Hebrew word · H6905
קָבָל
kaval'am-
before
qŏḇāl appears only here in biblical Hebrew. Its Aramaic counterpart (qŏḇēl, lāqŏḇēl) means 'in front of, opposite, because of' and is common in Daniel and Ezra. With ʿām it would mean 'before people', that is, publicly.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
before
Aramaic equivalent: qe.vel (קֳבֵל "before" H6903)
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 2 Kings 15:10
- Range of meaning
qŏḇāl appears only here in biblical Hebrew. Its Aramaic counterpart (qŏḇēl, lāqŏḇēl) means 'in front of, opposite, because of' and is common in Daniel and Ezra. With ʿām it would mean 'before people', that is, publicly.
- Against the English
KJV, NASB, BSB, WEB and YLT have 'before / in front of the people'. NLT has 'in public'. RSV, ESV and NABRE follow the Greek and translate a place, 'at Ibleam'.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The Hebrew text tradition (the Masoretic Text, the standard Hebrew text) reads קבל עם. The Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation) splits: some manuscripts transliterate something like 'in Keblaam', and the Lucianic group reads 'in Iebl(a)am', i.e. Ibleam. Ibleam was the town near which Jehu's men struck Ahaziah (2 Kgs 9:27).
Where it appears
2 Kings · 1
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2 Kings 15:10 קָֽבָלְ־ before
Then Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against Zechariah, struck him down and killed him in front of the people, and reigned in his place.
Here: A word found nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. It is common in Aramaic (Daniel and Ezra use the Aramaic form for 'before, in front of'). Either it is a northern or Aramaic-flavoured idiom, or it is a copying corruption of a place name (see textual notes).
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.