chevel · region, cord, pain

What it means

chevel (חֶבֶל) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “region, cord, pain”.

In its first sense a cord, especially a measuring line; from there a region or portion measured with it; also a snare, a band of people, or the pains of birth.

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 rope of twisted fibers, for tying, measuring or letting something down.
2. A plot measured with a rope, a portion of land.
3. A band or line of people going together.
4. Sharp, strong pains, like those of a woman in labor.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Cord, rope; from there the measuring line and the land measured with it (allotment, region); a group of people, as if joined by a cord; and the pains of birth, which bind and press. All these uses go under the same Strong number.

• Cords and ropes Joshua 2:15Hosea 11:4
• The cords of death and of Sheol Psalms 18:5Psalms 116:3
• The measuring line; the allotment, the region 2 Samuel 8:2Deuteronomy 32:9Deuteronomy 3:4
• Pains as of birth Isaiah 13:8Hosea 13:13
• A band of prophets 1 Samuel 10:5

Historical and cultural background

David measured the defeated Moabites with the line: “two lines to put to death and one full line to keep alive” (2 Samuel 8:2).

How we translate it

It varies with the sense: “cords” 14 times, “ropes” 8, “cord” 3; “line” 6 for measuring (2 Samuel 8:2); “allotment” 5 and “region” 5 for the land (Joshua 19:9; Deuteronomy 3:4); “pains” 5 and “pangs” 3; “a band of prophets” in 1 Samuel 10:5. In Psalm 16:6 it keeps “The cords have fallen for me in pleasant places”, where the cord is the one that measures the inheritance.

How it is translated

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

• cords ×14
• ropes ×8
• line ×6
• allotment ×5
• pains ×5
• region ×5
• cord ×3
• pangs ×3
• strip ×3
• Bonds ×2
• others ×8

Where it appears

• Deuteronomy×4
• Joshua×5
• 1 Samuel×2
• 2 Samuel×5
• 1 Kings×3
• 1 Chronicles×1
• Esther×1
• Job×5
• Psalms×8
• Proverbs×1
• Ecclesiastes×1
• Isaiah×6
• Jeremiah×7
• Ezekiel×2
• Hosea×2
• Amos×1
• Micah×2
• Zephaniah×3
• Zechariah×3

• Deuteronomy 3:4

  We captured all his cities at that time; there was not a town that we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

• Deuteronomy 3:13

  The rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half tribe of Manasseh, all the region of Argob. (As for all that Bashan, it is called a land of Rephaim.

• Deuteronomy 3:14

  Jair son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called them by his name, Bashan Havvoth-jair, to this day.)

• Deuteronomy 32:9

  For the portion of YHWH is his people, Jacob the allotment of his inheritance.

• Joshua 2:15

  Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was in the wall of the city wall, and she lived in the city wall.

• Joshua 17:5

  And ten allotments fell to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is beyond the Jordan,

• Joshua 17:14

  And the sons of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given me as an inheritance one lot and one allotment, when I am a numerous people, since up to now YHWH has blessed me?”

• Joshua 19:9

  From the allotment of the sons of Judah was the inheritance of the sons of Simeon, for the portion of the sons of Judah was too great for them; so the sons of Simeon received their inheritance in the midst of their inheritance.

• Joshua 19:29

  and the border turned back to Ramah, and as far as the fortified city of Tyre; and the border turned back to Hosah, and its ends were at the sea, by the region of Achzib;

• 1 Samuel 10:5

  After that you will come to Gibeah of Elohim, where are the garrisons of the Philistines; and it will happen, as you come there to the city, that you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place, and before them harp and tambourine and flute and lyre, and they will be prophesying.

• 1 Samuel 10:10

  When they came there, to Gibeah, look, a band of prophets came to meet him; and the spirit of Elohim came mightily on him, and he prophesied among them.

• 2 Samuel 8:2

  He struck Moab and measured them with the line, making them lie down on the ground; he measured two lines to put to death and one full line to keep alive. And Moab became David’s servants, bearing tribute.

• 2 Samuel 17:13

  And if he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it to the wadi, until not even a pebble is found there.”

• 2 Samuel 22:6

  The cords of Sheol surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me.

• 1 Kings 4:13

  Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead; his were Havvoth-jair of Jair son of Manasseh, which is in Gilead; his was the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with wall and bars of bronze;

• 1 Kings 20:31

  His servants said to him, “Look, please, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are kings of loyal love. Let us put, please, sackcloth on our waists and ropes on our heads, and let us go out to the king of Israel; perhaps he will spare your life.”

• 1 Kings 20:32

  They girded sackcloth on their waists and ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please, let my soul live.’” He said, “Is he still alive? He is my brother.”

• 1 Chronicles 16:18

  saying, ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan, the allotment of your inheritance,’

• Esther 1:6

  There was white cloth, cotton and blue, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to rings of silver and columns of marble; couches of gold and silver on a pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and dark stone.

• Job 18:10

  Hidden in the earth is his cord, and his snaring device on the path.

• Job 21:17

  How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished, and does their calamity come upon them, and does he distribute pains in his anger?

• Job 36:8

  And if they are bound in fetters, caught in cords of affliction,

• Job 39:3

  They crouch, they bring forth their young; they cast off their pains.

• Job 41:1

  Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook, or with a cord press down its tongue?

• Psalms 16:6

  The cords have fallen for me in pleasant places; yes, the inheritance is beautiful to me.

• Psalms 18:4

  The cords of death encompassed me, and the torrents of perversity terrified me.

• Psalms 18:5

  The cords of Sheol surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me.

• Psalms 78:55

  And he drove out nations before them, and allotted them with a line as an inheritance, and made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

• Psalms 105:11

  saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan, the allotment of your inheritance,”

• Psalms 116:3

  The cords of death encompassed me, and the distresses of Sheol found me; distress and sorrow I found.

• Psalms 119:61

  The cords of the wicked have wrapped around me; your instruction I have not forgotten.

• Psalms 140:5

  The proud have hidden a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net beside the track; traps they have set for me. Selah.

• Proverbs 5:22

  His own iniquities will catch the wicked, and in the cords of his sin he will be held fast.

• Ecclesiastes 12:6

  before the silver cord is snapped, and the golden bowl is crushed, and the jar is shattered at the spring, and the wheel is broken at the cistern;

• Isaiah 5:18

  Woe to those who drag iniquity with cords of falsehood, and as with ropes of a cart, sin;

• Isaiah 13:8

  And they will be terrified; pangs and pains will seize them; like a woman giving birth they will writhe; each at his neighbor will stare in amazement; faces of flames are their faces.

• Isaiah 26:17

  As a pregnant woman who draws near to giving birth writhes and cries out in her labor pains, so were we before you, YHWH.

• Isaiah 33:20

  Gaze on Zion, the town of our appointed feasts! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet abode, a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, and none of its cords will be broken.

• Isaiah 33:23

  Your ropes hang loose; they cannot hold firm the base of their mast, they cannot spread out the sail. Then prey, abundant spoil, will be divided; the lame will plunder the plunder.

• Isaiah 66:7

  Before she was in labor, she gave birth; before the pain came upon her, she delivered a male.

And 22 more times.