Aramaic word · H8214

שְׁפֵל

lehashpalah

be low

To be low. In the form used here it means to bring down or make low. It covers physical lowering, lowering of rank and status, and humiliation. The related adjective shefal means 'lowly' (4:17).

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to be or bring low, humble

1a) (Aphel) to bring low, humble

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 Daniel 4:37

Range of meaning

To be low. In the form used here it means to bring down or make low. It covers physical lowering, lowering of rank and status, and humiliation. The related adjective shefal means 'lowly' (4:17).

Against the English

KJV and WEB say 'abase'. BSB, ESV, NIV and YLT say 'humble'. NLT says 'humble the proud'. To modern ears 'humble' can sound like a gentle lesson in modesty. 'Abase' or 'bring low' is closer to the forceful lowering in rank that the king actually went through.

How it drifted

Modern 'humble' as a verb often suggests a mild, inner change of attitude. In the Aramaic the word is about position: being pulled down.

Used elsewhere in the period

Daniel 5:19: 'whom he wished he brought low.' 5:22: Belshazzar 'has not brought low (hashpelt) your heart.' 7:24: the horn will 'bring low' three kings. Theodotion has tapeinōsai, the word Luke 1:52 uses ('exalted the lowly').

From the study of Daniel 5:22

Range of meaning

The Aramaic root šp̄l means 'be low'. In the causative form used here (haphel) it means 'make low, bring down, abase, humble'. In Biblical Aramaic it is always used on the axis of height and lowness, and always with rulers and pride: God humbles the proud (4:37); the little horn 'will bring low three kings' (7:24). The related adjective šəp̄al means 'lowest' (4:17 [Aram. 4:14], 'the lowliest of men'). The Hebrew cognate šāp̄ēl has the same picture of high and low (e.g. Isa 2:11–12, 'the proud looks of man shall be brought low').

Against the English

'Humbled' is a fair rendering. NIV and NLT have 'humbled yourself', which drops 'heart' and makes it sound like outward behaviour. The Aramaic names the inner self as the thing he should have brought down.

How it drifted

Modern English 'humble' often means modest manners or playing down your own achievements. In Daniel, being 'brought low' means recognising that the Most High rules and that your kingship is on loan (4:25, 32; 5:21). It is about political and religious submission, not personality.

Used elsewhere in the period

Daniel 4:37 (Aram. 4:34): 'those who walk in pride he is able to bring low (ləhašpālāh)', the last line of Nebuchadnezzar's confession. Daniel 5:22 throws that line back at his successor. Theodotion's Greek and the Vulgate both use the ordinary verb for humbling (ἐταπείνωσας, humiliasti).

Where it appears

Daniel · 4

  1. Daniel 4:37 לְהַשְׁפָּלָֽה׃ פ to bring low

    Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, for all His works are true and all His ways are just. And He is able to humble those who walk in pride.

    Here: 'To bring low': to lower someone's position. This is the last word of the verse and of the king's story, and it reverses 'lifting high'. Compare 4:17 (God sets up 'the lowliest of men') and 5:22, where Belshazzar 'did not bring low his heart.'

  2. Daniel 5:19 מַשְׁפִּֽיל׃ bringing low

    Because of the greatness that He bestowed on him, the people of every nation and language trembled in fear before him. He killed whom he wished and kept alive whom he wished; he exalted whom he wished and humbled whom he wished.

  3. Daniel 5:22 הַשְׁפֵּ֖לְתְּ you have brought low

    But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this.

    Here: A causative form: 'you have made low' or 'you have brought down'. It is the language of height. Nebuchadnezzar's heart was 'lifted up' (v. 20), and Belshazzar 'lifted himself up' against heaven (v. 23). What God required was that he bring his inner self down. The same verb ends Nebuchadnezzar's own confession in 4:37: God 'is able to humble' those who walk in pride.

  4. Daniel 7:24 יְהַשְׁפִּֽל׃ he will bring low

    And the ten horns are ten kings who will rise from this kingdom. After them another king, different from the earlier ones, will rise and subdue three kings.

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