בָּטַל
ba.tel
to cease
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Analysis of בָּטַל (ba.tel) The Hebrew word בָּטַל (ba.tel) carries the primary meaning "to cease," indicating the discontinuation or stopping of an action or state. Based on the lexical data provided, this verb describes a fundamental concept of termination or suspension of activity. The word appears only once in the biblical text, which significantly limits what can be determined about its full range of usage and nuance. This single occurrence makes it difficult to establish whether the word carried specialized meanings in particular contexts or whether it was used consistently to denote stopping in various situations. The rarity of this term suggests it may have been supplanted by more common synonyms in biblical Hebrew, or it may have represented a specialized usage confined to a particular text or period. For a general audience, בָּטַל represents a straightforward concept: the ending or halting of something. Without additional occurrences to provide comparative context, the word's precise shades of meaning—whether it emphasizes abrupt cessation, gradual discontinuation, or forced termination—cannot be determined from this lexical data alone.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
1 total occurrence across the text