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# אֱלִיל

Biblical Hebrew · Strong's H457

**insufficiency** — used 20 times in the Hebrew Bible. Below: its meanings with their sources, MACULA's glosses, and 2 verses word for word and in JPS 1917.

## Meaning

### OpenScriptures lexical index

insufficiency [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1488/457/#m1)

### Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906

אֱלִיל: n.m. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1488/457/#m2)

**The whole BDB entry:** n.m. (etym. uncertain: most prob. akin to Syriac ܐܰܠܻܝܠ weak, feeble, poor; perhaps also in usage \[cf. b.\] felt to suggest אַל not; cf. Che on Is 2:8) insufficiency, worthlessness. Zc 11:17 רֹעִי הָאֱלִיל the shepherd of worthlessness = the worthless shepherd, Jb 13:4 רֹפְאֵי אֱלִל worthless physicians (‖ טֹפְלֵי־שֶׁקֶר), Je 14:14 Qr concr. a thing of nought (uttered by prophets), but here קֶסֶם אֱלִיל a worthless divin. (‖ חֲזוֹן שֶׁקֶר, תַּרְמִית לִבָּם) should perhaps be read (cf. Gf). especially pl. אֱלִילִים concr. worthless gods, idols (cf. הֲבָלִים) (possibly orig. an indep. word = gods, cf. Sab. אלאלת, & v. NöSBAk 1882, p. 1191, but even if so, associated by the prophets with idea of worthlessness, & used by them in iron. contrast with אֵלִים, אֱלֹהִים) Lv 19:4 (not to be made) 26:1 (both H), Is 2:8, 18, 20(×2) (of silver & gold), 10:10 מַמְלְכֹת הָאֱלִיל (coll.) kingdoms of idolatrous worthlessness, v 11; 19:1, 3 (of Egypt) 31:7(×2) Ez 30:13 (Egypt), Hb 2:18 א׳ אִלְּמִים dumb idols, ψ 96:5 (= 1 Ch 16:26) all the gods of the nations are א׳ vain, worthless gods 97:7.

Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech agrees, 18 of its verses cited, 0 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (6 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech agrees, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 0 with the glosses (4 candidates)

## Glosses

MACULA's English glosses of the word in the text, with how often each is used: idols (7); the idols (5); \[are\] worthless idols (2).

## In the verses

[Isaiah 2:18](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA.2.18/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA.2.18/#tree)

וְהָאֱלִילִ֖ים כָּלִ֥יל יַחֲלֹֽף׃

*Word for word:* and the idols entirely it.will.pass.away

*JPS 1917:* And the idols shall utterly pass away.

[Job 13:4](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.13.4/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.13.4/#tree)

וְֽאוּלָ֗ם אַתֶּ֥ם טֹֽפְלֵי־שָׁ֑קֶר רֹפְאֵ֖י אֱלִ֣ל כֻּלְּכֶֽם׃

*Word for word:* and but you \[are.those.who\].smear of.falsehood \[are\].healers of.worthlessness of.you all

*JPS 1917:* But ye are plasterers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.

## On Mova

- [This word in the Tanakh dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/457.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of its meanings](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1488/457/): every English meaning parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.

Sources. The words, their counts, glosses and the word-for-word renderings: MACULA Hebrew (the Westminster Leningrad Codex; Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0). Meanings: the OpenScriptures lexical index (CC BY 4.0), Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906 and Jastrow 1903 (public domain, via Sefaria); Targum Onkelos from Sefaria (public domain). Translation: JPS 1917 (public domain, from eBible.org).