a braided cord: a rope of several strands twisted together, used to bind, harness, or fasten
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
This word names a cord made the strong way, with several strands twisted or plaited together into one thick line. That braided construction is the thread running through its uses. The same kind of cord ties down a captive, harnesses a work animal, or fastens an ornament, and the writers reach for it whenever the point is a line strong enough to hold.
Because a cord both binds and connects, the word moves easily into word-pictures. People speak of throwing off the cords of a ruler, of being dragged along by the ropes of their own sin, and, most tenderly, of God leading his people with cords of love. A plainer word for rope (חֶבֶל) covers ordinary tying; this word leans toward the sturdy, worked cord, which is why it also names the braided gold chains on the priest's garment.
interwoven foliage: the dense, tangled boughs at the crown of a great tree
TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong
Ezekiel uses the same word for something that is braided by nature rather than by hand: the dense, interwoven mass of boughs at the crown of a great tree. Where a single limb is just a branch (עָנָף), this word pictures the whole tangle of high foliage knit together, the lofty green top that made the cedar of Ezekiel's parables tower over every other tree.
Both uses grow from one idea, the interweaving of many strands into one thick whole, whether those strands are fibers in a rope or branches in a canopy. In a few of these verses scholars are divided over whether the word means the tree's thick boughs or should instead be read as the clouds its top reaches.
Ezk 19:11Ezk 31:3*Ezk 31:10*Ezk 31:14*
Disputed
In Ezekiel 31:3, 10, and 14, whether the word means the tree's thick interwoven boughs or should be revocalized as "clouds."
majorityThe word keeps its normal sense of thick, interwoven boughs, describing the lofty foliage at the top of the world-tree.; HALOT, s.v. עֲבֹת; BDB, s.v. עֲבֹת
minorityThe consonants are revocalized as the similar word for "clouds," so that the tree's top reaches among the clouds.; W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel (Hermeneia)
the item is actually cords of gold plaited like rope, not rigid metal linksExo 28:14
Both
both name a length of worked metal used to hold or connect, here fastening the priest's breastpieceExo 28:24
Only chain
the English word suggests interlocking metal links, which this braided goldwork is not
“thick boughs”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
How avot differs from similar Hebrew words
חֶבֶלThe general word for a rope or cord, and also a measuring line or an allotted stretch of land; this word points more specifically to a cord braided from twisted strands.
This is the heavy braided rope used to tie a person up, and the strength of the braid is the point: Samson's captors reach for new ropes precisely because they expect them to hold.Jdg 15:13Jdg 16:11Ezk 3:25Ezk 4:8
It is also the rope that harnesses an animal or hauls a load, the kind of cord that has to take a hard pull without parting.Job 39:10Isa 5:18
Because the word describes how a thing is made and not only what it does, it covers gold worked into braided chains for the high priest's clothing.Exo 28:14Exo 28:22Exo 39:15
For the same reason it can name the tangle of thick interwoven branches at the top of a tall tree, where nothing is being tied at all.Ezk 19:11Ezk 31:3Ezk 31:14
Its picture language is about being held down by a stronger power, whether that grip is resented as slavery or welcomed as love.Psa 2:3Psa 118:27Hos 11:4
Both
Both are lengths of cord fastened at both ends to hold something in place, and English Bibles translate each of them "cord" or "rope".Num 3:26Jdg 15:14
Both turn up in the sanctuary equipment lists, one as the cordage that stays the courtyard hangings and the other as the braided gold work on the priest's garments.Exo 35:18Num 4:26Exo 28:24Exo 39:17
With both words, cutting or bursting the cord is the image of release, whether what falls is a tent or a tyrant's hold on people.Jer 10:20Psa 129:4Psa 2:3
This is the tent line, the cord that holds fabric up, and it is almost always listed right next to the pegs it is tied to.Exo 35:18Exo 39:40Num 3:37Num 4:32
It works by tension rather than by bulk, so lengthening it enlarges the shelter and snapping it brings the shelter down.Isa 54:2Jer 10:20
The same word names the string of a bow, a thin line whose whole purpose is to be drawn tight and released.Psa 21:12
Names a thick rope of twisted strands, heavy enough to hold a strong man or an untamed animal: the new ropes Samson is tied with, the rope a farmer would need on a wild ox, and the ropes that hold a prophet where he is put.Jdg 15:13Jdg 15:14Job 39:10Ezk 3:25
Because such rope holds a captive fast, it becomes the standard picture of a rule people strain to throw off, of a hold God breaks, of sin dragged along like a load on a cart, and of the gentle leading God uses instead of force.Psa 2:3Psa 129:4Isa 5:18Hos 11:4
Names braided work in precious metal, not only in fiber: the twisted gold chains a craftsman makes to fasten the high priest's chest piece to the shoulder pieces of his garment.Exo 28:14Exo 28:22Exo 39:15
Extends from rope to the tangled thick boughs of a great tree, where the interwoven growth is what makes the tree tower and grow proud.Ezk 19:11Ezk 31:3Ezk 31:10
Both
Both can name a length of cord used to tie a person up, and Judges 16:12 sets them side by side in one sentence: Samson is bound with heavy ropes and snaps them off his arms as easily as a thread.Jdg 16:12
Both name cordage whose strength comes from strands worked together rather than from a single fiber: a cord of three strands is not easily broken, and the priest's gold chains are braided.Ecc 4:12Exo 28:14
Names a single thin thread, the smallest scrap of material a person could own, so it stands for something of no value at all: Abram swears he will not take even a thread from the king of Sodom.Gen 14:23
Names a thin line stretched out or hung up to be seen by or measured by: the scarlet cord Rahab ties in her window, and the twelve cubit line that measures around each bronze pillar of the temple.Jos 2:181Ki 7:15Jer 52:21
Supplies a picture of something slender and vividly colored: the bride's lips are like a scarlet thread.Sng 4:3
It is a rope you could pick up and put to work, twisted from strands and strong enough to be trusted for the job: fresh ropes to tie down a strong man, ropes to hold a prophet still, a rope hitched to a load or to an animal.Jdg 15:13Jdg 16:11Ezk 3:25Isa 5:18Job 39:10
Because the word is really about braiding, it also names fine craftwork in precious metal: the twisted gold chains that fasten the high priest's chest piece to the shoulder pieces of his garment.Exo 28:14Exo 28:22Exo 39:15
That same braiding idea stretches to living growth, the dense tangle of branches that makes a great tree's crown thick, which is why some translations render it "boughs" or "thick branches" instead of "cords".Ezk 19:11Ezk 31:3Ezk 31:10Ezk 31:14
It can tie in warmth rather than in bondage: God says he led Israel with cords of love, and the word also belongs to the glad scene at the altar on a feast day.Hos 11:4Psa 118:27
Both
Both name what holds a person or a nation in place, and both can be the thing rebels want off. In Psalm 2:3 the kings of the earth say it twice over, breaking the one and flinging the other away, so the two words stand side by side as near equivalents for imposed control.Psa 2:3
Either word can hold a human being so firmly that he cannot move, whether the hold is spoken of as something at the captive's neck or as ropes laid over the body.Isa 52:2Ezk 4:8
It is the word for the straps that hold a yoke on, so it is what the prophets reach for when a nation's servitude to a foreign king is either imposed or ended.Jer 27:2Jer 30:8Nam 1:13
It names the state of being tied down more than any object doing the tying, which is why it shows up as the grip of hardship and imprisonment that God undoes for the person he rescues.Psa 107:14Psa 116:16
It is the word for the claim God has on his own people: those who refuse him are pictured snapping it off, and he can also pull it tighter as a judgment on them.Jer 2:20Jer 5:5Isa 28:22
When an animal is in view, the interest is the absence of restraint rather than any rope in hand: nobody has fastened the wild donkey's harness, so it runs loose.Job 39:5
This is the heavy rope, thick enough to tie down a person or a large animal and expected to hold. Samson's captors bind him with new ropes of this kind, and Job asks whether anyone could put such a rope on a wild ox.Jdg 15:13Jdg 16:11Job 39:10Ezk 3:25
Because it is the rope that holds, it becomes the picture word for being held: the ropes rebel kings want thrown off, the ropes God snaps to free his people, the cart rope by which people drag their own guilt along, and even the gentle ropes of love by which God leads.Psa 2:3Psa 129:4Isa 5:18Hos 11:4
It stretches past made rope to anything densely tangled, especially the thick interwoven branches of a great tree. Ezekiel repeatedly sets a tree's top "among the thick boughs", a use no thread word ever takes.Ezk 19:11Ezk 31:3Ezk 31:10Ezk 31:14
Both
Both are cords people made by twisting strands together, and either can be of gold rather than fiber: braided gold cords for the high priest's breastpiece, and gold beaten thin then cut into threads to be worked into cloth.Exo 28:14Exo 39:3
Both hold parts of the high priest's clothing in place, so an English Bible may well print "cord" for either one within the same chapter: the braided cords set into the rings of the breastpiece, and the cord that ties the breastpiece to the ephod.Exo 28:24Exo 28:22Exo 28:28Exo 39:21
This is the thin one: a thread, string, or lace, slight enough to loop around something small. Judah wears his seal on such a cord, a strip of blue holds the gold plate on the high priest's turban, and a blue thread is worked into the tassel of an ordinary garment.Gen 38:18Gen 38:25Exo 28:37Num 15:38
It can name something so flimsy that it gives way at a touch: the bowstrings tying Samson snapped like a strand of flax when fire reaches it. The comparison only works because this word means a thread, not a rope.Jdg 16:9
It also covers small jobs a rope could not do: the flax line a man carries for measuring a building, and the tie that seals a lid onto a jar so nothing gets in.Ezk 40:3Num 19:15
Names a finished heavy rope that binds or restrains a person: the new ropes tied on Samson's arms, the bands laid on the prophet so he cannot turn.Jdg 16:11Ezk 3:25
Stands for bonds of oppression that are cut, broken, or thrown off: the cords of the wicked severed, the ropes rebel kings want to snap.Psa 129:4Psa 2:3
Reaches beyond made cordage to the interwoven thick boughs of a great tree, a dense tangle of foliage rather than any crafted object.Ezk 31:3Ezk 19:11
Both
Both turn on twisting several strands together for strength rather than leaving a single strand, whether plying fine linen thread or braiding gold into cords.Exo 28:14Exo 26:1
Describes the act of making thread, plying fine strands together into the "fine twined linen" of the sanctuary curtains and the priest's garments.Exo 26:1Exo 28:6
Is always an action worked on the raw fibre of the fine linen itself, never naming a finished cord or the thing that a cord is used to tie.Exo 27:9Exo 39:29
avot in the other biblical languages
σχοινίονGreek“rope”The Greek word for a rope of twisted cords, the closest counterpart to a braided binding cord.
δεσμόςGreek“chain”The Greek word for bonds or fetters, matching this word's figurative use for the cords that restrain.
What scholars say about avot
עֲבֹת derives from a root denoting interweaving or twisting, and its concrete referent is a cord of several strands plaited together. Lexica (BDB, HALOT, DCH) group its occurrences under two heads: literal and figurative cords or ropes (binding, restraining, or leading, and by extension the plaited gold chains of the high priest's ephod in Exodus 28 and 39), and the interwoven foliage or thick boughs at the crown of a tree, confined to Ezekiel (19:11; 31:3, 10, 14). Two loci are text-critically contested. In Ezekiel 31 several scholars revocalize the plural עֲבֹתִים as עָבִים "clouds," so that the world-tree's top rises among the clouds rather than among the thick boughs (so Zimmerli); the majority of versions and lexica retain "thick boughs." In Psalm 118:27 בַּעֲבֹתִים is read by most as "with cords" binding the festal sacrifice, but some take it as leafy "branches," the interwoven-foliage sense. The two heads are best understood as one polysemous word, both flowing from the notion of interwoven strands, rather than as unrelated homonyms.