Hebrew word · H5274

נָעַל

na'ul

to lock

To bar, bolt or lock, especially a door or gate, by sliding a bolt across. The form naʿul is a passive participle, meaning "bolted, kept barred."

Appears 8 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to bar, lock, bolt

1a) (Qal) to bar, lock, bolt

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 Song of Songs 4:12

Range of meaning

To bar, bolt or lock, especially a door or gate, by sliding a bolt across. The form naʿul is a passive participle, meaning "bolted, kept barred."

Against the English

KJV "inclosed" and "shut up"; BSB "locked up" and "enclosed"; WEB and ESV "locked". BSB uses two different English words for one repeated Hebrew word, so the deliberate echo is lost. WEB and ESV keep it.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ehud locks the doors of the upper room (Judg 3:23–24). Amnon orders the door bolted behind his half-sister Tamar after he has wronged her (2 Sam 13:17–18). Nehemiah orders the city gates bolted (Neh 7:3). In every case it means access controlled from the inside by the one with authority over the door.

Where it appears

Judges · 2

  1. Judges 3:23 וְנָעָֽל׃ and he locked [them]

    Then Ehud went out through the porch, closing and locking the doors of the upper room behind him.

  2. Judges 3:24 נְעֻל֑וֹת [were] locked

    After Ehud was gone, Eglon’s servants came in and found the doors of the upper room locked. “He must be relieving himself in the cool room,” they said.

2 Samuel · 2

  1. 2 Samuel 13:17 וּנְעֹ֥ל and lock

    Instead, he called to his attendant and said, “Throw this woman out and bolt the door behind her!”

  2. 2 Samuel 13:18 וְנָעַ֥ל and he locked

    So Amnon’s attendant threw her out and bolted the door behind her. Now Tamar was wearing a robe of many colors, because this is what the king’s virgin daughters wore.

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 28:15 וַ֠יַּנְעִלוּם and they shod them

    Then the men who were designated by name arose, took charge of the captives, and provided from the plunder clothing for the naked. They clothed them, gave them sandals and food and drink, anointed their wounds, and put all the feeble on donkeys. So they brought them to Jericho, the City of Palms, to their brothers. Then they returned to Samaria.

    Here: Made from the word for 'sandal': they put sandals on them. Being barefoot was the mark of a captive or a mourner (Isa 20:2–4; 2 Sam 15:30), so this undoes that mark.

Song of Songs · 2

  1. Song of Songs 4:12 נָע֖וּל נָע֖וּל locked

    My sister, my bride, you are a garden locked up, a spring enclosed, a fountain sealed.

    Here: A passive form: "having been bolted." It is the word for sliding a bar across a door from inside. The garden cannot be entered by just anyone. Who may enter is the question verses 4:16–5:1 answer.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 16:10 וָאֶנְעֲלֵ֖ךְ and I shod you

    I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.

    Here: "And I shod you": a verb made from the noun 'sandal'. Going barefoot marked poverty, mourning or captivity, so putting sandals on her marks a free woman of standing.

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