Hebrew word · H5760
עֲוִיל
'avil
unjust one
Tied to ʿāwel, 'injustice, crookedness', and ʿawwāl, 'unjust man, wrongdoer'. The identical spelling ʿăwîl (Strong's H5759) means 'young child, boy' (Job 19:18; 21:11), from a root meaning 'to suckle'.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
perverse one, unjust one
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
- Range of meaning
Tied to ʿāwel, 'injustice, crookedness', and ʿawwāl, 'unjust man, wrongdoer'. The identical spelling ʿăwîl (Strong's H5759) means 'young child, boy' (Job 19:18; 21:11), from a root meaning 'to suckle'.
- Against the English
KJV/WEB/ESV 'the ungodly'; BSB 'unjust men'; NASB 'ruffians'; YLT 'the perverse'. 'Unjust' and 'perverse' keep the idea of injustice. 'Ungodly' moves it toward irreligion. 'Ruffians' leans toward the 'young boys' reading.
- How it drifted
In 1611 'ungodly' meant wicked in conduct. Today it tends to mean irreligious or unbelieving, or just 'excessive' ('an ungodly hour'). The Hebrew is about doing wrong, not about lacking religion.
- Used elsewhere in the period
ʿawwāl appears in Job 18:21; 27:7; 29:17; 31:3, always for the wrongdoer. The LXX renders ἀδίκου, 'of the unjust one'. The Vulgate has apud iniquum, 'with the unjust one'. Job 19:18 has ʿăwîlîm, 'young boys', who despise Job, and 30:1–12 describes young rabble mocking him.
Where it appears
Job · 1
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Job 16:11 עֲוִ֑יל an unjust one
God has delivered me to unjust men; He has thrown me to the clutches of the wicked.
Here: Someone who does ʿāwel, injustice or crookedness. The singular may be collective ('the unjust'). Elsewhere in Job the same spelling means 'young boy' (19:18; 21:11), so some hear 'ruffians' or 'urchins'. Either way it means people with no right to stand over Job.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.