Hebrew verb · H1891
הָבַל
habalhaw-bal'
to become vain
5 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key
Concordance spelling: hâbal
Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H1891is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.
- 4 of 39Old Testament books
- 5spellings
The definition in full
Strong's key (1890) · H1891
to be vain in act, word, or expectation; specifically to lead astray
The King James renders it: be (become, make) vain.
James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.
Summary
habal is rendered "to become vain". It stands 5 times in the Hebrew text, across four books.
- Two of the uses stand in Jeremiah, more than in any other book.
- Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.2 Kings 17:15They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and themselves became worthless, going after the surrounding nations that the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.
- The Greek text spells it five different ways.
The first use
They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and themselves became worthless, going after the surrounding nations that the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.
2 Kings 17:15וַיֶּהְבָּ֔לוּ
The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.
Where the word stands
What the word means
Each meaning, and the words it is translated by
How the Greek text is glossed, word by word
- and they became vain2
- deluding1
- do you act in vain1
- you put vain hope1
The words built on the same word-part
Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.
| Word | Written | Meaning | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| הָבַר | habar | to divide | Uses1 |
All 5, in canonical order
Every use, in order
Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.
5 spellings and their grammar
STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.
How it is spelled
- וַיֶּהְבָּ֔לוּ1
- וַיֶּהְבָּֽלוּ׃1
- מַהְבִּלִ֥ים1
- תֶּ֫הְבָּ֥לוּ1
- תֶּהְבָּֽלוּ׃1
The grammar of each form
- Hc/Vqw3mp2Hc/Vqw3mp
- verb · causative (hiphil), participle · masculine plural1HVhrmpa
- verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine plural1HVqi2mp
- verb · simple (qal), jussive (“let him”) · 2nd person masculine plural1HVqj2mp
2 Kings
one use
They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and themselves became worthless, going after the surrounding nations that the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.
- וַיֶּהְבָּ֔לוּvaiyehbaluHc/Vqw3mptagged: and they became vain
Job
one use
Surely all of you have seen it for yourselves. Why then do you keep up this empty talk?
- תֶּהְבָּֽלוּ׃tehbaluverb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine pluraltagged: do you act in vain
Psalms
one use
Place no trust in extortion, or false hope in stolen goods. If your riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.
- תֶּ֫הְבָּ֥לוּtehbaluverb · simple (qal), jussive (“let him”) · 2nd person masculine pluraltagged: you put vain hope
Jeremiah
two uses
This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me, and followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?
- וַיֶּהְבָּֽלוּ׃vaiyehbaluHc/Vqw3mptagged: and they became vain
This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are filling you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.
- מַהְבִּלִ֥יםmahbilimverb · causative (hiphil), participle · masculine pluraltagged: deluding
Where it leads
How the numbers are counted
Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.
Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.
The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.