Hebrew word · H5309

נֵ֫פֶל

nefel

miscarriage

A child born dead: a miscarriage or stillbirth. Literally 'a fallen thing', from nāpal, 'to fall'. Used only three times: here, Job 3:16, and Ecclesiastes 6:3.

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

What it means

untimely birth, abortion, miscarriage

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 Psalm 58:8

Range of meaning

A child born dead: a miscarriage or stillbirth. Literally 'a fallen thing', from nāpal, 'to fall'. Used only three times: here, Job 3:16, and Ecclesiastes 6:3.

Against the English

KJV's 'untimely birth' meant a birth too soon to live. Today it can sound like a premature baby who survives. NASB's 'miscarriages' and BSB, WEB, NIV and ESV's 'stillborn' are closer to what the Hebrew means.

How it drifted

'Untimely birth' in 1611 meant an abortive birth. Modern medicine has made premature but living births common, so the phrase has softened.

Used elsewhere in the period

Job 3:16: 'like a hidden stillbirth, like infants who never saw light'. Ecclesiastes 6:3–5: the stillborn 'comes in emptiness and goes in darkness, and its name is covered in darkness; it has not seen the sun'. These are the closest parallels, and they use the same 'not seeing the sun' idea.

From the study of Ecclesiastes 6:3

Range of meaning

Miscarriage or stillborn child, literally 'something that falls', from nāfal, 'to fall' (from the womb). It occurs only three times: Job 3:16, Ps 58:8 (9 in Hebrew) and here.

Against the English

KJV and YLT 'untimely birth' is accurate but sounds old-fashioned. BSB, NIV and WEB 'stillborn child' is clear. NLT turns the comparison into 'better for him to be born dead', which moves the comparison from the stillborn child to the man's own fate.

Used elsewhere in the period

Job 3:16: 'Why was I not hidden like a stillborn (nēfel), like infants who never saw light?' Ps 58:8: 'like a woman's miscarriage that never sees the sun.' Qoheleth echoes both: the stillborn 'has not seen the sun' (6:5). The LXX uses ektrōma, the word Paul uses of himself in 1 Cor 15:8.

Where it appears

Job · 1

  1. Job 3:16 כְנֵ֣פֶל like a miscarriage

    Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight?

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 58:8 נֵ֥פֶל a miscarriage of

    Like a slug that dissolves in its slime, like a woman’s stillborn child, may they never see the sun.

    Here: Literally 'a falling' (from nāpal, 'to fall'), meaning a child that drops from the womb dead. It is not a premature baby who might live. It is a pregnancy that never becomes a living person.

Ecclesiastes · 1

  1. Ecclesiastes 6:3 הַנָּֽפֶל׃ the miscarriage

    A man may father a hundred children and live for many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he is unsatisfied with his prosperity and does not even receive a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

    Here: 'The miscarriage', literally 'the fallen one', from nāfal, 'to fall'. It means a baby born dead or lost before term. The word appears only here, in Job 3:16 and in Psalm 58:8. It was the bleakest picture of a life that never began.

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