Hebrew word · H8510

תֵּל

tel

mound

A mound, specifically the heap left when a settlement is destroyed and later rebuilt on its own rubble. Archaeologists still call such sites 'tells.' In biblical usage it is usually the ruin-heap of a destroyed town.

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) mound, heap, heap of ruins

1a) mound (of ruin-heap of city)

1b) mound, hill (of elevation on which city stood)

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 Jeremiah 30:18

Range of meaning

A mound, specifically the heap left when a settlement is destroyed and later rebuilt on its own rubble. Archaeologists still call such sites 'tells.' In biblical usage it is usually the ruin-heap of a destroyed town.

Against the English

BSB 'on her own ruins' and NIV 'on her ruins' are good. KJV 'upon her own heap' is accurate but can sound like a rubbish pile. WEB 'on its own hill' and the Greek and Latin 'height' lose the idea of ruins.

How it drifted

Most modern readers have never seen a tell, so 'heap' or 'hill' does not suggest a destroyed city.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 13:16 (Heb 13:17): an apostate city is to be 'a tel forever; it shall not be built again.' Josh 8:28: Ai made 'a tel forever.' Jer 49:2 threatens Rabbah with becoming 'a desolate tel.'

From the study of Jeremiah 49:2

Range of meaning

A mound, specifically the heap of ruins left when a city is destroyed. In the ancient Near East cities were rebuilt again and again on their own debris, so a site rose into a layered hill. Joshua 11:13 speaks of cities "standing on their tels."

Against the English

BSB "heap of ruins"; KJV/WEB "desolate heap"; NIV "mound of ruins." All are accurate. What they cannot convey is that tel was the name of a recognisable feature of the landscape, the abandoned ruin-mound.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 13:16 (Eng. 13:16/17): a condemned city is to be "a tel forever, never rebuilt." Josh 8:28: Joshua made Ai "a tel forever, a desolation (shemamah)", the same pairing of words as here. Akkadian tillu is the same word, used in Assyrian royal inscriptions boasting that conquered cities were turned "into a tell (ruin-mound)." Modern archaeology's term "tell" (Arabic tall) comes from this word.

From the study of Joshua 8:28

Range of meaning

A mound or heap, specifically the artificial hill formed by the accumulated ruins of a destroyed or abandoned settlement. It occurs only a handful of times in the Hebrew Bible (Deut 13:16; Josh 8:28; 11:13; Jer 30:18; 49:2). In Joshua 11:13 the cities 'standing on their tells' are towns built on the mounds of earlier occupation. The word can therefore name both a living town's mound and a dead one.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and NASB say 'heap'. BSB and NIV say 'heap of ruins'. NLT says 'mound of ruins'. 'Heap' can make a modern reader picture a loose pile of rubble. A tell is a landscape feature: a flat-topped hill of packed debris, walls and ash that stands out on the horizon and can last for thousands of years.

How it drifted

In modern English 'heap' has lost its connection to ruined cities. The technical word 'tell' (borrowed from Arabic tall and Hebrew tēl) survives only among archaeologists.

Used elsewhere in the period

Akkadian tīlu/tillu is the same word. Assyrian royal inscriptions repeat the boast that a conquered city was 'turned into a tell and a ruin heap' (ana tīli u karmi), sometimes 'a tell of the deluge'. Deuteronomy 13:16 orders that an Israelite town gone over to other gods be burned and become 'a tēl ʿôlām; it shall not be rebuilt again'. Jeremiah 49:2 threatens Rabbah of Ammon with becoming 'a tell of desolation' (tēl šəmāmâ), the same two words found in this verse. Jeremiah 30:18 reverses the image: Jerusalem will be rebuilt 'on its tell'.

Where it appears

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 13:16 תֵּ֣ל a mound of

    And you are to gather all its plunder in the middle of the public square, and completely burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. The city must remain a mound of ruins forever, never to be rebuilt.

Joshua · 2

  1. Joshua 8:28 תֵּל־ a mound of

    So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.

    Here: A tell: the raised mound formed by a ruined city's collapsed walls, houses and debris. Here it is bound to the next word: 'a tell of perpetuity'. The same phrase appears in the law of Deuteronomy 13:16 [Hebrew 13:17].

  2. Joshua 11:13 תִּלָּ֔ם mounds their

    Yet Israel did not burn any of the cities built on their mounds, except Hazor, which Joshua burned.

Jeremiah · 2

  1. Jeremiah 30:18 תִּלָּ֔הּ mound its

    This is what the LORD says: “I will restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tents and have compassion on his dwellings. And the city will be rebuilt on her own ruins, and the palace will stand in its rightful place.

    Here: 'Her mound': the heap of rubble and layered debris left by a destroyed town. Elsewhere in Scripture a city made into a 'mound forever' was cursed never to be rebuilt. Here that sentence is reversed.

  2. Jeremiah 49:2 לְתֵ֣ל <into> a mound of

    Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sound the battle cry against Rabbah of the Ammonites. It will become a heap of ruins, and its villages will be burned. Then Israel will drive out their dispossessors, says the LORD.

    Here: A tel is the mound of rubble and ash left where a city once stood. Saying a city becomes a tel means it is left as a ruin heap.

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