Word

סֵתֶר

çêther · H5643 · Hebrew · 36 occurrences

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Meanings

cover, shelter, disguise

State in which people, animals, or objects are in a location where they cannot be readily seen or where danger cannot reach them

Examples
1 Samuel 25:20 And it happened as she was riding on her donkey and coming down by the hidden part of the mountain, that behold, David and his men were coming down toward her; so she met them.
Job 22:14 ‘Clouds are a hiding place for Him, so that He cannot see; And He walks on the vault of heaven.’
Job 24:15 “The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight, Saying, ‘No eye will see me.’ And he disguises his face.
secret, secrecy

State in which knowledge, an object, or an action is kept hidden or unknown from others

Examples
Judges 3:19 But he himself turned back from the idols which were at Gilgal, and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And the king said, “Silence!” And all who were attending him left him.
Proverbs 9:17 “Stolen water is sweet; And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
Proverbs 25:23 The north wind brings rain, And a gossiping tongue brings an angry face.
Shelter

Literally: (one's) shelter; hence: a title for God as the one who provides a hiding place for his people

Examples
Psalm 32:7 You are my hiding place; You keep me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah
Psalm 119:114 You are my hiding place and my shield; I wait for Your word.

How it’s used In 6 roles

Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.

the word studied the word it goes with

Whose, or of whatGenitive or possessive

12 occurrences in 12 groups

Other words · 12 groups that occur once or twice (13) 13

What is done to itIt is the object

4 occurrences in 4 groups

הָוָאbe 1
הָיָהto be, to become 1
שׂוּםto put, to set, to place 1
שָׁטַףto flow 1

Second object ofSecond object

1 occurrences in 1 groups

שִׁיתto set, to put, to make 1

What is said to be itIt is the predicate

3 occurrences in 2 groups

אַתָּהyou 2
עָבcloud 1

After prepositionsPrepositional phrases

25 occurrences in 2 groups

בin/on/with 46
כlike/as 1

In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive

3 occurrences in 3 groups

דָּבָרword, thing, matter 1
לֶחֶםbread, food 1
לָשׁוֹןtongue, language 1

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 2 words

מַחֲבֵא machăbêʼ · H4224 · hiding-place: סֵתֶר (çêther, H5643) and מַחֲבֹוא both denote places of hiding or concealment, physical locations for concealment.
מַחֲסֶה machăçeh · H4268 · refuge, hiding-place, protector: Both lexemes denote places/concepts of refuge and hiding—מַחֲסֶה emphasizes trust/refuge/shelter, while סֵתֶר emphasizes secret/hidden covering/protection.

In the other Testament 3 words

ἀπόκρυφος apókryphos · G614 · secret, not able to be known: ἀπόκρυφος emphasizes the hidden/concealed quality itself (often with connotations of treasure or esoteric knowledge), while סֵתֶר denotes the physical place or state of concealment (shelter, covering, secret place) and extends to the protective function of hiding.
κρυφῆ kryphē · G2931 · in secret, in private, secretly: Greek adverb denoting manner of action done in secret/privately, translating Hebrew noun denoting the state or place of concealment itself; overlapping semantic domain of hiddenness with different grammatical realization (adverbial manner vs. nominal state/location).
λάθρα láthra · G2977 · in secret, in private, secretly: λάθρα (láthra, G2977) captures specifically the adverbial aspect of secrecy ("privately," "secretly" as manner of action), while סֵתֶר (çêther, H5643) encompasses both the nominal domain ("hiding place," "covert," "secret place") and adverbial senses ("secretly," "privily"); λάθρα translates the manner-of-action subset of סֵתֶר's semantic range.

Semantic domains 4 entries

Hide002002001010: Its most frequent sense, secrecy or a hidden place, as in the repeated legal formula cursing anyone who commits an offense in secret, or who sets up an idol in secret.
Non-Know002004002008: A broader attested sense of something concealed from knowledge, not directly shown by the secrecy-related citations sampled here.
Titles003001017: A broader attested sense of this word used as a divine title for God as a hiding place or shelter, not independently shown beyond the citation below.
Safe002003003019: Another attested sense, a shelter or place of protection, as when the psalmist laments that the very gods once trusted for protection have failed to help.

Word family 6 words

Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.

סָתַר çâthar · H5641 · to be hidden, to hide oneself · 81×סֵתֶרçêther · H5643מִסְתָּר miçtâr · H4565 · hiding place, ambush · 10×סְתַר çᵉthar · H5642 · destroy, secret thing · 2×מִסְתּוֹר miçtôwr · H4563 · shelter · 1×מַסְתֵּר maçtêr · H4564 · hiding (one's) face · 1×

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H5643. cether סֵ֫תֶר noun [masculine] covering, hiding-place, secrecy; — absolute ׳ס Jdg…

H5643. cether
סֵ֫תֶר noun [masculine] covering, hiding-place, secrecy; — absolute ׳ס Jdg 3:19 +, ס֑תֶר 2Sa 12:12; Pro 25:23, סֶ֑תֶר Psa 139:15; construct סֵ֫תֶר 1Sa 25:20 +; suffix סִתְרוֺ Psa 18:12 (insert also || 2Sa 22:12 ᵑ6 ᵐ5 Th Bu HPS), סִתְרִי Psa 119:114; plural סְתָרִים Pro 9:17; —
1 covering, cover, ׳בְּס הָהָר 1Sa 25:20 under cover of the mountain, concealed by it; of clouds as covering for ׳י (shutting out his view) Job 22:14, of darkness (i.e. dark clouds) as ׳י's hiding-place (in theoph.) Psa 18:12 (= 2Sa 22:12 see above), so ׳ס רַ֑עַם 2Sam 81:8 hiding-place of thunder; of adulterer יָשִׂים ׳ס מָּנִים Job 24:15 i.e. disguiseth himself.
2. a. hidng-place, 1Sa 19:2; Isa 28:17 ׳ס הַמַּדְרֵגָה Son 2:14 (in figurative; || הַסֶּלַע חַגְוֵי), of hippopotamus Job 40:21; figurative of Israel as shelter to Moab with מִמְּנֵי Isa 16:6, of ideal Israelite, as ׳ס זֶרֶם Isa 32:2, especially of ׳י as shelter: ׳ס אָהֳלוֺ Psa 27:5, ׳ס מָּנֶיךָ Psa 31:21, ׳ס כְּנָפֶיךָ Psa 61:5, ׳ס עֶלְיוֺן Psa 91:1, ס ׳אַתָּה לִי Psa 32:7; compare Psa 119:114.
b. secret place, of womb Psa 139:15 (|| אָ֑רֶץ תַּחְתִּיּוֺת).
3 secrecy: ׳דְּבַרסֿ Jdg 3:19 a matter of secrecy, secret matter; plural abstract intensive סְתָרִים לֶחֶם Pro 9:17 bread of utter secrecy (i.e. gained stealthily, || גְּנוּבִים מַיִם); סָ֑תֶר לְשֹׁן Pro 25:23 tongue of secrecy, i.e. slanderous; elsewhere ׳בַּסּ in secrecy, secretly Deu 13:7; Deu 27:15, Deu 27:24; Deu 28:57; 2Sa 12:12; Jer 37:17; Jer 38:16; Jer 40:15; Isa 45:19; Isa 48:16; Job 13:10; Job 31:27; Pro 21:14; Psa 101:5.
סִתְרָה noun feminine shelter, protection, ׳ס עֲלֵיכֶם יְהִי Deu 32:38 (read perhaps יהיו, compare Dr) let them (the strange gods) be over you as a shelter.

Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain

Topical studies with this word 4 entries

Hide15 occurrences Safe1 occurrence Non-Know18 occurrences Titles2 occurrences

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