Hebrew word · H6993
קֶ֫טֶל
mikatel
slaughter
Slaughter, killing. This noun appears only here in the Hebrew Bible. Its verb root q-ṭ-l ('to kill') is rare in Hebrew (Job 13:15; 24:14; Ps 139:19) but is the ordinary word for killing in Aramaic.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
slaughter
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
Slaughter, killing. This noun appears only here in the Hebrew Bible. Its verb root q-ṭ-l ('to kill') is rare in Hebrew (Job 13:15; 24:14; Ps 139:19) but is the ordinary word for killing in Aramaic.
- Against the English
Most English versions keep it in verse 9 ('by slaughter', 'in the slaughter'). YLT, RSV and NRSV move it to verse 10 ('For the slaughter and violence done to your brother Jacob'). That changes it from describing how Edom dies to naming what Edom did.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Its Aramaic-flavoured root occurs in late biblical poetry. The ancient Greek (σφαγή, 'slaughter'), Latin (interfectio) and Syriac versions all read the word with verse 10.
Where it appears
Obadiah · 1
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Obadiah 1:9 מִקָּֽטֶל׃ from slaughter
Then your mighty men, O Teman, will be terrified, so that everyone in the mountains of Esau will be cut down in the slaughter.
Here: 'By slaughter' or 'because of slaughter'. This noun appears nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. In the Hebrew verse division it closes verse 9 and says how the cutting off happens. The ancient translations instead read it as the opening of verse 10 and the reason for the judgment.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.