Bible Dictionary
NAVEL
The navel may refer literally to the umbilical cord, or figuratively to the whole person. Proverbs uses it in describing the health that comes from fearing the Lord.
Definition
The navel ordinarily denotes the umbilical cord or its scar. In biblical language, however, it may also represent the whole person. Older translations use “navel” in descriptions where newer translations speak of muscles or the body, showing that the term can have both literal and figurative force.
Biblical Usage
Proverbs uses “navel” as a part representing the whole person: fear of Yahweh is described as health to the navel and marrow to the bones. Ezekiel uses the literal image of an uncut umbilical cord to portray the extreme neglect of a newborn child.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>na'-v'l (shor. The Septuagint in Pr 3:8 suggests a different reading, namely, instead of shorrekha, sherekha equals she'erkha, "thy flesh")): The King James Version translates the Hebrew sharir in the description of Behemoth (Job 40:16) by "navel," where modern translators have substituted "muscles"; similarly in the translation of shorer (So 7:2) it has been replaced by "body.", There remain two passages of the Revised Version (British and American) where "navel" is retained as the translation of shor. Thus we find the word used, pars pro toto, for the whole being: "It (the fear of Yahweh) will be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones" (Pr 3:8). The uttermost neglect which a new-born babe can experience is expressed by Ezekiel: "In the day thou wast born thy navel (i.e. umbilical cord) was not cut neither wast thou washed in water to cleanse thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all" (Eze 16:4).</p><p>H. L. E. Luering</p>