אַלּוּף

From the study of Proverbs 17:9

Range of meaning

Intimate friend, close companion, someone familiar. As an adjective it can mean tame or docile (a 'gentle lamb,' Jeremiah 11:19). A separate or related word means clan chief (Genesis 36). It probably comes from a root meaning 'to be familiar with, accustomed to.'

Against the English

BSB 'friends' is too general. ESV/NIV 'close friends', NASB 'intimate friends', YLT 'a familiar friend' and WEB 'best friends' keep the closeness. KJV 'very friends' meant 'true friends' in 1611 but sounds odd now.

How it drifted

KJV's 'very friends' uses the older English 'very' meaning 'true, real' (as in 'very God'). Modern readers can miss that.

Used elsewhere in the period

Proverbs 2:17: the adulteress leaves 'the companion (alluf) of her youth,' her husband. Proverbs 16:28: 'a whisperer separates close friends (mafrid alluf).' Psalm 55:13: 'my companion, my familiar friend.' Micah 7:5: 'put no confidence in a friend (alluf).'

From the study of Proverbs 16:28

Range of meaning

From the root ʾ-l-p, 'to learn, become familiar or accustomed' (Prov 22:25, 'lest you learn his ways'). As an adjective it means 'tame, docile' (Jer 11:19, 'a gentle lamb'). As a noun it means 'familiar friend, intimate companion' (Ps 55:13; Mic 7:5; Prov 2:17, the husband as 'the companion of her youth'; Jer 3:4, God as 'the companion of my youth'). A separate use means 'clan-chief' (the chiefs of Edom, Gen 36:15–43).

Against the English

BSB/WEB/NIV/ESV 'close friends', NASB 'intimate friends', NLT 'the best of friends', KJV 'chief friends', YLT 'a familiar friend'. KJV's 'chief friends' meant 'principal, closest friends' in 1611. A modern reader may hear 'friends of chiefs' or 'leading men', which is not the point. The Hebrew is singular. Most versions make it plural ('close friends'), which reads it as friends being split from each other. The singular can also mean that the whisperer costs a person their own closest friend.

How it drifted

KJV 'chief' draws on the 'clan-chief' sense of the word and on the Latin Vulgate's 'princes'. Modern English 'chief' means 'leader', so the phrase now misleads.

Used elsewhere in the period

The identical phrase maprîd ʾallûp occurs in Prov 17:9: 'Whoever covers an offence seeks love, but whoever repeats a matter separates a close friend.' Ps 55:13–14 uses ʾallûp for the trusted companion who betrayed the psalmist, someone with whom he 'shared sweet fellowship' and walked to God's house. Mic 7:5 warns not to trust even an ʾallûp in a collapsing society.

From the study of Jeremiah 11:19

Range of meaning

As an adjective: tame, familiar, docile, used to people. As a noun it means (1) a close companion or intimate friend (Jer 3:4, 'companion of my youth'; Ps 55:13 [14 Heb.], 'my familiar friend'; Prov 16:28; Mic 7:5), and (2) separately, a clan chief (the 'chiefs' of Edom in Gen 36). A related plural, 'alafim, means cattle (Ps 8:7 [8 Heb.]; Prov 14:4). The root idea is being accustomed or familiar, the same root as the verb 'to learn' (Prov 22:25).

Against the English

BSB, WEB, NIV, ESV and NASB have 'gentle lamb'. YLT's 'trained lamb' is closer to the root. KJV took 'alluf as a second animal ('a lamb or an ox'), supplying 'or' in italics, which the grammar does not support: 'alluf comes straight after kevesh and describes it.

How it drifted

'Gentle' in modern English suggests a mild, meek character, a moral quality. The Hebrew describes the lamb's relationship to people: it is tame and familiar, a house lamb that trusts its owners. The point is misplaced trust, not meekness.

Used elsewhere in the period

Nathan's parable shows the kind of animal meant: a poor man's little ewe lamb that 'ate of his bread and drank from his cup and lay in his bosom' (2 Sam 12:3). Jeremiah 3:4 and Psalm 55:13 use 'alluf for a trusted intimate, which matches the betrayal here. Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) list the adjective 'tame, docile' for this verse.