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Hebrew Word of the Day

אֱוִיל

Meaning: Fool, stupid

Translit: e•veel

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Today’s name, e•veel (or evil, please listen to the recording), a fool, is biblical and it appears both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Yesterday, we discussed the name ‘naval,’ a villain, and pointed out the ample occurrences where it was wrongly translated into English as ‘fool.’ Today’s name, which sounds close (two identical root letters out of three) to the name ‘naval’ and very close to the English words ‘villain’ and ‘evil,’ may be responsible for the mix up of meanings we witness in most English Bibles. ‘E•veel,’ fool, comes from the noun, ‘ee•ve•let,’ which means stupidity, foolishness, and nothing beyond that. It is very likely that the closeness between the Hebrew word, ‘e•veel,’ and the English word, ‘evil,’ is the culprit for the mistranslations in the Bible.

You can see how these two words appear in one verse (in this case correctly):

“For my people are foolish, they have not known me; they are foolish children, and they have no understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge”

Jeremiah 4:22

Here is a great proverb about the nature of fools:

“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes; but he who listens to counsel is wise”

Proverbs 12:15

Some examples of ‘eveel’ from the New Testament:

“I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little”

2 Corinthians 11:16

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise”

Ephesians 5:15

E•veel is also the Biblical name of the Babylonian king, awīl-Marduk, also known as Amel-Marduk, the son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon. Eveel, or Evil, was known to be a good towards the nations that he conquered and this verse attests to this fact:

“And it came to pass in the thirty seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty seventh day of the month, that Evil- Merodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison; And he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon”

II Kings 25:27-28

Evil in Babylonian meant ‘a man’ and Merodach was the name of their chief god.

Today’s name, e•veel (or evil, please listen to the recording), a fool, is biblical and it appears both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Yesterday, we discussed the name ‘naval,’ a villain, and pointed out the ample occurrences where it was wrongly translated into English as ‘fool.’ Today’s name, which sounds close (two identical root letters out of three) to the name ‘naval’ and very close to the English words ‘villain’ and ‘evil,’ may be responsible for the mix up of meanings we witness in most English Bibles. ‘E•veel,’ fool, comes from the noun, ‘ee•ve•let,’ which means stupidity, foolishness, and nothing beyond that. It is very likely that the closeness between the Hebrew word, ‘e•veel,’ and the English word, ‘evil,’ is the culprit for the mistranslations in the Bible.

You can see how these two words appear in one verse (in this case correctly):

“For my people are foolish, they have not known me; they are foolish children, and they have no understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge”

Jeremiah 4:22

Here is a great proverb about the nature of fools:

“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes; but he who listens to counsel is wise”

Proverbs 12:15

Some examples of ‘eveel’ from the New Testament:

“I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little”

2 Corinthians 11:16

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise”

Ephesians 5:15

E•veel is also the Biblical name of the Babylonian king, awīl-Marduk, also known as Amel-Marduk, the son and successor of Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon. Eveel, or Evil, was known to be a good towards the nations that he conquered and this verse attests to this fact:

“And it came to pass in the thirty seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty seventh day of the month, that Evil- Merodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison; And he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon”

II Kings 25:27-28

Evil in Babylonian meant ‘a man’ and Merodach was the name of their chief god.