מחי קבלו

יחזקאל כו:ח-ט
בְּנוֹתַ֥יִךְ בַּשָּׂדֶ֖ה בַּחֶ֣רֶב יַהֲרֹ֑ג וְנָתַ֨ן עָלַ֜יִךְ דָּיֵ֗ק וְשָׁפַ֤ךְ עָלַ֙יִךְ֙ סֹֽלְלָ֔ה וְהֵקִ֥ים עָלַ֖יִךְ צִנָּֽה: וּמְחִ֣י קָֽבָלּ֔וֹ יִתֵּ֖ן בְּחֹֽמוֹתָ֑יִךְ וּמִ֨גְדְּלֹתַ֔יִךְ יִתֹּ֖ץ בְּחַרְבוֹתָֽיו

This verse contains the hapax legomenon ומחי קבלו.  From the context it clearly denotes something having to with a siege and or battle.  The KJV renders it as “And he shall set engines of war against thy walls”.

Tawil, in his Akkadian Lexical Companion for Biblical Hebrew brings Akkadian cognates for both words and renders it “and the storm of battle he will turn against your walls”.

קבל is cognate of the Akkadian qablu, which means battle.  מחי he suggests is cognate of Akkadian mehu – storm.  To support this translation, he points out that in the Bible we have “battle” and “storm” together in a phrase in Amos 1:14: בתרועה ביום מלחמה בסער ביום סופה.

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