Foolish
נָבָלStrong’s H5036naval (na-val)
Appears in 18 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Naval is the Hebrew word usually translated “fool”, “foolish” and “fools”. It appears in 18 verses of the Old Testament.
“Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?”
Meaning
- Foolish, senseless, fool
How it's translated
- a fool 8
- foolish 4
- the fools 2
- the foolish women 1
- for a fool 1
- and a fool 1
- to a fool 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Psalms 5
- Proverbs 3
- Deuteronomy 2
- 2 Samuel 2
- Job 2
- Isaiah 2
8 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Deuteronomy 32:21They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
- 2 Samuel 3:33And the king lamented over Abner, and said, Died Abner as a fool dieth?
- 2 Samuel 13:13And I, whither shall I cause my shame to go? and as for thee, thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, I pray thee, speak unto the king; for he will not withhold me from thee.
- Job 2:10But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
- Job 30:8They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
- Psalms 14:1The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Hebrew dictionary
נָבָל naval · foolish
foolish, senseless, fool
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “foolish” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
FOOL'ISH, adjective
- Void of understanding or sound judgment; weak in intellect; applied to general character.
- Unwise; imprudent; acting without judgment or discretion in particular things.
- Proceeding from folly, or marked with folly; silly; vain; trifling.“But foolish questions avoid” 2 Timothy 2:23
- Ridiculous; despicable.
All definitions
- In scripture, wicked; sinful; acting without regard to the divine law and glory, or to one's own eternal happiness.“O foolish Galatians -” Galatians 3:1
- Proceeding from depravity; sinful; as foolish lusts. 1 Timothy 6:9
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.