כִּסְלָה

From the study of Psalm 85:8

Range of meaning

A rare noun with two senses from one root (k-s-l): "confidence, hope" (Job 4:6, "is not your fear of God your confidence?") and "folly, stupidity" (here). Related words: kesel, meaning loins or flanks, confidence, or folly (Ps 49:13; 78:7; Eccl 7:25), and kesil, the fool of Proverbs.

Against the English

All the supplied versions say "folly," and NLT has "foolish ways." That is accurate. What it misses is that this folly is Proverbs' kind: a moral, religious stubbornness, often overconfident. It is not simply a silly mistake or a lack of intelligence.

How it drifted

Modern "folly" sounds quaint or trivial, like a harmless misadventure. In biblical wisdom language the kesil is someone who despises instruction and goes their own way to ruin.

Used elsewhere in the period

Job 4:6 and Psalm 78:7 use the root for "confidence." Ecclesiastes 7:25 pairs kesel with wickedness. Proverbs uses kesil about 70 times for the morally obtuse person. The Septuagint does not have "folly" here at all (see textual notes).

From the study of Job 4:6

Range of meaning

A rare noun from the root k-s-l. Related words: kesel, 'loin/flank' (Lev 3:4; Job 15:27), 'confidence' (Job 8:14; 31:24; Ps 78:7; Prov 3:26) and 'folly' (Ps 49:13 [Heb. 14]; Eccl 7:25); kesil, 'fool'. The noun kislah itself occurs only here ('confidence') and in Ps 85:8 [Heb. 9], where it means 'folly'. Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) explain the two meanings either as one root with a sense like 'firm, fat, solid' (giving 'confidence' or 'sluggish/dull') or as two separate roots.

Against the English

All the major English versions give 'confidence', which is right for the context. None can show that the same letters elsewhere mean 'folly'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Job 8:14 (Bildad: the godless man's kesel, 'confidence', is a spider's web); Job 31:24 (Job: 'If I have made gold my kesel'); Prov 3:26 ('YHWH will be your kesel'). The Greek Septuagint read the word in its 'folly' sense here (see textual notes).