Hebrew word · H4512
מִנְלֶה
minlam
gain
Uncertain. It is usually explained as a noun from a root *nlh meaning 'to obtain, acquire', comparable to Arabic nāla ('to obtain') and nayl ('gain'). That gives 'acquisition, property, gain'. The word occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) gain, wealth, acquisition
1a) meaning uncertain
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
Uncertain. It is usually explained as a noun from a root *nlh meaning 'to obtain, acquire', comparable to Arabic nāla ('to obtain') and nayl ('gain'). That gives 'acquisition, property, gain'. The word occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.
- Against the English
BSB, NIV and WEB: 'possessions'. KJV: 'the perfection thereof', which follows a different old explanation linking the word to ideas of completeness. YLT: 'their continuance'. NASB: 'his grain', which assumes a different reading of the letters. The spread itself shows that translators are working from guesses.
- How it drifted
This is not drift in the usual sense. The meaning was lost early. KJV's 'perfection' comes from medieval Jewish attempts to explain a rare word, and a modern reader would take it to mean moral or aesthetic perfection, which is not in view.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Occurs only in this verse. The Septuagint renders the clause 'he will not cast a shadow (skian) on the earth' and the Vulgate 'he will not send his root (radicem) into the earth'. Both may reflect a different Hebrew text or interpretive guesses. Modern scholars have proposed several emendations, for example readings meaning 'their shadow', 'their root' or 'their ears of grain'.
Where it appears
Job · 1
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Job 15:29 מִנְלָֽם׃ property their
He will no longer be rich; his wealth will not endure. His possessions will not overspread the land.
Here: This word occurs only here, and its meaning is disputed. The usual explanation derives it from a root meaning 'to obtain', giving 'their acquisitions / possessions'. The ending 'their' is plural even though the wicked man has been singular. Job's poetry often moves between the individual and the wicked as a group.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.