Aramaic word · H6074

עֳפִי

'afeyeh

foliage

Foliage, leafy branches, the leaf-crown of a tree.

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

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

What it means

leafage, foliage

Aramaic of o.phe (עֳפָיִם "branch" H6073)

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 4:12

Range of meaning

Foliage, leafy branches, the leaf-crown of a tree.

Against the English

'Leaves' (KJV, BSB, WEB) is accurate, though 'foliage' better suggests the whole spreading canopy.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Hebrew relative appears in Psalm 104:12 in a scene of God's provision: by the streams 'the birds of the heavens dwell; from among the branches they sing.' In Daniel it occurs only in this tree vision (4:12, 21).

Where it appears

Daniel · 3

  1. Daniel 4:12 עָפְיֵ֤הּ foliage its

    Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit was abundant, and upon it was food for all. Under it the beasts of the field found shelter, in its branches the birds of the air nested, and from it every creature was fed.

    Here: The tree's leafy canopy, its 'crown' of leaves. It is the same word Psalm 104:12 uses for the leafy branches where the birds of the sky sing. It opens the verse with the tree's visible beauty.

  2. Daniel 4:14 עָפְיֵ֖הּ foliage its

    He called out in a loud voice: ‘Cut down the tree and chop off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it, and the birds from its branches.

    Here: 'Its foliage': the leafy crown called 'beautiful' in 4:12. Stripping it takes away the tree's splendor.

  3. Daniel 4:21 וְעָפְיֵ֤הּ and foliage its

    whose foliage was beautiful and whose fruit was abundant, providing food for all, under which the beasts of the field lived, and in whose branches the birds of the air nested—

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