Day 59 of 75 · Parables and teaching

ʾ-K-L

ekhal: eat

אכל · למאכל

ܐܟܠ · ܠܡܐܟܠ

The feel

Ekhal means to eat. It can also mean to consume or devour, and the Qala uses all three depending on who or what is eating. Crowds eat and are filled on a hillside, birds eat seed from the path, and moth and rust eat stored treasure. The verb appears 103 times in the Gospels.

The root family

Form	Pattern	Transliteration	Script	Standard	Qala rendering
ekhal	Peal verb, perfect	ekhal	אכל ܐܟܠ	to eat	to eat · to consume · to devour (103 occurrences)
l-mekhal	Peal infinitive	l-mekhal	למאכל ܠܡܐܟܠ	to eat	something to eat (Matthew 25:35)
akhel	Peal active participle	ākhel	אכל ܐܟܠ	eating	eating: "the Son of Man came eating and drinking" (Luke 7:34)

In the Gospels the verb appears in the Peal, ekhal, to eat, consume or devour, and although classical Syriac has an Aphel, awkel, to feed, the sayings here use yab l-mekhal, give to eat, instead.

In his voice

Matthew 6:25

So I tell you: do not worry about your life, what you'll eat or drink, or about your body, what you'll wear. Isn't life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

mana tekhlun, "what you will eat." Eating is the first worry Yeshua names, and then he says that life is more than food.

Matthew 13:4

As he scattered the seed, some fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up.

ekhaltheh, "ate it up." Here the root means devour. The verb used for the crowd eating on the hillside is used for birds stripping the path.

Matthew 25:35

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you took me in.

l-mekhal, "to eat." In the judgment scene the verb means food handed to someone who was hungry.

Practice

Eat one meal today slowly, with your full attention. Then give something to eat to someone who is hungry, and say ekhal aloud.

Connections

L-Ḥ-M, bread K-P-N, hunger Sh-T-Y, drinking ekhal: to eat

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