Hebrew word · H5490

סוֹף

sof

end

Sôp means 'end, conclusion, rear.' It is a late Hebrew word with Aramaic links (Eccl 3:11; 7:2; Joel 2:20; 2 Chr 20:16). Dāḇār means 'word, matter, affair.' Together, 'end of the word/matter,' the phrase works as a closing formula: 'to sum up' or 'last word.'

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

end, conclusion

Aramaic equivalent: soph (סוֹף "end" H5491)

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 Ecclesiastes 12:13

Range of meaning

Sôp means 'end, conclusion, rear.' It is a late Hebrew word with Aramaic links (Eccl 3:11; 7:2; Joel 2:20; 2 Chr 20:16). Dāḇār means 'word, matter, affair.' Together, 'end of the word/matter,' the phrase works as a closing formula: 'to sum up' or 'last word.'

Against the English

'The conclusion of the matter' (BSB, KJV) or 'the end of the matter' (WEB, ESV). The English is accurate. The KJV's 'conclusion of the whole matter' joins 'whole' to 'matter.' The Hebrew accent marks join 'the all' to 'has been heard' instead.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ben Sira 43:27 closes a hymn with a near-identical formula. In the surviving Hebrew it reads roughly 'and the end of the word (qēṣ dāḇār): he is the all.' The Greek has 'the sum of our words: he is the all.' Ecclesiastes 7:8 says 'better is the end (ʾaḥărît) of a matter than its beginning.'

From the study of Ecclesiastes 7:2

Range of meaning

End, conclusion, the last part of something. It is a late Hebrew word that matches the Aramaic sof.

Against the English

KJV, ESV and NASB have 'end'. NIV has 'destiny', which can make modern readers think of where a person goes after death. That is not what the word means.

How it drifted

Later Jewish and Christian beliefs about afterlife, judgment, heaven and hell can lead readers to take 'end' or 'destiny' as a final destination. Qohelet keeps the question of what follows death open (3:19–21, 9:5–6, 9:10).

Used elsewhere in the period

Eccl 3:11 ('from beginning to end'); 12:13 (sof davar, 'the end of the matter'); Joel 2:20; 2 Chr 20:16. Biblical Aramaic: Dan 4:8, 4:19, 6:27, 7:26, 7:28. Its use belongs to the later stage of Biblical Hebrew.

Where it appears

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 20:16 בְּס֣וֹף at [the] end of

    Tomorrow you are to march down against them. You will see them coming up the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley facing the Wilderness of Jeruel.

Ecclesiastes · 3

  1. Ecclesiastes 3:11 סֽוֹף׃ end

    He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.

    Here: 'End'. The word belongs to late biblical Hebrew (also in Joel 2:20; 2 Chr 20:16; Eccl 7:2; 12:13). Humans see pieces, never the whole from first to last.

  2. Ecclesiastes 7:2 ס֣וֹף [is] [the] end of

    It is better to enter a house of mourning than a house of feasting, since death is the end of every man, and the living should take this to heart.

    Here: The end point, where a life stops. This is a late Hebrew word close to Aramaic. It means the end of a life, not a destination after it.

  3. Ecclesiastes 12:13 ס֥וֹף [the] end of

    When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man.

    Here: The end, the final point. A late Hebrew word (it shows up mostly in later books such as Chronicles, Joel and Ecclesiastes). Here it means the closing word, the bottom line, and it marks that the book is ending.

Joel · 1

  1. Joel 2:20 וְסֹפ֖וֹ and end its

    The northern army I will drive away from you, banishing it to a barren and desolate land, its front ranks into the Eastern Sea, and its rear guard into the Western Sea. And its stench will rise; its foul odor will ascend. For He has done great things.

    Here: The tail end of the swarm or column, its rearguard. The word belongs mostly to later Hebrew.

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