Bible Word Study
נְבַלָּט
Nᵉballâṭ · Neballat, a place in Palestine
נְבַלָּט
Neballat, a place in Palestine
Definition
Neballat (נְבַלָּט) is a proper noun referring to a town in the territory of Benjamin during the post-exilic period. It is listed in Nehemiah 11:34 as one of the settlements where the people of Judah lived after returning from the Babylonian exile. The name appears only in this context, identifying a specific geographical location within the restored community. No other biblical passages mention Neballat, so its meaning is confined to this single historical reference as a place name.
Biblical Usage
This word is used only once in the Old Testament, in Nehemiah 11:34. It appears in a list detailing the repopulation of towns in the territories of Judah and Benjamin after the exiles returned to Jerusalem. The context is purely geographical and administrative, serving to document the resettlement of the land. There are no patterns of usage beyond this single occurrence as a proper place name.
Etymology
The name Neballat is derived from the Hebrew root נָבָל (nāḇāl, H5036), meaning 'fool' or 'foolish,' and possibly לָט (lāṭ, H3909), meaning 'secrecy' or 'to conceal.' Thus, the name can be interpreted as 'foolish secrecy' or 'concealment of folly.' It is a compound name, typical of many Hebrew place names that describe a characteristic of the location or an event associated with it, though the specific historical reason for this name is not provided in scripture.
Semantic Range
As a place name in the list of Nehemiah 11, Neballat reflects the post-exilic effort to reestablish the tribal territories and community identity in Judah. Its mention underscores the meticulous record-keeping and geographical restoration that were central to the renewal of the covenant community after the exile. The name itself, possibly meaning 'foolish secrecy,' may hint at a local story or characteristic known to the original audience but lost to modern readers, a common feature of ancient toponyms. No direct synonyms exist as it is a unique proper noun. Related are other Benjaminite town names from the same list, such as Lod (לוֹד, H3850) and Ono (אוֹנוֹ, H207).
Word Details
How this works
Definitions are from the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon (BDB, 1906, public domain). Concordance and morphology data are from the OSHB (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible).
Full methodology & sources →References
- Abbott-Smith, G. (1921) A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Brown, F., Driver, S.R. and Briggs, C.A. (1906) A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. [Public Domain]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Tyndale Brief lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (TBESG). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Formatted full LSJ (TFLSJ). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Thayer, J.H. (1889) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. [Public Domain]
- Gesenius, W. (1846) Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament. [Public Domain]
- Dodson, J. (2010) Greek Lexicon. Biblical Humanities. [CC0]