Aramaic word · H5122

נְוָלוּ

nevalu

dunghill

Refuse heap, dunghill, possibly latrine; or more generally a heap of ruins. The etymology is uncertain. An Akkadian word for 'ruin' has been proposed.

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·

What it means

refuse-heap, dunghill, outhouse

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 Daniel 3:29

Range of meaning

Refuse heap, dunghill, possibly latrine; or more generally a heap of ruins. The etymology is uncertain. An Akkadian word for 'ruin' has been proposed.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'dunghill'; BSB 'rubble'; NIV 'piles of rubble'; ESV 'laid in ruins'; NASB 'rubbish heap'. 'Dunghill' keeps the element of degradation, while 'rubble' keeps only the destruction.

Used elsewhere in the period

Daniel 2:5 and Ezra 6:11 use it in the same phrase. Compare 2 Kings 10:27, where Jehu turns the temple of Baal into a latrine as a deliberate defilement.

From the study of Ezra 6:11

Range of meaning

A refuse heap, dunghill or latrine pit. Some scholars connect it with an Akkadian word for "ruin." Elsewhere it appears only in Daniel 2:5 and 3:29 (spelled nəwālî).

Against the English

KJV and WEB: "dunghill." BSB: "pile of rubble." Other modern versions also use "rubble" or "refuse heap." "Rubble" keeps the demolition but drops the filth and disgrace.

Used elsewhere in the period

Both Daniel passages pair it with execution ("you will be torn limb from limb and your houses made a dunghill"), which shows it was a stock part of royal threats. Compare 2 Kings 10:27, where Jehu turns Baal's temple into a latrine to defile it permanently.

Where it appears

Ezra · 1

  1. Ezra 6:11 נְוָל֥וּ a refuse-heap

    I also decree that if any man interferes with this directive, a beam is to be torn from his house and raised up, and he is to be impaled on it. And his own house shall be made a pile of rubble for this offense.

    Here: A heap of refuse, a ruin turned into a dung pit. The point is the deepest disgrace, not just demolition. The same threat appears in Daniel 2:5 and 3:29.

Daniel · 2

  1. Daniel 2:5 נְוָלִ֥י a refuse-heap

    The king replied to the astrologers, “My word is final: If you do not tell me the dream and its interpretation, you will be cut into pieces and your houses will be reduced to rubble.

  2. Daniel 3:29 נְוָלִ֣י a refuse-heap

    Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be cut into pieces and their houses reduced to rubble. For there is no other god who can deliver in this way.”

    Here: The house becomes a refuse heap or ruin. It is a humiliating fate: the site is defiled and made useless. The exact nuance (dung heap, latrine, or heap of ruins) is debated.

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