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Etymology •
& Meaning •
Hebrew •
Greek •
Bible •
Names •
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Meaning and etymology of the name Jael
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Jael 
Jael is the heroine who kills Sisera after the battle of Jabin, king of Hazor, against Israel under Deborah and Barak (Judges 4:17). The husband of Jael is Heber the Kenite.
The name Jael comes from the root group (ya'al I & II):
The verb (ya'al I) means profit, gain, benefit. Throughout the Old Testament this verb appears frequently to indicate the worthlessness of idols (and wealth, earthly powers); they are of no profit (Isaiah 44:9-17). Isaiah 48:17 is the only positive use, `Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go...'
The unused root (ya'al I) yields the noun (ya'al), meaning mountain goat. Commentators don't directly make the connection between the two roots, except Jones, who arrives from the verb meaning to gain and profit at the mountain goat through the concept of ascension. Note that this word (or its feminine version) is used in Proverbs 5:19 in a metaphor that sings the praises of the wife of one's youth.
The name Jael is pronounced the same as the word for mountain goat, but distinctions in pronunciation were added many centuries after this text was written. Still, both BDB Theological Dictionary and NOBS Study Bible Name List read Mountain Goat. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names reads the similar Ibex.
Related names are Jaala(h) and Joelah.
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