Hebrew word · H4658

מַפֶּ֫לֶת

mapelet

carcass

A fall, collapse, ruin; concretely, the fallen thing: a carcass (Judg 14:8, Samson finds bees in 'the carcass of the lion') or a fallen tree trunk. Ezekiel uses it repeatedly for the downfall of Tyre and Egypt (Ezek 26:15, 18; 27:27; 31:13, 16; 32:10), where nations tremble at the crash.

Appears 8 times in 8 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) carcass, ruin, overthrow

1a) carcass

1b) ruin, overthrow

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 Proverbs 29:16

Range of meaning

A fall, collapse, ruin; concretely, the fallen thing: a carcass (Judg 14:8, Samson finds bees in 'the carcass of the lion') or a fallen tree trunk. Ezekiel uses it repeatedly for the downfall of Tyre and Egypt (Ezek 26:15, 18; 27:27; 31:13, 16; 32:10), where nations tremble at the crash.

Against the English

'Fall' (KJV) and 'downfall' (BSB, WEB) are accurate. The Hebrew can carry a vivid concrete edge, a heap of ruin or a fallen body, that the abstract English does not.

Used elsewhere in the period

Judg 14:8; Ezek 26:15–18; 31:13, 16; 32:10. Its root, naphal ('fall'), is common in Proverbs for the end of the wicked (11:5, 'the wicked falls by his own wickedness'; 24:16).

From the study of Ezekiel 26:18

Range of meaning

From nāpal, 'to fall'. It means (1) a fall, overthrow or ruin, and (2) what has fallen, such as a carcass (the lion's carcass in Judg 14:8) or a fallen tree trunk (Prov 29:16 'downfall'; Ezek 31:13, 16).

Against the English

'Fall', 'downfall' and 'collapse' are all accurate. None of them carries the second sense of a fallen body, which Ezekiel brings out in chapters 31–32, where fallen powers lie like carcasses.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ezekiel uses it for Tyre ('at the sound of your fall', 26:15; 27:27 'on the day of your fall'), for Egypt and Assyria (31:13, 16; 32:10). It becomes his standard word for the collapse of a great power.

Similar words

Where it appears

Judges · 1

  1. Judges 14:8 מַפֶּ֣לֶת [the] carcass of

    When Samson returned later to take her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and in it was a swarm of bees, along with their honey.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 29:16 בְּֽמַפַּלְתָּ֥ם on overthrow their

    When the wicked thrive, rebellion increases; but the righteous will see their downfall.

    Here: From the verb 'to fall': a collapse, a ruin, even the fallen body itself (in Judges 14:8 it is the lion's carcass). 'Their' points back to the wicked. The preposition 'on' goes with the following verb, giving 'look on'.

Ezekiel · 6

  1. Ezekiel 26:15 מַפַּלְתֵּ֗ךְ downfall your

    This is what the Lord GOD says to Tyre: ‘Will not the coastlands quake at the sound of your downfall, when the wounded groan at the slaughter in your midst?

  2. Ezekiel 26:18 מַפַּלְתֵּ֑ךְ downfall your

    Now the coastlands tremble on the day of your downfall; the islands in the sea are dismayed by your demise.”’

    Here: 'Your fall', the crash of a great power. The same noun means a carcass in Judges 14:8, so it can suggest a fallen body. The 'your' is feminine because the city is pictured as a woman.

  3. Ezekiel 27:27 מַפַּלְתֵּֽךְ׃ downfall your

    Your wealth, wares, and merchandise, your sailors, captains, and shipwrights, your merchants and all the warriors within you, with all the other people on board, will sink into the heart of the sea on the day of your downfall.

  4. Ezekiel 31:13 מַפַּלְתּ֥וֹ fallen trunk its

    All the birds of the air nested on its fallen trunk, and all the beasts of the field lived among its boughs.

  5. Ezekiel 31:16 מַפַּלְתּוֹ֙ downfall its

    I made the nations quake at the sound of its downfall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who descend to the Pit. Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, all the well-watered trees, were consoled in the earth below.

    Here: 'Its fall' or 'its downfall'. The same noun can mean a fallen carcass (Judg 14:8), so it carries the sense of a heap of ruin as well as the event of falling. Ezekiel uses it for the fall of Tyre too (26:15, 18; 27:27).

  6. Ezekiel 32:10 מַפַּלְתֶּֽךָ׃ ס downfall your

    I will cause many peoples to be appalled over you, and their kings will shudder in horror because of you when I brandish My sword before them. On the day of your downfall each of them will tremble every moment for his life.’

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