Definition

stupid; wicked (especially impious)

Etymology

from H5034 (נָבֵל);

Where the KJV renders it

• fool(-ish
• -ish man
• -ish woman)
• vile person

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.