צָפוֹן
tsâphôwn · H6828 · Hebrew · 153 occurrences
Place
Meanings
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Mount Zaphon
A mountain identified with Jebel al-Aqra in northern Syria, known by the Canaanites as the mountain of the gods
ExamplesPsalm 48:2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, Is Mount Zion in the far north, The city of the great King.
Isaiah 14:13 “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north.
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north, northern, northerly, northward
A reference to the direction to the left of a person facing the sunrise, named after Mount Zaphon which is located in northern Syria
ExamplesGenesis 13:14 The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now raise your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward, and eastward and westward;
Genesis 28:14 “Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
Exodus 26:20 and for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, twenty boards,
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north wind
A wind coming from the north
ExamplesSong of Solomon 4:16 “Awake, north wind, And come, wind of the south; Make my garden breathe out fragrance, May its balsam oils flow. May my beloved come into his garden And eat its delicious fruits!”
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sky
A reference to the rounded vault placed on top of the surface of the earth when it was created
ExamplesJob 26:7 “He stretches out the north over empty space And hangs the earth on nothing.
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Zaphon
Town; territory of Gad
ExamplesJudges 12:1 Now the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they crossed to Zaphon; and they said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the sons of Ammon without calling us to go with you? We will burn your house down on you!”
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
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- חַנָּתֹןHannathon 1
What is done to itIt is the object
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- נָטָהto stretch out, to incline 1
What it is said to bePredicate
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- אַמָּהcubit 1
What is said to be itIt is the predicate
6 occurrences in 6 groups
- גְּבוּלborder, territory 1
- דֶּגֶלbanner 1
- סֶמֶלimage 1
- פֶּתַחentrance, doorway 1
- אַרְבַּעfour 1
- שֵׁןtooth, ivory 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
46 occurrences in 5 groups
- מִןfrom 59
- לto/for 5
- אֵלto, toward 4
- עַלon, upon, over, against 2
- בin/on/with 1
In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive
58 occurrences in 17 groups
- פֵּאָהside 11
- אֶרֶץland, earth, ground 11
- מֶלֶךְking 8
- דֶּרֶךְway, road 6
- יְרֵכָהrear 5
- שַׁעַרgate 4
- Other words · 11 groups that occur once or twice (13) 13
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.
Contrasting words 1 word
- נֶגֶב negeb · H5045 · south, southerly, southward
- The direct lexical opposite of נֶגֶב (south), denoting the cardinal direction north.
In the other Testament 1 word
- βοῤῥᾶς borrhâs · G1005 · north
- Greek βοῤῥᾶς (borrhâs, G1005) is the standard Septuagint rendering of Hebrew צָפוֹן (tsâphôwn, H6828); both denote "north" as a cardinal direction, and the shared parenthetical "(properly, wind)" reflects the metonymic extension from "north wind" to the direction itself.
Semantic domains 5 entries
- Names of Landforms003001008
- This domain's connection to צָפוֹן is not directly illustrated among the sampled citations, which show the word's sense of the compass direction rather than a named landform.
- Spatial Referents003002005
- צָפוֹן most often denotes the north or northward direction, as of the northward and southward directions Abram is told to look in Genesis 13:14, the north and south his descendants will spread to in Genesis 28:14, and the north side of the tabernacle in Exodus 26:20 and 26:35.
- Air001002005001
- This domain's connection to צָפוֹן is not directly illustrated among the sampled citations, which show the word's sense of a compass direction rather than the north wind itself.
- Regions Above the Earth001001
- This domain's connection to צָפוֹן is not directly illustrated among the sampled citations, which show the word's sense of an earthly direction rather than the heavens.
- Names of Locations003001010
- צָפוֹן (tsâphôwn, H6828) is predominantly a common noun/adverb meaning "north." The quotation "for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, twenty boards" at Exodus 26:20 shows this directional sense, which does not independently attest the "Names of Locations" domain; that classification is bundle-shared with צָפוֹן (Tsâphôwn, H6829) in the source data and is not confirmed by the dominant sense of this lexeme's own occurrences.
Word family 5 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H6828. tsaphon I. צָפוֺן153 noun feminineIsa 43:6 north (as the hidden, dark; compare…
I. צָפוֺן153 noun feminineIsa 43:6 north (as the hidden, dark; compare Thes LewyFremdw. 188 f.; perhaps Phoenician צפל north); — absolute ׳צ Jeremiah 26:26 +, צָפֹ֫נָה northward Gen 13:14 +, oftener צָפ֫וֺנָה Jer 3:12 +, also צָפ֫וֺנָה = צָפוֺן Jer 1:13 + (after prepositions and stative construct; compare Ges§ 90e); construct לְ מִצְּפוֺן Jos 8:11 +, also מִצְּפוֺן Jos 19:14 Gi (compare Benn; van d. H. Baer ׳מִצָּ), לְ מִצְּפ֫וֺנָה Jdg 21:19; (׳צ occurs oftenest in Ezekiel [46 t.], Joshua [25 t.], Jeremiah [25 t.], Daniel [9 t.]); — north (opposite south, east, west) Gen 13:14; Gen 28:14 (both J), Exo 27:11 (P), +; צ ׳מְּאַת north side Exo 26:20; Jos 15:5 + (see מֵּאָה); so צ ׳צֶלַיע Exo 26:35, הַצּ ׳רוּחַ Eze 42:17, compare צָפ֫וֺנָה הַמִּזְבֵּחַ עַליֶֿרֶךְ 2Ki 16:14; צ ׳גְּבוּל Num 34:7, Num 34:9 north boundary; צ ׳יַתְכְּתֵי remote parts of north Isa 14:13 (as divine abode), Eze 38:6, Eze 38:15 + (see [ יַרְכָה]); הַצּ ׳שַׁעַר Eze 40:35 +, צ ׳מֶּתַח Eze 42:2; צ ׳רוּחַ Ezekiel 25:23 north wind, and so ׳צ alone Son 4:16; toward the north is צָפ֫וֺנָה Jos 13:3 +?אֶלצָֿפוֺן Ecc 1:6, ׳אֶלהַֿצּ Eze 42:1, אֶלהַֿצָּפ֫וֺנָה Eze 8:14, לַצָּפוֺן Eze 40:23, הַצָּפוֺן דֶּרֶךְ Eze 40:20, ׳ד צָפ֫וֺנָה Eze 8:5 (twice in verse) +, etc.; especially (in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc.) of quarter whence invaders were to come, e. g. Assyrians Isa 14:31, compare Zep 2:13, Babylonians Jer 6:1, Jer 6:22; Jer 15:12; Jer 46:20, Jer 46:24 (׳עַםצֿ), Jer 47:2, Eze 26:7, Cyrus against Babylonian Isa 41:25, compare Jer 50:3, Jer 50:9, Jer 50:41; Jer 51:48; more vaguely, Jer 1:14-15, (צ ׳מַמְלְכוֺת), Jer 4:6; Jer 10:22; Jer 13:20; Jer 25:9, Jer 25:26 (הַצּ ׳מַלְכֵי); of Gog's host Eze 38:6, Eze 38:15; Eze 39:2; צ ׳נְסִיכֵי Eze 32:30 (apparently of nearer [Aramaean?] princes); צ ׳אֶרֶץ Jer 31:8 is region of Carchemish, but Zec 2:10; Zec 6:6, Zec 6:8 (twice in verse) of Babylon; צ ׳מֵאֶרֶץ (sometimes + other countries) the exiles and dispersed are to return Jer 3:18; Jer 16:15 = Jer 23:8; Jer 31:8, compare Isa 43:6; Isa 49:12; הַצּ ׳מֶלֶךְ Dan 11:6-7, Dan 11:8, Dan 11:11, Dan 11:13, Dan 11:15, Dan 11:40 denotes successive Seleucidae.
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain
Topical studies with this word 4 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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