Hebrew word · H5549

סָלַל

mistolel

to build

To heap up or pile up, to raise a mound or embankment, and from that, to build a raised road. Related nouns: mesillah, a built-up highway or causeway, and solelah, a siege ramp heaped against a city wall. Once used figuratively for prizing something highly (Prov 4:8, "esteem her").

Appears 12 times in 10 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to lift up, cast up, exalt

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to cast up a highway

1a2) to cast up a way

1a3) to lift up (of song)

1b) (Pilpel) to exalt, esteem highly, prize

1c) (Hithpoel) to exalt oneself

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 Isaiah 57:14

Range of meaning

To heap up or pile up, to raise a mound or embankment, and from that, to build a raised road. Related nouns: mesillah, a built-up highway or causeway, and solelah, a siege ramp heaped against a city wall. Once used figuratively for prizing something highly (Prov 4:8, "esteem her").

Against the English

"Build up" (BSB, WEB) gets the construction right but sounds like putting up a building. KJV's "cast ye up" is closer to the Hebrew, meaning throw up earth into a bank, but modern ears no longer hear it that way. YLT's "raise up" catches the height but not the road.

How it drifted

"Cast up" in the sense of throwing up an earthwork dropped out of everyday English. Today it suggests throwing something, or vomiting.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 62:10 uses the same doubled command for a highway: "sollu sollu ha-mesillah," heap up the highway. Jeremiah 18:15 contrasts roads that are not "built up" (lo selulah). In Job 19:12 and 30:12 enemies "cast up their way" against Job, the language of siege ramps. Mesillah is the word for the desert highway in Isaiah 40:3.

From the study of Isaiah 62:10

Range of meaning

Sālal means to heap up or pile up: earth into a road embankment (Jer 18:15), a siege ramp (Job 19:12), or figuratively 'to exalt' (Prov 4:8). Mesillāh is the result, a raised, built-up roadway or causeway. It names main public roads such as the 'highway to the fuller's field' (Isa 7:3) and the 'highway to Bethel' (Judg 20:31).

Against the English

'Highway' in its older sense, a raised main road, is accurate. KJV's 'cast up the highway' keeps the engineering picture. A modern reader hearing 'highway' pictures an asphalt freeway, which loses the image of hands piling up a roadbed.

How it drifted

'Highway' once meant a main road, often raised. Today it calls up motor traffic and state infrastructure.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah repeatedly pictures a highway for returning exiles: 11:16 (a highway from Assyria for the remnant), 19:23, 35:8 (the 'Way of Holiness'), 40:3, 49:11. Ancient Near Eastern royal inscriptions boast of kings building and leveling roads for armies and processions. Babylon had a paved Processional Way for its gods' festival processions.

From the study of Proverbs 15:19

Range of meaning

To heap up, cast up, build up, especially to raise a roadbed by piling up earth and stones and clearing obstacles. The related noun mesillah means a raised highway or main road. Also used figuratively: 'exalt' (Proverbs 4:8), 'lift up' (Psalm 68:4, 'cast up a way for him who rides').

Against the English

BSB, WEB, NASB, NIV 'a highway'; ESV 'a level highway'; NLT 'an open highway'; KJV 'made plain'; YLT 'raised up' (closest to the root). 'Highway' is good if understood as a built, raised road, not a modern motorway.

How it drifted

KJV's 'made plain' meant 'made level' in 1611 (a 'plain' is flat ground). Modern readers tend to hear 'made clear / obvious', which is a different idea.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 62:10: 'build up, build up the highway, clear it of stones' (sollu sollu ha-mesillah); Isaiah 57:14; Jeremiah 18:15 contrasts 'paths' with 'a way not built up' (derekh lo selulah); Job 19:12 uses it of siege ramps. The Septuagint here translates 'well-trodden / worn smooth' (tetrimmenai).

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 9:17 מִסְתּוֹלֵ֣ל [are] exalting yourself

    Still, you lord it over My people and do not allow them to go.

Job · 2

  1. Job 19:12 וַיָּסֹ֣לּוּ and they have piled up

    His troops advance together; they construct a ramp against me and encamp around my tent.

  2. Job 30:12 וַיָּסֹ֥לּוּ and they have piled up

    The rabble arises at my right; they lay snares for my feet and build siege ramps against me.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 68:4 סֹ֡לּוּ lift up

    Sing to God! Sing praises to His name. Exalt Him who rides on the clouds—His name is the LORD—and rejoice before Him.

    Here: A third plural command. The verb's basic sense is piling up earth to make a raised road (compare mesillah, 'highway'). Here it most likely means 'build a road for him', a processional way for the coming God. Some read it as 'lift up (praise)'.

Proverbs · 2

  1. Proverbs 4:8 סַלְסְלֶ֥הָ esteem her

    Prize her, and she will exalt you; if you embrace her, she will honor you.

    Here: A command to the son: treat Wisdom as precious and raise her high in your regard. The doubled form of the root occurs only here in the Bible, so its exact shade is uncertain, but the root pictures heaping up a raised road. It sets up the 'lift high' that follows.

  2. Proverbs 15:19 סְלֻלָֽה׃ [is] cast up

    The way of the slacker is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.

    Here: 'Built up': a road that has been raised, banked and cleared of stones, an engineered road as opposed to a footpath. It is the same root as mesillah, 'highway'.

Isaiah · 4

  1. Isaiah 57:14 סֹֽלּוּ־ סֹ֖לּוּ build up

    And it will be said, “Build it up, build it up, prepare the way, take every obstacle out of the way of My people.”

    Here: A plural command: "pile it up!" The picture is road-building, heaping earth and stones into a raised embankment. The order goes to a group, not to one person.

  2. Isaiah 62:10 סֹ֣לּוּ סֹ֤לּוּ build up

    Go out, go out through the gates; prepare the way for the people! Build it up, build up the highway; clear away the stones; raise a banner for the nations!

    Here: 'Heap up!' This means piling earth and stones into a raised roadbed. KJV's 'cast up' keeps the picture of building an embankment.

Jeremiah · 2

  1. Jeremiah 18:15 סְלוּלָֽה׃ built up

    Yet My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to worthless idols that make them stumble in their ways, leaving the ancient roads to walk on rutted bypaths instead of on the highway.

    Here: 'Built-up, embanked.' This describes a proper engineered road, raised and cleared of stones. Their new route is the opposite: an unmade track where feet catch and travelers fall.

  2. Jeremiah 50:26 סָלּ֥וּהָ pile up it

    Come against her from the farthest border. Break open her granaries; pile her up like mounds of grain. Devote her to destruction; leave her no survivors.

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