Hebrew word · H6076

עֹ֫פֶל

'ofel

hill

From a root meaning 'to swell'. The basic sense is a swelling or bulge. As a place word it means a raised, fortified mound: an acropolis or citadel. The same root gives ʿopalim, 'swellings, tumours' (Deut 28:27; 1 Sam 5–6).

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

What it means

hill, mound, fort, stronghold, Ophel

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 Micah 4:8

Range of meaning

From a root meaning 'to swell'. The basic sense is a swelling or bulge. As a place word it means a raised, fortified mound: an acropolis or citadel. The same root gives ʿopalim, 'swellings, tumours' (Deut 28:27; 1 Sam 5–6).

Against the English

KJV and BSB have 'stronghold', ESV and WEB 'hill'. 'Stronghold' keeps the military and royal sense. 'Hill' can sound like a bare natural rise and loses the walls and palaces.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Jerusalem, Jotham and Manasseh built on and walled 'the Ophel' (2 Chr 27:3; 33:14), and temple servants lived there (Neh 3:26–27; 11:21). Samaria also had an ʿophel, where Gehazi stored his loot (2 Kgs 5:24). Isaiah 32:14 pairs ʿophel with 'watchtower'. Outside the Bible, the Moabite Mesha Stele (9th century BC) speaks of building 'the wall of the ʿpl', the citadel of Mesha's capital.

From the study of Isaiah 32:14

Range of meaning

A swelling or bulge (the same consonants are used for tumours in 1 Sam 5–6). It came to mean a raised, fortified mound or citadel, and in Jerusalem it was the name of a particular fortified ridge.

Against the English

KJV 'forts', BSB/WEB 'the hill'. 'Hill' is the weakest choice: it suggests a natural feature, while the word means a built, walled stronghold, probably a well-known landmark.

Used elsewhere in the period

2 Chr 27:3 (Jotham built extensively on the wall of the Ophel); 2 Chr 33:14 (Manasseh enclosed the Ophel); Neh 3:26–27; 11:21; Mic 4:8 ('Ophel of daughter Zion'); 2 Kgs 5:24 (an ʿōpel at Samaria). The Moabite Mesha Stele (9th c. BC) speaks of building 'the wall of the ʿpl' at Qarhoh, which shows the word was in use for citadels in the region.

From the study of 2 Kings 5:24

Range of meaning

The root idea is a swelling or bulge. As a place, it means a raised mound or hill, especially the fortified high part of a city, its citadel. In Jerusalem 'the Ophel' became a place name for the fortified ridge between the City of David and the Temple Mount (Neh 3:26–27; 2 Chr 27:3; 33:14). The same consonants are used for tumours or swellings in 1 Samuel 5–6, the 'swellings' that struck the Philistines.

Against the English

BSB, WEB, ESV, NIV and NASB have 'hill'. KJV has 'tower'. YLT has 'high place'. Translations such as NRSV and the Jewish Publication Society's version use 'citadel'. 'Hill' is safe but loses the urban, fortified sense. 'Tower' suggests a tall structure rather than a raised quarter. 'High place' wrongly suggests a hilltop shrine.

How it drifted

KJV's 'tower' follows the fortification sense (compare Mic 4:8, where ʿōpel stands parallel to 'tower of the flock'), but in modern English a tower is a single tall building. YLT's 'high place' collides with the different Hebrew word bāmâ, the cult sites that Kings condemns.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Moabite Mesha Stele (9th century BC, contemporary with Elisha) uses ʿpl for the citadel wall Mesha built at Qarhoh. Isaiah 32:14 pairs ʿōpel with 'watchtower' as features of a city. Micah 4:8 addresses 'the ʿōpel of daughter Zion'. The Septuagint and Vulgate here appear to read a different word, 'darkness'.

Where it appears

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 5:24 הָעֹ֔פֶל the hill

    When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the gifts from the servants and stored them in the house. Then he dismissed the men, and they departed.

    Here: 'The ʿōpel', with 'the' in front, so a place the narrator expects readers to know. It was a raised, often fortified part of the city, probably on the way to Elisha's house in Samaria. This is where the porters stop, before they can be seen arriving at the prophet's door.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 32:14 עֹ֣פֶל [the] hill

    For the palace will be forsaken, the busy city abandoned. The hill and the watchtower will become caves forever—the delight of wild donkeys and a pasture for flocks—

    Here: Probably the Ophel, the fortified ridge in Jerusalem between the old City of David and the Temple Mount, where kings built walls and government buildings (2 Chr 27:3; 33:14; Neh 3:26–27). BSB's 'the hill' hides that this is a named stronghold.

Micah · 1

  1. Micah 4:8 עֹ֛פֶל O hill of

    And you, O watchtower of the flock, O stronghold of the Daughter of Zion—the former dominion will be restored to you; sovereignty will come to the Daughter of Jerusalem.”

    Here: The Ophel was the walled ridge in Jerusalem between the old City of David and the Temple Mount, the site of the royal buildings. It stands in parallel with 'tower of the flock', so it names the same place in plainer terms.

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