Hebrew word · H678

אָצִיל

'atzilei

chief

This rare word has two attested senses. In Jer 38:12 it means 'joints' or 'armpits' (of the hands), and so more generally a side or far extremity. In Exod 24:11 it means 'nobles, leading men' of Israel. It is probably related to ʾēṣel, 'beside'. HALOT lists the 'side, far corner' sense for Isa 41:9.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) side, corner, chief

2) (CLBL) nobles (fig.)

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 41:9

Range of meaning

This rare word has two attested senses. In Jer 38:12 it means 'joints' or 'armpits' (of the hands), and so more generally a side or far extremity. In Exod 24:11 it means 'nobles, leading men' of Israel. It is probably related to ʾēṣel, 'beside'. HALOT lists the 'side, far corner' sense for Isa 41:9.

Against the English

KJV: 'the chief men thereof'. Most modern versions: 'farthest corners' or 'remotest parts' (BSB, WEB: 'corners'). YLT: 'its near places'. YLT follows the 'beside, near' root and gets the opposite of what the parallel line requires.

How it drifted

The KJV's 'chief men' borrows the Exodus 24 sense. It has the Vulgate against it ('a longinquis eius', 'from its distant parts'), and it breaks the pairing with 'ends of the earth'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exod 24:11 (nobles); Jer 38:12 (armpits / arm joints). The Septuagint reads 'from its lookouts / high places' (ek tōn skopiōn autēs), which is also a geographical sense.

From the study of Exodus 24:11

Range of meaning

The root 'ts-l has to do with being beside, set apart or reserved (compare the preposition 'etsel, "beside"). Related nouns mean "joint, armpit" ('atsil/'atstsil, Jer 38:12; Ezek 13:18; 41:8) and "far corners" (of the earth, Isa 41:9). Used of people, as only here, the lexicons give "eminent ones, nobles, chief men" (BDB, HALOT). One suggestion is that these are the "corner-pillars," the men who hold up the community, or those "set apart" for the role. Neither derivation is certain.

Against the English

KJV, WEB, BSB and NASB have "nobles." ESV has "chief men" and NIV has "leaders." YLT has "those... who are near," which takes the word from 'etsel "beside" and reads it as "those allowed to come near." That is ironic, because v. 1 tells this group to worship "from afar."

How it drifted

"Nobles" in modern English suggests hereditary aristocrats with titles and estates. Israel at Sinai had nothing of the kind. These men are tribal elders and priestly figures acting as the nation's representatives.

Used elsewhere in the period

This use of the word appears nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. The Greek Septuagint renders it "the chosen ones" (hoi epilektoi). Jerome's Latin Vulgate apparently connected it with the "remote parts" sense and has "those who had withdrawn far off." Ancient translators were clearly unsure of the word too.

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 24:11 אֲצִילֵי֙ [the] nobles of

    But God did not lay His hand on the nobles of Israel; they saw Him, and they ate and drank.

    Here: A rare word. This is the only place it refers to people. It means the leading men of Israel just listed in v. 9: Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and the seventy elders. They were the people's representatives, not an aristocracy of birth.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 41:9 וּמֵאֲצִילֶ֖יהָ and from remotest parts its

    I brought you from the ends of the earth and called you from its farthest corners. I said, ‘You are My servant.’ I have chosen and not rejected you.

    Here: 'And from its far sides.' The word is rare. In Jer 38:12 it means the joints of the arm (armpits), and here, as a match for 'ends', it means the earth's outermost reaches. In Exod 24:11 it means 'nobles', which is where the KJV's 'chief men' comes from.

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