עֵ֫רֶב

From the study of Jeremiah 25:20

Range of meaning

The root '-r-b means 'to mix' or 'to pledge'. As a people word, 'erev means a mixed company: people of other origins who live among a nation or attach themselves to it. That covers foreign residents, hangers-on and hired foreign soldiers. The same consonants, read as 'arav, can mean 'Arabia' or 'Arab tribes', and the two are sometimes hard to tell apart.

Against the English

KJV 'mingled people', WEB/YLT 'mixed people', BSB 'mixed tribes'. Some modern versions say 'foreign people' and add 'there' to tie the group to Egypt. 'Mixed' is accurate to the root, but a modern reader can hear it as 'mixed race', which the Hebrew does not mean. The supplied gloss 'racial-mix' invites the same misreading.

How it drifted

Modern English 'mixed people' carries racial ideas from the last few centuries. The Hebrew word is about people of foreign origin living alongside a host nation, not about descent or biology.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exodus 12:38 has 'erev rav, 'a large mixed company', for non-Israelites who left Egypt with Israel. Nehemiah 13:3 uses it for foreigners who were separated from the community. Jeremiah 50:37 has 'the 'erev in her midst' for Babylon's foreign troops. Ezekiel 30:5 lists 'all the 'erev' alongside Egypt's allies Cush, Put and Lud. Jeremiah 25:24 has 'the kings of the 'erev who live in the desert', next to 'the kings of Arabia'. The Septuagint here uses symmiktoi, 'those mixed in', and adds 'his', meaning Pharaoh's.

From the study of Jeremiah 50:37

Range of meaning

From a root meaning 'to mix'. It means a mixed company: people of other nations mingled among a main population. That can be a crowd of non-Israelites leaving Egypt with Israel (Exod 12:38, ʿereb rab, 'a mixed multitude'), foreigners within Judah (Neh 13:3), or foreign contingents attached to an empire (Jer 25:20, 24; Ezek 30:5, listed alongside allied peoples of Egypt).

Against the English

KJV 'mingled people' and WEB 'mixed people' are literal but vague. BSB/NASB 'foreigners', ESV 'foreign troops' and NLT 'allies from other lands' interpret it. YLT's 'rabble' adds a contempt the word does not itself carry. The supplied lexical gloss 'racial-mix' is misleading: the word does not refer to mixed ancestry or race in a modern sense.

How it drifted

'Mixed multitude/mingled people' can suggest to modern ears mixed-race people or a disorderly mob. Both are later associations, not what the Hebrew meant.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exodus 12:38; Nehemiah 13:3; Jeremiah 25:20, 24; Ezekiel 30:5 (the closest parallel: 'all the ʿereb' fall by the sword together with Egypt's allies). Cognate verb in Psalm 106:35 ('they mingled with the nations').

From the study of Nehemiah 13:3

Range of meaning

From the root ʿ-r-b, "to mix, mingle" (the same root gives "to pledge, stand surety," i.e. to bind oneself in with someone). Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) list two nouns with this spelling. (1) The woof or weft of woven cloth, the threads interlaced with the warp (Lev 13:48–59). (2) A "mixture" of people: a mixed company of foreigners. In sense (2) it is used of the non-Israelites who left Egypt with Israel (Exod 12:38), of foreign peoples or mercenary contingents attached to a nation (Jer 25:20, 24; 50:37; Ezek 30:5; 1 Kgs 10:15 in some readings), and here of non-Israelites within the community.

Against the English

KJV and WEB: "mixed multitude," matching their wording of Exod 12:38. YLT: "mixed people." BSB, NIV and ESV: "(those) of foreign descent." NJPS: "alien admixture." The supplied interlinear glosses it "racial-mix" and "person of mixed ancestry." That narrows the word to people of half-Israelite parentage and brings in the modern idea of race.

How it drifted

Modern English "mixed" applied to people almost automatically suggests mixed-race ancestry, and "race" suggests biology and skin color. Neither is the ancient category. The word names outsiders "mixed in" among Israel, people whose lineage and belonging lay with other peoples, whatever their parentage. Some of them may have been children of intermarriage (13:23–24), but the word itself does not specify that.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exod 12:38 (ʿerev rav, "a great mixed company," went up with Israel from Egypt); Jer 25:20, 24 and 50:37 and Ezek 30:5 (foreign or allied peoples in a nation's midst). The Septuagint renders it here (2 Esdras 23:3) with epimiktos, "mixed-in, mingled," the same word it uses at Exod 12:38. It also uses that word for the "rabble" of Num 11:4, which is a different Hebrew word. Greek-speaking readers would therefore have heard the wilderness story behind Nehemiah's phrase.