Hebrew word · H774

אַרְפַּד

'arpad

Arpad

A proper name: Arpad, modern Tell Rifaat, about 30 km north of Aleppo. It was capital of the Aramean state of Bit-Agusi.

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

§ Arpad or Arphad = "I shall be spread out (or supported)"

a city in northern Syria cited as an example of the Assyrian conquest

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 10:9

Range of meaning

A proper name: Arpad, modern Tell Rifaat, about 30 km north of Aleppo. It was capital of the Aramean state of Bit-Agusi.

Against the English

Translations are uniform. No drift.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Aramaic Sefire treaties (8th century BC) bind Mati'el, king of Arpad, to an overlord. Tiglath-pileser III besieged Arpad from 743 to 740 BC and annexed it. In Sargon II's inscriptions Arpad joins Hamath's rebellion in 720 BC and is crushed. In the Bible it is almost always paired with Hamath (Isaiah 36:19; 37:13; Jeremiah 49:23).

Where it appears

2 Kings · 2

  1. 2 Kings 18:34 וְאַרְפָּ֗ד and Arpad

    Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?

  2. 2 Kings 19:13 אַרְפָּ֔ד Arpad

    Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”

Isaiah · 3

  1. Isaiah 10:9 כְאַרְפַּד֙ like Arpad

    “Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?

    Here: Arpad (Tell Rifaat, north of Aleppo) was the capital of the Aramean state Bit-Agusi. It fell to Tiglath-pileser III in 740 BC after a three-year siege, and Sargon II crushed it again in 720 BC.

  2. Isaiah 36:19 וְאַרְפָּ֔ד and Arpad

    Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?

    Here: An Aramean capital north of Aleppo (Tell Rifaat). Tiglath-pileser III took it in 740 BC after a siege of about three years. Hamath and Arpad are paired as a proverbial couple of fallen cities (Isa 10:9; Jer 49:23).

  3. Isaiah 37:13 אַרְפָּ֔ד Arpad

    Where are the kings of Hamath, Arpad, Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?’”

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 49:23 וְאַרְפָּ֔ד and Arpad

    Concerning Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, for they have heard a bad report; they are agitated like the sea; their anxiety cannot be calmed.

    Here: An Aramean city in northern Syria (Tell Rifaat, north of Aleppo). Hamath and Arpad are a fixed pair in the Bible, remembered as kingdoms the Assyrians wiped out.

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