Hebrew word · H691
אֶרְאֵל
'er'elam
hero
A rare and disputed word.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) (CLBL) hero, valiant one
2) (BDB) form and meaning uncertain
3) (TWOT) Ariel or hearth
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
- Range of meaning
A rare and disputed word. Proposed meanings: (1) 'hero, champion', often explained as 'lion of God' (ʾărî 'lion' + ʾēl 'God', or 'God' used to mean 'mighty'); (2) 'altar-hearth', the top of the altar where the fire burned (Ezek 43:15–16, spelled harʾēl / ʾărîʾēl); (3) the proper name 'Ariel', Isaiah's poetic name for Jerusalem (Isa 29:1–2, 7).
- Against the English
KJV, WEB and BSB give 'valiant ones'; other modern versions have 'heroes' or 'brave men'. YLT keeps the name: 'Their Ariel'. Every confident English rendering hides the fact that the word is uncertain.
- Used elsewhere in the period
2 Sam 23:20 (= 1 Chr 11:22): Benaiah struck down 'the two ʾărîʾēl of Moab' (KJV 'two lionlike men'), probably champions. The Moabite Mesha Stele (9th c. BC, line 12) speaks of carrying off 'the ʾrʾl of its Dod (or David?)' from an Israelite town, perhaps an altar-hearth or cult object; its meaning there is also debated. Rabbinic tradition read this verse as 'erelim' (angels) (b. Ketubot 104a), which is the source of the 'Erelim' among the angel ranks of later Jewish mysticism and of Maimonides.
Where it appears
Isaiah · 1
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Isaiah 33:7 אֶרְאֶלָּ֔ם valiant one their
Behold, their valiant ones cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
Here: An unclear word with 'their' attached. The traditional reading is 'their heroes', the city's fighting men (a singular noun used for the whole group). It may also echo 'Ariel', Isaiah's name for Jerusalem in 29:1–7. In either case it points to the people who should have been strongest, and they are the ones crying out.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.