Home › Glossary › Letter H

Hophni

Biblical
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Phoenician king who allied with David and Solomon, supplying cedar and craftsmen for the construction of the Temple.

Detailed Definition
Hophni and his brother Phinehas took sacrilegious portions from offerings and slept with women at the Tabernacle entrance (1 Samuel 2). Their deaths marked the end of Eli’s line. In poetry, Hophni symbolizes clerical corruption, the desecration of holiness, and divine judgment on religious hypocrisy.
Example
Example in poetry:
In John Milton’s "Paradise Lost," Hophni’s corruption (1 Samuel 2) illustrates priestly failure; In William Cowper’s hymns, Hophni’s death warns against profaning sacred things; In Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s "The Drama of Exile," Hophni symbolizes the privileged who abuse trust; In George Herbert’s "The Church-porch," Hophni’s greed contrasts with Samuel’s purity; In John Keble’s "Lyra Apostolica," Hophni represents the wages of spiritual sloth; In Christina Rossetti’s "The World," Hophni’s fate warns against empty ritual.
Additional Notes
Hophni: Son of Eli; corrupt priest who abused sacrificial offerings and slept with women at the tabernacle (1 Samuel 2:12–25). In poetry, Hophni embodies institutional decay, the abuse of sacred office, and the judgment that follows generational sin. His death in battle (1 Samuel 4) fulfills prophecy—ideal for poems on accountability, the collapse of religious authority, or the cost of profaning the holy.
Also Known As
Hophni son of Eli Hophni the Priest
Skip to main content