חֹל

From the study of Ezekiel 22:26

Range of meaning

Common, ordinary, non-sacred: the normal status of most things in daily life. Common bread (1 Sam 21:4–5), ordinary use. It is not evil and not impure. Common things can be clean or unclean.

Against the English

KJV renders "profane", which to modern ears suggests something offensive or blasphemous. BSB, WEB and YLT say "common", which is accurate.

How it drifted

KJV followed the Latin Vulgate's 'inter sanctum et profanum', where profanus simply meant non-sacred. Since then English 'profane' has come to mean irreverent or obscene.

Used elsewhere in the period

Leviticus 10:10; 1 Samuel 21:5–6 ('common bread' versus 'holy bread'); Ezekiel 42:20; 44:23; 48:15 (a 'common' area of the city).

From the study of Ezekiel 44:23

Range of meaning

Common, ordinary, not consecrated. It comes from a root meaning to loosen or release, so it describes what is free for ordinary use. Bread can be 'common' as opposed to consecrated bread (1 Sam 21:4–5). It is neutral, not negative.

Against the English

KJV (and NASB) 'profane' misleads modern readers, who hear blasphemous or vulgar. In the 1600s 'profane' (Latin pro fano, 'outside the temple') still kept the sense of non-sacred. BSB, WEB and YLT's 'common' is accurate.

How it drifted

English 'profane' narrowed from 'not sacred' to 'irreverent, obscene', especially in 'profane language'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lev 10:10. 1 Sam 21:5–6 (common vs holy bread). Ezek 22:26; 42:20; 48:15 (a strip of land that is 'common', chol, for the city's ordinary use). Later rabbinic Hebrew uses chol for weekdays as opposed to Sabbath and festivals.

From the study of Leviticus 10:10

Range of meaning

Common, ordinary, not sacred; what is available for everyday use. It comes from the root ḥll, whose verb can mean 'to profane' (to treat something holy as ordinary), but also simply 'to put into ordinary use'. In Deuteronomy 20:6 and 28:30 a man 'begins to use' (ḥillēl) his vineyard's fruit once it is released for normal eating. The noun is rare. It appears only in Leviticus 10:10, 1 Samuel 21:5–6 and Ezekiel 22:26, 42:20, 44:23 and 48:15.

Against the English

BSB, ESV and WEB 'common' is accurate. NASB 'profane' and KJV 'unholy' mislead today: 'profane' now suggests obscene language or irreverence, and 'unholy' suggests wickedness. ḥōl suggests neither. Most of Israel's life (ordinary meals, workdays, fields and homes) was ḥōl, and properly so.

How it drifted

'Profane' comes from Latin profanum, 'in front of (outside) the shrine', so it first meant simply 'not sacred'. Over time English shifted it toward 'irreverent' and then 'vulgar', so a word that once matched ḥōl well now carries moral blame.

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Samuel 21:5–6: David asks for bread at Nob, and the priest has no 'common bread', only holy bread. Ezekiel 42:20: the temple wall 'to separate between the holy and the common.' Ezekiel 48:15: the 'common' part of the land, for the city and its open fields. The Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation) renders it bebēlos, 'permitted to be trodden', i.e. not sacred ground.