טָבְאֵל
𐤈𐤁𐤀𐤋
Taveel
H2870 noun
SILEX Entry
Definition
Personal name meaning 'God is good' or possibly 'God is pleasing.' Appears as a proper name for distinct individuals in the Hebrew Bible—most notably as a figure proposed as a puppet ruler over Judah by external powers. The semantic sense is primarily onomastic, combining divine and positive attributes into a name expressing favorable religious sentiment or relationship with the deity.
Semantic Range
personal name; 'God is good'; 'pleasing to God'; refers specifically to a proposed ruler (Isaiah 7:6) and to a Persian official (Ezra 4:7); onomastic formation characteristic of Semitic theophoric naming
Root / Etymology
Compound of the root טוֹב (tov, 'good,' 'pleasant,' 'pleasing') and אֵל (El, 'God'). The name is a theophoric construction, typical in Northwest Semitic personal names, meaning 'God is good' or 'God is pleasing.'
Historical & Contextual Notes
In Isaiah 7:6, טָבְאֵל (Tabeel) refers to a man whom the kings of Aram and Israel plan to install as ruler over Jerusalem, likely a Syrian or Aramean with ties to local elites. The same name appears in Ezra 4:7 as a Persian official involved in correspondence to the Achaemenid king regarding affairs in Yehud (Judea) during the early Persian period. The construction of the name reflects a widespread Semitic practice of forming names with a theophoric element (El) and a desirable personal quality (goodness, pleasantness). Although later traditions assimilated such names to Judean or 'Jewish' figures, the individuals with this name in the Bible are not Israelites but foreigners with political roles affecting Jerusalem or Judea. The English tradition of rendering the name as 'Tabeal' or 'Tabeel' does not affect the underlying meaning, but modern translations may obscure the non-Israelite identity by uniform rendering.
Original Strong's Gloss (1890)
from טוֹב and אֵל; pleasing (to) God; Tabeel, the name of a Syrian and of a Persian; Tabeal, Tabeel.
Bantu Hebrew
No Bantu Hebrew comparisons have been submitted for this word yet.
+ Add Bantu Hebrew WordRoot Family
טוב + אל (ṭ-w-b + ʾ-l) — goodness, pleasantness, goodness of quality, God, deity
Word Forms
2 distinct forms
| SIDANCE | Surface | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H2870-02 |
טָֽבְאֵל֙ | taveel | HNp |
Tabeel | God-is-good | 1 |
H2870-01 |
טָֽבְאַֽל | taveal | HNp |
Tabeel | God-is-good | 1 |
Occurrences in Scripture
2 total occurrences
| SIDANCE | Reference | Word | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H2870-01 |
Isaiah 7:6 | טָֽבְאַֽל | taveal | HNp |
Tabeel | God-is-good |
H2870-02 |
Ezra 4:7 | טָֽבְאֵל֙ | taveel | HNp |
Tabeel | God-is-good |