Aramaic word · H5491

סוֹף

sofa'

end

End, extremity, conclusion. Spatially, the end of the earth (4:11, 22 [Heb 4:8, 19]). In time or in degree, "to the end," meaning finally or completely (6:26; 7:26). It can also mean the conclusion of an account (7:28, "here is the end of the matter").

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

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

What it means

end, conclusion

Aramaic of soph (סוֹף "end" H5490)

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 7:26

Range of meaning

End, extremity, conclusion. Spatially, the end of the earth (4:11, 22 [Heb 4:8, 19]). In time or in degree, "to the end," meaning finally or completely (6:26; 7:26). It can also mean the conclusion of an account (7:28, "here is the end of the matter").

Against the English

KJV, WEB, ESV: "unto/to the end." BSB, NIV, NASB: "forever." NLT: "completely." The "forever" versions treat the phrase as an idiom; the literal ones keep it open to a time-of-the-end reading.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Darius's decree (6:26 [Heb 6:27]) God's "dominion is until the end" (wəšolṭānēh ʿad-sôpāʾ), almost the same words as here. It is a late Hebrew loan as well (Eccl 3:11; 12:13). Note that the Hebrew chapters 8–12 use a different word, qēṣ, for "the time of the end."

Where it appears

Daniel · 5

  1. Daniel 4:11 לְס֥וֹף [was] to [the] end of

    The tree grew large and strong; its top reached the sky, and it was visible to the ends of the earth.

  2. Daniel 4:22 לְס֥וֹף [is] to [the] end

    you, O king, are that tree! For you have become great and strong; your greatness has grown to reach the sky, and your dominion extends to the ends of the earth.

  3. Daniel 6:26 סוֹפָֽא׃ end the

    I hereby decree that in every part of my kingdom, men are to tremble in fear before the God of Daniel: For He is the living God, and He endures forever; His kingdom will never be destroyed, and His dominion will never end.

    Here: "Until the end": all the way to the final end. It matches "to the ages" earlier. In 7:26 the same phrase is used for the opposite, the oppressor's dominion destroyed "to the end."

  4. Daniel 7:26 סוֹפָֽא׃ end the

    But the court will convene, and his dominion will be taken away and completely destroyed forever.

    Here: "The end." Here "until the end" works as an idiom for "utterly, once and for all" (hence BSB "completely … forever"). It deliberately echoes 6:26, where God's own dominion lasts "until the end."

  5. Daniel 7:28 סוֹפָ֣א end the

    Thus ends the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts troubled me greatly, and my face turned pale. But I kept the matter to myself.”

    Here: 'The end' of the account. The same word is used in Daniel for the 'end' of a kingdom's reach (4:11, 22; 6:26; 7:26). Here it simply marks the end of the report. It is not a term about the end of the world.

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