StrongerBible

avlah

עַוְלָה

HebrewH5766injustice, iniquity, ...

Appears 54 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Lev 19:15Lev 19:35Deu 25:16Deu 32:42Sa 3:342Sa 7:101Ch 17:92Ch 19:7Job 5:16Job 6:29Job 6:30Job 11:14Job 13:7Job 15:16Job 22:23Job 24:20Job 27:4Job 34:10Job 34:32Psa 7:3(4)Psa 53:1(2)Psa 58:2(3)Psa 64:6(7)Psa 82:2Psa 92:15(16)Psa 125:3Pro 29:27Isa 61:8Jer 2:5Ezk 3:20Ezk 18:26Ezk 28:15Ezk 28:18Ezk 33:13Hos 10:13
Root family
Word studyAH-velnoun

What avlah means

injustice: a wrong done against what is right, especially when fairness or honest dealing is owed

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

Avel is the opposite of justice. It names a wrong, but not just any wrong: it points to a violation of what is fair and right, the kind of act that cheats, distorts, or treats someone unjustly. Hebrew writes this word two ways, a shorter masculine form and a longer feminine form, but they are spellings of one word with one meaning, and the writers use them interchangeably.

The word lives in three settings that all turn on the same idea. It can mean unfairness in dealing and judging: a crooked verdict, a rigged scale, a bribe that bends the law. It can broaden to wrongdoing in general, the wickedness of a person's deeds and words, with the courtroom edge softened into plain moral evil. And it appears again and again in a single emphatic claim about God, that with him there is no injustice at all.

What ties these together is not three separate ideas but one concept seen at different scales. Cheating a neighbor in the market and the broad wickedness of a violent generation are both injustice, the first close-up and the second wide-angle. And precisely because injustice is what avel means, denying any of it in God is the strongest way to say that he is perfectly fair.

Nuances

1aunfairness in judgment and dealing: a perverted verdict, a dishonest measure, partiality that cheats the one in the right
Lev 19:15Lev 19:35Deu 25:162Ch 19:7Job 36:23Psa 82:2Isa 61:8Ezk 18:8
1bwrongdoing: wickedness in a person's deeds or speech, evil considered as the opposite of right living
Job 6:29Job 6:30Job 11:14Job 13:7Job 15:16Job 22:23Job 24:20Job 27:4Psa 7:3(4)Psa 37:1Psa 43:1Psa 53:1(2)
1cthe injustice that God never commits: used in the repeated claim that there is no wrong or unfairness in God
Deu 32:4Job 34:10Job 34:32Psa 92:15(16)Zep 3:5

What scholars say about avlah

Avel (also written awlah) is a noun of the root denoting deviation from what is right, standing as the antonym of mishpat (justice) and tsedeq (righteousness). The standard lexica (BDB; HALOT; DCH) treat the masculine and feminine forms as orthographic variants of one lexeme rather than distinct homonyms, with a unified range: injustice or unrighteousness in conduct, speech, and especially in legal and commercial dealing. The forensic nuance is prominent where the word names a perverted verdict or a false balance (Lev 19:15, 35; Deut 25:16; Ps 82:2), and the broader ethical sense dominates in Job, Psalms, and the prophets. A characteristic theological use is the denial formula asserting that God does no avel (Deut 32:4; 2 Chr 19:7; Job 34:10; Zeph 3:5), affirming divine justice. The Septuagint renders it most often with adikia and the adikos group, occasionally with anomia, reflecting the overlap with both unrighteousness and lawlessness.

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. עָוֶל, עַוְלָהlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. עָוֶל / עַוְלָהlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. עָוֶלlexicon
  • NIDOTTE, s.v. עולtheological-dictionary

All attested forms of עַוְלָה

f s absolute

עַוְלָה, עַוְלָתָה, בְּעוֹלָה, עַוְלָתָ, עֹלָתָה

2Sa 3:34, 2Sa 7:10, 1Ch 17:9, 2Ch 19:7, Job 6:29, Job 6:30, Job 11:14, Job 13:7

m s absolute

עָוֶל

Lev 19:15, Lev 19:35, Deu 25:16, Deu 32:4, Job 34:10, Job 34:32, Psa 7:3, Psa 53:1

f p absolute

עוֹלֹת

Psa 58:2, Psa 64:6

m s construct

עַוְלוֹ

Ezk 18:26, Ezk 33:13

m s construct

עֶוֶל

Ezk 28:18