Hebrew word · H4384

מַכְשֵׁלָה

vehamakhshelot

ruins

From the root כשׁל (kšl), 'to stumble, totter.' Its one other occurrence, Isaiah 3:6, is usually rendered 'ruin' or 'heap of ruins,' meaning a tottering, collapsed thing.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 31, 2026

What it means

1) overthrown mass, stumbling-block, something overthrown, decay, ruin

1a) thing overthrown (figurative of kingdom)

1b) stumbling-block (of idols)

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

From the study of Zephaniah 1:3

Range of meaning: From the root כשׁל (kšl), 'to stumble, totter.' Its one other occurrence, Isaiah 3:6, is usually rendered 'ruin' or 'heap of ruins,' meaning a tottering, collapsed thing. The closely related word מִכְשׁוֹל (mikšôl) means 'stumbling-block, obstacle.' In Ezekiel it is regularly tied to idols ('the stumbling-block of their iniquity,' Ezek 14:3–7).
Against the English: KJV and YLT have 'stumblingblocks.' ESV, NASB and WEB choose 'rubble/ruins.' BSB and NIV interpret it as 'idols.' NRSV emends the text so that it becomes a verb: 'I will make the wicked stumble.'
How it drifted: Through Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8, 'stumbling block' in English has come to mean a moral obstacle or a bad influence on someone's conscience. In a Judean prophet it is more concrete: physical cult objects that cause Israel to 'fall' into worshipping other gods.
Used elsewhere in the period: Isaiah 3:6 (makšēlâ = ruin); Ezekiel 7:19; 14:3–7; 44:12 (mikšôl linked to idols). The Aramaic Targum reads the phrase in terms of the wicked's idolatry. The Latin Vulgate has something like 'the ruins of the wicked.'

Where it appears

Isaiah · 1

Isaiah 3:6 וְהַמַּכְשֵׁלָ֥ה and the heap of ruins

A man will seize his brother within his father’s house: “You have a cloak—you be our leader! Take charge of this heap of rubble.”

Zephaniah · 1

Zephaniah 1:3 וְהַמַּכְשֵׁל֖וֹת and the stumbling-blocks

“I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and the idols with their wicked worshipers. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth,” declares the LORD.

Here: Literally 'things that make someone stumble.' In this context it most likely means idols and cult objects that trip Israel up into sin (compare verses 4–5). Some read it as 'ruins.' The clause is a famous puzzle.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.