Hebrew word · H847

אֶשְׁתָּאוֹל

'eshta'ol

Eshtaol

A proper name for a town. Its origin is uncertain. Some connect it with the root sha'al, "to ask, inquire," which would suggest a place of asking or consulting an oracle, but this is a guess, not an established meaning.

Appears 7 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

Eshtaol = "entreaty"

a Danite city located within Judah

Also named: esh.ta.u.li (אֶשְׁתָּאֻלִי "Eshtaolite" H0848)

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 Joshua 15:33

Range of meaning

A proper name for a town. Its origin is uncertain. Some connect it with the root sha'al, "to ask, inquire," which would suggest a place of asking or consulting an oracle, but this is a guess, not an established meaning.

Against the English

All major English versions spell it "Eshtaol"; there is no translation issue.

Used elsewhere in the period

It is listed in Dan's allotment (Josh 19:41) as well as Judah's. Samson's story is bounded by it: the Spirit first stirs him "between Zorah and Eshtaol" (Judg 13:25), and he is buried "between Zorah and Eshtaol" (Judg 16:31). The Danite scouts and fighters set out from "Zorah and Eshtaol" (Judg 18:2, 8, 11). 1 Chronicles 2:53 links Eshtaolites with clans of Judah. The usual identification is near the Arab village of Ishwa' / modern Eshtaol, though the exact site is uncertain.

Where it appears

Joshua · 2

  1. Joshua 15:33 אֶשְׁתָּא֥וֹל Eshtaol

    These were in the foothills: Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah,

    Here: The first town of the first Shephelah district. It lay near the head of the Sorek valley, on the eastern edge of the lowland where it rises toward the hill country. Later it is remembered as part of Samson's home ground.

  2. Joshua 19:41 וְאֶשְׁתָּא֖וֹל and Eshtaol

    The territory of their inheritance included Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh,

    Here: A town near Zorah. The two are almost always named together in the Bible as a pair ('between Zorah and Eshtaol', Judges 13:25; 16:31). Its exact site is uncertain.

Judges · 5

  1. Judges 13:25 אֶשְׁתָּאֹֽל׃ פ Eshtaol

    And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

    Here: A Danite town near Zorah. The same pair, 'between Zorah and Eshtaol,' comes back at Samson's burial (16:31), so his story opens and closes on the same strip of ground.

  2. Judges 16:31 אֶשְׁתָּאֹ֔ל Eshtaol

    Then Samson’s brothers and his father’s family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. And he had judged Israel twenty years.

  3. Judges 18:2 וּמֵֽאֶשְׁתָּאֹ֗ל and from Eshtaol

    So the Danites sent out five men from their clans, men of valor from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. “Go and explore the land,” they told them. The men entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night.

  4. Judges 18:8 וְאֶשְׁתָּאֹ֑ל and Eshtaol

    When the men returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers asked them, “What did you find?”

  5. Judges 18:11 וּמֵאֶשְׁתָּאֹ֑ל and from Eshtaol

    So six hundred Danites departed from Zorah and Eshtaol, armed with weapons of war.

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