זָכַךְ
zâkak · H2141 · Hebrew · 4 occurrences
Meanings
-
to be clean, to be pure
State in which an object is without any outward form of physical contamination
ExamplesJob 25:5 “If even the moon has no brightness And the stars are not pure in His sight,
Lamentations 4:7 Her consecrated ones were purer than snow, They shined more than milk; They were more ruddy in body than pearls of coral, Their form was like lapis lazuli.
-
pure
Literally: to be clean; hence: state in which people are considered to be without any moral contamination and therefore trustworthy
ExamplesJob 15:15 “Behold, He has no trust in His holy ones, And the heavens are not pure in His sight;
-
to cleanse
Causative action by which people remove all physical contamination from their hands, whether with the help of soap or not; used metaphorically to denote a change of behavior for the good
ExamplesJob 9:30 “If I washed myself with snow, And cleansed my hands with lye,
How it’s used In 4 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
Who or what does itSubject
4 occurrences in 4 groups
- כּוֹכָבstar 1
- נָזִירNazirite, prince 1
- שָׁמַיִםheaven, sky 1
- Not stated: I 1
What it acts on, or what is saidObject
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- כַּףpalm, hand 1
With prepositionsPrepositional phrases
4 occurrences in 3 groups
- בin/on/with+ עַיִןeye, sight 2
- מִןfrom+ שֶׁלֶגsnow 1
- בin/on/with+ בֹּרcleanness 1
With adverbsAdverbs
2 occurrences in 1 groups
- לֹאnot 2
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Near synonyms 3 words
- טָהֵר ṭâhêr · H2891 · to become clean, to purify, to cleanse
- Both denote being or making clean and pure, substituting for one another in describing states or acts of purification; the two are in fact the closest pairing in this semantic field, sharing a purity sense with essentially no other near-synonyms attested.
- בָּרַר bârar · H1305 · to test, to select, to purge
- Both words concern purity and cleanness, and could be used of ritual or moral purity; בָּרַר (bârar, H1305) is glossed "to test, to select, to purge," so it also carries the sense of purging or sifting.
- זָכָה zâkâh · H2135 · to be just, to make clean
- Both denote states or acts of cleanness or purity; though from distinct roots, they genuinely overlap in describing ritual or moral purity.
In the other Testament 1 word
- καθαρός katharós · G2513 · clean, clear, pure
- Greek καθαρός translates Hebrew זָכַךְ across both literal physical cleanness and figurative moral/ritual purity, representing the standard Septuagint rendering of this Hebrew root's semantic range.
Semantic domains 2 entries
- Pure002003001014
- זָכַךְ denotes becoming clean or pure, as Job describes washing himself with snow and cleansing his hands.
- Innocent002003003015
- The verb extends to moral purity, as even the heavens are said not to be pure in God's sight.
Word family 2 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H2141. zakak [זָכַךְ] verb be bright, clean, pure (kindred with foregoing. Only…
[זָכַךְ] verb be bright, clean, pure (kindred with foregoing. Only Lamentations, Job) —
Qal Perfect only 3 masculine plural זַכּ֫וּ; —
1 be right, shining, figurative of splendour of nobles ׳ז מִשֶּׁלֶג נְזִירִים Lam 4:7 (|| צַחוּ מֵחָלָב).
2 be clean, pure in God's sight, of heavens Job 15:15, of stars Job 25:5 (|| יַאֲהִיל of moon; compare also יִזְכֶּה Job 15:14; Job 25:4).
Hiph`il cleanse, only Perfect1singular כַּמָּֽי׃ בְּבֹר וַהֲזִכּוֺתִי Job 9:30, figurative of making morally spotless (|| הִתְרָחַצְתִּי).
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain
Topical studies with this word 2 entries
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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