olel · young child

What it means

olel (עוֹלֵל) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “young child”.

A small child, an infant. Said of young children, often together with "the nursing child."

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. A child still small, who depends on his parents; named alongside the nursing infant.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• child ×6
• little children ×4
• little ones ×4
• children ×3
• infants ×3

Where it appears

• 1 Samuel×2
• 2 Kings×1
• Job×1
• Psalms×3
• Isaiah×1
• Jeremiah×3
• Lamentations×5
• Hosea×1
• Joel×1
• Micah×1
• Nahum×1

• 1 Samuel 15:3

  Now go and strike Amalek, and devote to destruction all that he has; do not spare him, but put to death from man to woman, from child to nursing infant, from ox to lamb, from camel to donkey.’”

• 1 Samuel 22:19

  And Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, from man to woman, from child to nursing infant, and ox, donkey, and sheep, with the edge of the sword.

• 2 Kings 8:12

  Hazael said, “Why is my lord weeping?” He said, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the sons of Israel: their fortresses you will set on fire, their young men you will kill with the sword, their little ones you will dash to pieces, and their pregnant women you will rip open.”

• Job 3:16

  Or like a stillborn child hidden I would not be, like infants who did not see light.

• Psalms 8:2

  From the mouth of children and of nursing infants you have founded strength because of your adversaries, to put an end to the enemy and the one who takes vengeance.

• Psalms 17:14

  from men, by your hand, YHWH, from men of the world, whose share is in life; and with what you have stored up you fill their belly; the sons are satisfied and leave their remainder to their little ones.

• Psalms 137:9

  Happy is he who seizes and dashes your little ones against the rock.

• Isaiah 13:16

  And their little ones will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered, and their wives violated.

• Jeremiah 6:11

  But I am full of the fury of YHWH; I am weary of holding in. “Pour out on the child in the street, and on the gathering of young men together; for both husband with wife will be taken, the old with the one full of days.

• Jeremiah 9:21

  For death has come up through our windows; it has entered our palaces, to cut off the child from the street, the young men from the squares.

• Jeremiah 44:7

  And now, thus says YHWH Elohim Tsevaot, the Elohim of Israel: Why are you doing great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and nursing child, from the midst of Judah, so as not to leave you a remnant,

• Lamentations 1:5

  Her adversaries have become the head; her enemies are at ease, because YHWH has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions; her little children have gone into captivity before the adversary.

• Lamentations 2:11

  My eyes are spent with tears; my insides are in turmoil; my liver is poured out on the ground because of the shattering of the daughter of my people, when child and nursing infant faint in the squares of the city.

• Lamentations 2:19

  Arise, cry aloud in the night, at the beginning of the watches; pour out like water your heart before the face of Adonai; lift up to him your hands for the life of your little children who faint from hunger at the head of every street.”

• Lamentations 2:20

  See, YHWH, and look: to whom have you dealt thus? Should women eat their fruit, the children raised with care? Should there be killed in the sanctuary of Adonai priest and prophet?

• Lamentations 4:4

  The tongue of the nursing infant clings to its palate from thirst; little children ask for bread; there is no one to break it for them.

• Hosea 13:16

  Samaria will be held guilty, for she has rebelled against her Elohim; by the sword they will fall; their infants will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.

• Joel 2:16

  Gather the people, consecrate the assembly, bring together the elders, gather the children and those nursing at the breasts; let the bridegroom go out from his room, and the bride from her canopy.

• Micah 2:9

  The women of my people you drive out from the house of her delights; from her little children you take away my splendor forever.

• Nahum 3:10

  She too went into exile, into captivity; her infants too were dashed to pieces at the head of every street; and for her honored men they cast lots, and all her great men were bound in fetters.