearance was marred beyond that of a man').
- How it drifted
'Rejected' came into the English tradition through the Geneva Bible and KJV. In Christian preaching it became tied to the idea of Israel rejecting the Messiah's claims. That reading is not in the Hebrew word itself.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Ps 39:4 (Heb. 39:5) has chadel ani, 'how fleeting/frail I am'. Ezek 3:27 has hechadel yechdal, 'let him who refrains, refrain'. The rare plural ishim appears also in Ps 141:4 and Prov 8:4. The Septuagint paraphrases the line: 'his form was without honour, failing beyond all men'. That follows the 'ceasing, lacking' sense.
Similar words
Where it appears
Psalms · 1
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Psalm 39:4 חָדֵ֥ל fleeting
“Show me, O LORD, my end and the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is.
Here: From the verb ḥādal, 'to stop, cease, leave off'. It describes someone who is on the point of stopping, here to exist. The stress falls on how soon he ends, not on physical weakness. It also echoes ḥeled, 'lifespan', in the next verse.
Isaiah · 1
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Isaiah 53:3 וַחֲדַ֣ל and rejected of
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
Here: 'And' plus an adjective from the verb 'to stop, leave off'. Here it means one whom people have left off from, abandoned and dropped. It may also mean one who has nearly dropped out of the human race, 'the least of men'. It is less like 'rejected' in the sense of a claim being turned down.
Ezekiel · 1
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Ezekiel 3:27 וְהֶחָדֵ֣ל׀ and the [person] who refrains
But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says.’ Whoever listens, let him listen; and whoever refuses, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house.
Here: "And the one who leaves off": a person who stops, holds back, or will not bother to respond. The source tags this as a descriptive form ('rejected, fleeting'), but here it simply names the person who refrains.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.