Proverbs 2:18:5Prov.2.18.W5TAB
וְאֶל־רְ֝פָאִ֗ים
veelrefaim
“and to the departed ones”
- Transliteration
- ve-el-re-fa-IM
- Extended
- veh-ehl-reh-faa-EEM
- IPA
- /vəʔɛl.rəfɔːˈʔiːm/
Meaning by language
- English
- and to the departed ones
Hebrew · tap a syllable to hear it
Alphabet Analysis
| Vav | v as in vine; marks long ō / ū | |
| Sheva | vocal sheva — a short 'e' (ə), begins a syllable | |
| Aleph | silent — a glottal stop; holds vowel points | |
| Seghol | short 'eh' as in met | |
| Lamed | l as in law | |
| Resh | r guttural, like the French r | |
| Sheva | vocal sheva — a short 'e' (ə), begins a syllable | |
| Pe | p with dagesh; f without | |
| Qamets | long 'ah' | |
| Aleph | silent — a glottal stop; holds vowel points | |
| Hireq | 'ee' as in machine | |
| Yod | y as in yes; marks long ī | |
| Mem Sofit | final form of Mem — at word end |
Tap any letter to hear its name and sound
Now you try — trace the word:
The word
Word in context
- word
ve-el-re-fa-IM
- clause
ve-el-re-fa-IM ma-e-glo-TE-ha
- sentence
KI sha-KHA el-ma-VET be-TAH ve-el-re-fa-IM ma-e-glo-TE-ha
Exegesis
This is paralleled by ve-el-refa'im {וְאֶל־רְפָאִים | wə-ʾel-rəp̄āʾîm} ‘and to the shades’, which, with the construct ma'aggeloteha {מַעְגְּלֹתֶיהָ | maʿăḡəlōṯēhā} ‘her paths’, forms a poetic parallelism characteristic of wisdom literature, emphasizing inevitable moral descent. The repeated prepositions are rendered in English by retaining “to” twice, and verb choices convey the progressive motion of the original.
Root and etymology
RootResh-Pe-Aleph
“departed spirits”
In context — Proverbs 2:18
For her house slopes down toward death, and her paths lead to the shades .
About this coordinate
Proverbs 2:18:5 is a BCV:P reference — Book · Chapter · Verse · Word Position. It addresses word 5 of Proverbs 2:18, so the Hebrew word וְאֶל־רְ֝פָאִ֗ים (veelrefaim) can be cited, linked and studied at exactly this position rather than somewhere in the verse. In the Biblical Knowledge Coordinate System the same position is written Prov.2.18.W5, which extends further down to each syllable (Prov.2.18.W5.S1) and character.