Hebrew word · H8220

שִׁפְלוּת

uveshiflut

idleness

'Lowness, sinking'. It appears only here. It comes from shafal, 'to be or become low', which is used for humbling, for things being brought down, and for low ground (the Shephelah).

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

sinking, idleness, inactivity

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 Ecclesiastes 10:18

Range of meaning

'Lowness, sinking'. It appears only here. It comes from shafal, 'to be or become low', which is used for humbling, for things being brought down, and for low ground (the Shephelah).

Against the English

All the English versions render it 'idleness' (KJV, BSB, WEB, YLT) or 'indolence/slackness'. That is the right meaning, but it hides the picture of hands hanging down.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX: en argiai cheirōn, 'in idleness of hands'. Vulgate: in infirmitate manuum, 'in weakness of hands'. Compare the idiom of 'drooping hands' for slackness or lost courage (Isa 35:3; Heb 12:12 echoing it).

Where it appears

Ecclesiastes · 1

  1. Ecclesiastes 10:18 וּבְשִׁפְל֥וּת and in lowering of

    Through laziness the roof caves in, and in the hands of the idle, the house leaks.

    Here: "And by the lowness/sinking of". Another word found only here, from shafal, 'to be low'. Hands that hang down, never lifted to work. It picks up the sinking of the first line: the hands droop, so the roof droops.

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