StrongerBible

ophan

אוֹפָן

HebrewH0212wheel, wheels

Appears 35 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Exo 14:251Ki 7:301Ki 7:32 (3×)1Ki 7:33 (2×)Pro 20:26Isa 28:27Ezk 1:15Ezk 1:16 (3×)Ezk 1:19 (2×)Ezk 1:20 (2×)Ezk 1:21 (2×)Ezk 3:13Ezk 10:6Ezk 10:9 (4×)Ezk 10:10 (2×)Ezk 10:12 (2×)Ezk 10:13Ezk 10:16 (2×)Ezk 10:19Ezk 11:22Nam 3:2
Word studyoh-FAHNnoun

What ophan means

a wheel: the round turning part that carries a chariot, cart, or stand

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled

This is an everyday, concrete word. It names the physical wheel that lets something roll: the wheels of a war chariot, the wheels of a farm cart used to thresh grain, and the wheels built into the movable bronze stands in Solomon's temple. Wherever it appears, it points to the same simple object, so a reader can picture it without special knowledge.

Most of its occurrences cluster in one place: the prophet Ezekiel's vision of God's throne moving on wheels. There the wheels are described as gleaming, towering, and turning in any direction at once (the famous "wheel within a wheel"). What makes that scene strange is the vision itself, not the word. The word is doing ordinary work; it simply names the wheels the prophet saw.

Because the object is so plain, the word carries little of the theological weight that many biblical terms do. Its interest comes almost entirely from where it turns up: on the chariots the sea swept away at the exodus, on the threshing cart a proverb uses as a picture of justice, and above all under the moving throne in Ezekiel.

Exo 14:251Ki 7:301Ki 7:32 (3×)1Ki 7:33 (2×)Pro 20:26Isa 28:27Ezk 1:15Ezk 1:16 (3×)Ezk 1:19 (2×)Ezk 1:20 (2×)Ezk 1:21 (2×)Ezk 3:13

What scholars say about ophan

The lexica are unanimous that the noun denotes a wheel, most likely from a root sense of turning or rolling (HALOT; BDB; DCH). Of its occurrences the great majority fall in Ezekiel's throne-chariot visions (Ezek 1 and 10), where it names the wheels beneath the divine throne; Ezek 10:13 notably reports that these wheels were also called by the synonym galgal (H1534). Outside Ezekiel it is fully mundane: chariot wheels (Exod 14:25; Nah 3:2), the wheel of a threshing cart used figuratively (Prov 20:26; Isa 28:27), and the wheels of the wheeled stands in the temple (1 Kgs 7). No competing sense is proposed in the standard reference works.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. אוֹפַןlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. אוֹפַןlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. אוֹפַןlexicon

All attested forms of אוֹפָן

m p absolute

הָאוֹפַנִּים, וְהָאוֹפַנִּים, בָּאוֹפַנִּים, אוֹפַנִּים, לָאוֹפַנִּים

1Ki 7:32, 1Ki 7:32, 1Ki 7:33, Ezk 1:16, Ezk 1:19, Ezk 1:19, Ezk 1:21, Ezk 3:13

m s absolute

הָאוֹפַן, הָאוֹפָן, אוֹפַן, אוֹפָן, וְאוֹפַן

1Ki 7:32, Ezk 1:16, Ezk 10:10, Ezk 1:16, Ezk 10:6, Ezk 10:10, Ezk 1:15, Ezk 10:9

m s construct

אוֹפַן, אֹפַן, וְאוֹפַן

1Ki 7:33, Exo 14:25, Isa 28:27

m p construct

אוֹפַנֵּי

1Ki 7:30

m p construct

אוֹפַנֵּיהֶם

Ezk 10:12