Fool
סָכָלStrong’s H5530sakhal (sa-khal)
Appears in 6 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Sakhal is the Hebrew word usually translated “fool”, “like when a fool” and “fools”. It appears in 6 verses of the Old Testament.
“And who knoweth whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have laboured, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity.”
Meaning
- Fool
How it's translated
- a fool 3
- like when a fool 1
- and the fool 1
- fools 1
- fool 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Ecclesiastes 4
- Jeremiah 2
2 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Ecclesiastes 7:17Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?
- Ecclesiastes 10:3Yea also, when he that is a fool walketh by the way, his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool.
- Ecclesiastes 10:14A fool also is full of words: a man cannot tell what shall be; and what shall be after him, who can tell him?
- Jeremiah 4:22For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
- Jeremiah 5:21Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
Hebrew dictionary
סָכָל sakhal · fool
fool
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “fool” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
FOOL, noun
[Heb.]
- One who is destitute of reason, or the common powers of understanding; an idiot.
- In common language, a person who is somewhat deficient in intellect, but not an idiot; or a person who acts absurdly; one who does not exercise his reason; one who pursues a course contrary to the dictates of wisdom.
- In scripture, fool is often used for a wicked or depraved person; one who acts contrary to sound wisdom in his moral deportment; one who follows his own inclinations, who prefers trifling and temporary pleasures to the service of God and eternal happiness.“The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God” Psalms 14:1
- A weak christian; a godly person who has much remaining sin and unbelief.“O fools, and slow of heart to believe all the prophets have written” Luke 24:25
All definitions and other forms of “fool”
- A term of indignity and reproach.
- One who counterfeits folly; a buffoon; as a king's fool
- To play the fool to act the buffoon; to jest; to make sport.
- To act like one void of understanding.
FOOL, verb intransitive
To trifle; to toy; to spend time in idleness, sport or mirth.
FOOL, verb transitive
- To treat with contempt; to disappoint; to defeat; to frustrate; to deceive; to impose on.
- To infatuate; to make foolish.
- To cheat; as, to fool one out of his money.
- To fool away, to spend in trifles, idleness, folly, or without advantage; as, to fool away time.
- To spend for things of no value or use; to expend improvidently; as, to fool away money.
FOOL, noun
A liquid made of gooseberries scalded and pounded, with cream.
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.