Hebrew word · H8602

תָּפֵל

tafel

whitewash

Lexicons such as BDB and HALOT list two words spelled the same way: (1) a wall coating, whitewash or plaster, used only in Ezekiel 13:10, 11, 14, 15 and 22:28; (2) "tasteless, insipid", and by extension "worthless", used of unsalted food in Job 6:6 and of false visions in Lamentations 2:14.

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

What it means

whitewash

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 Ezekiel 13:11

Range of meaning

Lexicons such as BDB and HALOT list two words spelled the same way: (1) a wall coating, whitewash or plaster, used only in Ezekiel 13:10, 11, 14, 15 and 22:28; (2) "tasteless, insipid", and by extension "worthless", used of unsalted food in Job 6:6 and of false visions in Lamentations 2:14. The exact material of the coating is not certain: a lime wash, or a poor clay or mud daub, are both possible.

Against the English

"Whitewash" (BSB, WEB, NIV, ESV, NASB) names a thin cosmetic coat and captures the point. "Untempered morter" (KJV) describes badly mixed binding material, which suggests a structural failure rather than a surface one. "Chalk" (YLT) guesses at the substance. None of them can carry the second meaning, "tasteless, worthless".

How it drifted

Latin "absque temperatura" ("without proper mixing") in the Vulgate lies behind the older English "untempered". Later, "whitewash" picked up the modern sense of covering up a scandal, which is near the point here but not the same.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ezekiel 22:28 repeats the charge: prophets plaster with tāpēl, seeing false visions. Lamentations 2:14 uses the sound-alike word for the visions of Jerusalem's prophets, in a context of the same disaster. The Dead Sea Damascus Document (CD 8:12; 19:24-25) picks up Ezekiel's phrase, calling its opponents "builders of the wall and daubers of plaster", which shows the image was still alive centuries later.

From the study of Ezekiel 22:28

Range of meaning

In Ezekiel: a coating of lime plaster or whitewash smeared on a wall. The Hebrew Bible also has a word spelled the same way meaning 'tasteless, insipid' (food without salt, Job 6:6) and by extension 'worthless, unseemly' (Lam 2:14). The related noun tiplâ means 'something offensive or unseemly' (Job 1:22; Jer 23:13, said of the prophets of Samaria). Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) usually list the plaster word separately, which is why the supplied data marks it H8602B.

Against the English

'Whitewash' (BSB, WEB, ESV, NIV) and 'chalk' (YLT) capture the physical image. KJV's 'untempered morter' follows a tradition going back to the Vulgate's absque temperamento ('without proper mixing'): mortar that has not been properly prepared and will not bind. That is an interpretation of the image, not a separate meaning, and it pushes the sense from 'a cosmetic coat' toward 'a weak binding material'. Both lead to the same point: the wall only looks sound.

Used elsewhere in the period

Within the Bible the word occurs only in Ezekiel 13:10, 11, 14, 15 and 22:28 in the plaster sense. Ezekiel 13 builds the full picture: the people put up a flimsy partition wall, the prophets smear it with tāpēl, and God sends torrential rain, hailstones and storm wind to bring it down and expose its foundation. Lamentations 2:14 ('your prophets saw for you šāwʾ wĕtāpēl') pairs the same two words as Ezek 22:28 (tāpēl, šāwʾ) about Jerusalem's prophets, but there tāpēl probably means 'worthless/insipid'. Ancient Near Eastern houses and city walls were mostly mud-brick, routinely finished with a mud or lime plaster that made them look smooth and bright but did nothing for their strength.

From the study of Ezekiel 13:10

Range of meaning

Two senses share one spelling. (1) 'Tasteless, insipid, unsalted' (Job 6:6; related noun in Job 1:22 and Jeremiah 23:13, 'unseemly, offensive thing'). (2) In Ezekiel 13:10–15 and 22:28, a coating for walls: whitewash, a lime wash, or a mud plaster. Ancient and medieval interpreters understood (2) as mortar 'without straw' or 'not properly mixed', which ties it to (1), 'unseasoned'.

Against the English

KJV 'untempered morter' follows the older interpretation: mortar that was not properly mixed and so would not bind. Modern versions say 'whitewash', a surface wash that hides defects.

How it drifted

Modern readers hear 'untempered' as having to do with temper (anger), or don't understand it at all. In 1611 'temper' meant to mix in the right proportions.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lamentations 2:14: 'Your prophets saw for you shav' ve-tafel', meaning 'falsehood and whitewash/insipidity', with the same pairing as here. Jeremiah 23:13 uses the related tiflah of Samaria's prophets. Jerome's Latin translation (the Vulgate) has 'mud without straw'.

Where it appears

Job · 1

  1. Job 6:6 תָּ֭פֵל tasteless [food]

    Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the white of an egg?

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 2:14 וְתָפֵ֔ל and sham

    The visions of your prophets were empty and deceptive; they did not expose your guilt to ward off your captivity. The burdens they envisioned for you were empty and misleading.

    Here: This word means 'tasteless, unsalted' (Job 6:6). In Ezekiel 13 it is also the whitewash that false prophets smear over a cracked wall. Their visions were bland, saltless and cosmetic: they covered the cracks instead of exposing them.

Ezekiel · 5

  1. Ezekiel 13:10 תָּפֵֽל׃ whitewash

    Because they have led My people astray, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and whitewashing any flimsy wall that is built,

    Here: A surface coating that makes the wall look sound without strengthening it. The same spelling elsewhere means 'tasteless, insipid' (Job 6:6), so the word likely carries a pun: their coating is also their empty, flavourless message.

  2. Ezekiel 13:11 תָפֵ֖ל whitewash

    tell those whitewashing the wall that it will fall. Rain will come in torrents, I will send hailstones plunging down, and a windstorm will burst forth.

    Here: The coating itself, and very likely a jab as well, because an identical-sounding word means "tasteless, worthless" and is used of false prophetic visions in Lamentations 2:14. What they spread is thin stuff in both senses.

  3. Ezekiel 13:14 תָּפֵ֛ל whitewash

    I will tear down the wall you whitewashed and level it to the ground, so that its foundation is exposed. The city will fall, and you will be destroyed within it. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

  4. Ezekiel 13:15 תָּפֵ֑ל whitewash

    And after I have vented My wrath against the wall and against those who whitewashed it, I will say to you: ‘The wall is gone, and so are those who whitewashed it—

  5. Ezekiel 22:28 תָּפֵ֔ל whitewash

    Her prophets whitewash these deeds by false visions and lying divinations, saying, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ when the LORD has not spoken.

    Here: A thin lime wash that makes a wall look solid and clean without strengthening it. It recalls Ezekiel 13:10–15, where the prophets whitewash a flimsy wall that God's storm will knock down. The same Hebrew letters also mean 'tasteless, worthless', which may sharpen the jab.

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