H3104 — יוֹבֵל (yôwbêl)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H3104
Original: יוֹבֵל
Transliteration: yôwbêl
Pronunciation: yo-bale'
Part of Speech: Masculine noun
Root: apparently from H2986 יָבַל (yâbal) — to flow, carry, bring
Occurrences: 25 unique verses (35 tokens) in OT
First Occurrence: Exo 19:13 — "when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

The blast of a horn (from its continuous sound); specifically, the signal of the silver trumpets; hence, the instrument itself and the festival thus introduced — jubile, ram's horn, trumpet.

The word spans two semantic poles: (1) the physical instrument — a ram's horn blown as a signal, and (2) the institution — the fiftieth-year cycle of liberty, land-return, and economic reset proclaimed by blowing that horn. The instrument names the institution.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
jubile / jubile-related	21	84%
rams' horns / ram's horn	5	20%
trumpet	1	4%

The KJV overwhelmingly renders yôwbêl as "jubile" (Lev 25, 27; Num 36) and reserves "rams' horns" / "ram's horn" for Joshua 6. Exodus 19:13 uses "trumpet." Some verses carry multiple translation tokens (e.g., "the year of jubile" = the + jubile).

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Leviticus	18	2.1
Joshua	5	0.8
Exodus	1	0.1
Numbers	1	0.1

Leviticus dominates with 72% of all occurrences, concentrated in chapters 25 (land-sabbath legislation) and 27 (vow-and-valuation rules). Joshua 6 accounts for all five "ram's horn" uses in the Jericho narrative. The word is absent from the prophets, poetry, and wisdom literature entirely — it is strictly Pentateuchal-plus-Joshua.

Semantic Categories¶

1. The Ram's Horn Instrument (Joshua 6)¶

The physical horn blown as a military-liturgical signal at Jericho. Always plural ("trumpets of rams' horns") except in Jos 6:5 where the singular denotes the sustained blast. - Jos 6:4 — "seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns" - Jos 6:5 — "when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout" - Jos 6:8 — "the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns passed on before the LORD" - Jos 6:13 — "seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD went on continually"

2. The Jubilee Year as Institution (Leviticus 25)¶

The fiftieth-year cycle proclaimed by trumpet-blast on the Day of Atonement. The word names the year itself — "a jubile shall that fiftieth year be." - Lev 25:10 — "ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you" - Lev 25:11 — "A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself" - Lev 25:12 — "For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you"

3. Economic Reset — Land Restoration¶

In the jubilee year, all ancestral land reverts to its original family. Property sales are really leases counted toward the next jubilee. - Lev 25:13 — "In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession" - Lev 25:28 — "that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubile: and in the jubile it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession" - Lev 27:24 — "In the year of the jubile the field shall return unto him of whom it was bought" - Num 36:4 — "when the jubile of the children of Israel shall be, then shall their inheritance be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received"

Israelite servants go free at jubilee regardless of remaining debt; their service is bounded by the jubilee cycle. - Lev 25:40 — "as an hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve thee unto the year of jubile" - Lev 25:54 — "if he be not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the year of jubile, both he, and his children with him"

5. Valuation Benchmark¶

The jubilee year serves as the fixed reference point for calculating the monetary value of vows, field dedications, and redemption prices. - Lev 25:15 — "According to the number of years after the jubile thou shalt buy of thy neighbour" - Lev 25:50 — "the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years, according to the time of an hired servant shall it be with him" - Lev 27:17 — "If he sanctify his field from the year of jubile, according to thy estimation it shall stand" - Lev 27:18 — "if he sanctify his field after the jubile, then the priest shall reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain"

6. The Initial Sinai Blast (Exodus 19)¶

The earliest occurrence — a prolonged horn-blast signals that the people may approach Mount Sinai after YHWH's descent. - Exo 19:13 — "when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
שָׁנֶה (shâneh)	H8141	14x (56%)	"the year of jubile" — the jubilee is always year-denominated
כֹּהֵן (kôhên)	H3548	7x (28%)	"the priest shall reckon" — priests administer jubilee valuations
עַד (ʻad)	H5704	7x (28%)	"unto the year of jubile" — jubilee as terminus
אֲחֻזָּה (ʼăchuzzâh)	H272	6x (24%)	"possession" — ancestral landholding restored at jubilee
יָצָא (yâtsâʼ)	H3318	6x (24%)	"shall go out" — release formula for servants and land
שָׂדֶה (sâdeh)	H7704	6x (24%)	"field" — agricultural land under jubilee rules
שׁוֹפָר (shôwphâr)	H7782	5x (20%)	"trumpets of rams' horns" — co-occurs in Joshua 6 procession
שׁוּב (shûwb)	H7725	5x (20%)	"shall return" — restoration of land to original owner
קָנָה (qânâh)	H7069	5x (20%)	"buy/purchase" — commercial transactions bounded by jubilee
אָרוֹן (ʼârôwn)	H727	4x (16%)	"the ark" — rams' horns borne before the ark at Jericho

Word Family / Cognates¶

H2986 יָבַל (yâbal) — to flow, carry, bring; the apparent root, suggesting the carrying/flowing sound of the horn

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared KJV Translation	Key Difference
שׁוֹפָר (shôwphâr)	H7782	"trumpet"	The general ram's horn instrument (63v across 21 books). Yôwbêl is specifically the jubilee blast or the jubilee institution. In Jos 6, both words appear together — shôwphâr for the trumpet and yôwbêl for the rams' horns.
חֲצֹצְרָה (chătsôtsᵉrâh)	H2689	"trumpet"	The silver priestly trumpet made by hammering (Num 10:1-10). Distinct material (metal vs. horn) and usage (priestly signals vs. jubilee proclamation).
תְּרוּעָה (tᵉrûwʻâh)	H8643	"of the jubile" (in Lev 25:9, paired with shôwphâr)	The sound/shout/alarm itself, not the instrument or institution. In Lev 25:9 the phrase is "shôwphâr tᵉrûwʻâh" — the trumpet of alarm/jubilee-blast — introducing the yôwbêl year.

Semantic Domain¶

[001002008001013] Musical Instruments — alongside H2689 חֲצֹצְרָה, H2485 חָלִיל, H3658 כִּנּוֹר, H7782 שׁוֹפָר
[002002002010] Time — the jubilee as a temporal institution

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occurrences	PMI	Notes
ἄφεσις (áphesis)	G859	18x	8.77	"release/forgiveness" — the LXX renders the jubilee institution as a concept of release
ἐνιαυτός (eniautós)	G1763	10x	6.52	"year" — temporal framing of the jubilee year
κτάομαι (ktáomai)	G2932	5x	5.96	"acquire" — purchase transactions bounded by jubilee
ἔτος (étos)	G2094	10x	4.33	"year" — alternative year-word in jubilee contexts
ἀποδίδωμι (apodídōmi)	G591	6x	5.32	"give back/restore" — restitution at jubilee
σάλπιγξ (sálpinx)	G4536	4x	5.71	"trumpet" — the instrument sense in Joshua 6
λυτρόω (lytróō)	G3084	3x	5.09	"redeem" — redemption transactions within jubilee framework

The primary LXX bridge is ἄφεσις (G859, "release/forgiveness") with 18 co-occurrences — the translators chose to render the jubilee's core meaning (liberty/release) rather than transliterating the word. This is theologically significant: the jubilee institution becomes the vocabulary of forgiveness in Greek.