H3521 H3521
Cabul/Kavul, a border town in Asher (Josh 19:27) and a district Solomon gave to Hiram (1 Kgs 9:13)
This place name designates both a specific town and a broader district in Galilee. The town served as a boundary marker for Asher's tribal territory, identified with modern Kabul about nine miles southeast of Acre. More famously, it names the twenty-city district Solomon gave King Hiram as payment for temple construction materials, which Hiram rejected as inadequate. The folk etymology suggests "as good as nothing" (ke + bal), explaining Hiram's displeasure, though this may be popular wordplay rather than true etymology.
Senses
1. sense 1 — Found in Joshua 19:27 (Asher's border) and 1 Kings 9:13 (district given to Hiram). The Kings passage preserves the negative assessment: Hiram saw the cities and they did not please him, calling them "the land of Cabul." The etymological wordplay suggests the name became synonymous with worthlessness, at least in this transaction, though the actual town remained a legitimate settlement in Asher. 2×
AR["كَابُولَ"]·ben["কাবূল", "কাবূলে"]·DE["Cabul", "Kavul"]·EN["Cabul", "Kavul"]·FR["Cabul", "Kavul"]·heb["כָּבוּל", "כבול"]·HI["काबुल", "काबूल"]·ID["Kabul"]·IT["Cabul", "Kavul"]·jav["Kabul"]·KO["가불로", "가불이라"]·PT["Kavul"]·RU["Кавул", "Кавулу"]·ES["Cabul"]·SW["Kabuli"]·TR["Kavul"]·urd["کابول"]
Related Senses
G3588 1. definite article (18298×)H0853 1. definite direct object marker (10915×)G2532 1. (8312×)H3068 1. YHWH (the divine name) (6522×)H0834a 1. relative pronoun (who/which/that) (4839×)H3588a 1. causal: because, for (3498×)G1161 1. and (2806×)H3478 1. Israel (proper name and nation) (2507×)G4771 1. you (plural address) (1853×)H1931 1. personal pronoun he/she/it (1431×)G3739 1. relative pronoun who/which/that (1149×)H1732 1. David (proper name) (1075×)H2088 1. this, this one (demonstrative) (1059×)G1063 1. (1047×)G3778 1. this thing, these things (1003×)H???? 2. (1002×)G2424 1. (924×)G3754 1. that (content clause) (881×)H2009 1. presentative particle: behold, look (881×)H0589 1. I (first person singular pronoun) (874×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† כָּבוּל n.pr.loc. 1. city on border of Asher Jos 19:27, mod. Kâbûl, 4 h. (9 miles) SE. from Akko, RobBR iii, 88 GuérinGal. i. 422 f. 2. אֶרֶץ כָּבוּל district in Galilee 1 K 9:13 containing 20 cities given by Sol. to Hiram (popular etymol. poss. כּ as + בֻּל = בַּל not, i.e. as good as nothing, cf. v 12, so Ew Th; Klo conject. ארץ גָּלִיל), BuhlGeogr. § 116.