יָאַל
yâʼal · H2973 · Hebrew · 4 occurrences
Meanings
-
to be foolish, to be ignorant, to be without understanding
To be and/or behave like one with little insight, education or wisdom; pejorative (see the related term אִוֶּלֶת)
ExamplesNumbers 12:11 Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, I beg you, do not hold us responsible for this sin by which we have turned out to be foolish, and by which we have sinned.
Isaiah 19:13 The officials of Zoan have turned out to be fools, The officials of Memphis are deluded; Those who are the cornerstone of her tribes Have led Egypt astray.
Jeremiah 5:4 Then I said, “They are only the poor, They are foolish; For they do not know the way of the LORD Or the judgment of their God.
How it’s used In 1 role
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
Who or what does itSubject
4 occurrences in 3 groups
- Not stated: they 2
- שַׂרcommander, chief, official 1
- Not stated: we 1
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Near synonyms 3 words
- כָּסַל kâçal · H3688 · to be foolish
- Both words include "be foolish" as a sense; יָאַל (yâʼal, H2973) has additional senses ("dote," "willing," "think") that suggest a broader range, while כָּסַל (kâçal, H3688) appears more narrowly focused on foolishness.
- שָׁגַע shâgaʻ · H7696 · insane, mad, to behave like a madman
- Both lexemes denote states or behaviors of irrationality/loss of sound judgment—יָאַל (yâʼal, H2973) "dote, be foolish" and שָׁגַע (shâgaʻ, H7696) "be mad, play the mad man"—and genuinely overlap in sense as near-synonyms describing mental unsoundness.
- סָכַל çâkal · H5528 · to act foolishly, to make foolish, to turn into foolishness
- Both words are verbs denoting performing or becoming foolish, and describe overlapping foolish behavior.
Semantic domains 3 entries
- Foolish002001002010
- יָאַל describes acting foolishly or being deluded, as Aaron and Miriam's admission that they had turned out to be foolish in their sin against Moses (Numbers 12:11) and Egypt's officials who had become fools (Isaiah 19:13).
- Willing002001002028
- יָאַל denotes acting foolishly out of willful persistence in error, illustrated at Numbers 12:11 ("we have turned out to be foolish") and Jeremiah 50:36 ("they will become fools") — a genuine sense of a self-driven, willful lapse into folly.
- Think002004002013
- The same verb also touches on a failure of sound judgment underlying the foolish action, illustrated at Isaiah 19:13 ("turned out to be fools... are deluded") and Jeremiah 5:4 ("they are foolish; for they do not know the way of the LORD") — a genuine sense of deluded misjudgment.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H2973. yaal I. [יָאַל] verb be foolish (compare I. אול) — Niph`al Perfect3masculine…
I. [יָאַל] verb be foolish (compare I. אול) —
Niph`al Perfect3masculine plural נוֺאֲלוּ Isa 19:3; Jer 5:4; וְנֹאָ֑לוּ Jer 50:36; Jer 50:1plural נוֺאַלְנוּ Num 12:11; — do or act foolishly: —
1 shew wicked folly = sin חָטָאנוּ וַאֲשֶׁר נוֺאַלְנוּ אֲשֶׁר חַטָּאת Num 12:11 (J); in Jer 5:4 an exhibition of this folly is ascribed to ignorance.
2 become fools, lacking insight and judgment: צֹעַן שְׂרֵי נוֺאֲלוּ Isa 19:13 the princes of Zoan have become fools (|| נֹף שָׂרֵי נִשְּׁאוּ, and, in Isa 19:11 צֹעַן שָׂרֵי אֱוִילִים, etc.); וְנֹאָ֑לוּ אֶלהַֿבַּדִּים חֶדֶב Jer 50:36 a sword is against the praters, and they shall become fools — be shewn up as such (|| ׃ חָֽתּוּ).
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain
Topical studies with this word 3 entries
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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