Biblica Analytica
H0681 Hebrew

אֵ֫צֶל

e.tsel

beside

Lexicon Entry

Definition
beside
Transliteration
e.tsel
Strong's Number
H0681
Occurrences
61

Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

What Original Readers Understood

Supported

# Analysis of Hebrew אֵצֶל (etsel) — "Beside" The Hebrew word *etsel* appears 61 times in the biblical text as a preposition denoting spatial proximity or adjacency. Its fundamental meaning is "beside" or "next to," indicating that something is located in close proximity to something else. This straightforward spatial sense establishes the word's core function in biblical Hebrew: marking the relationship between two entities that occupy nearby physical locations. Given its relatively frequent occurrence (61 instances), *etsel* served as a common and reliable way for biblical writers to express spatial relationships. The consistency of its usage across the biblical corpus suggests it was an ordinary, everyday preposition rather than a specialized or metaphorical term. Its prevalence indicates that describing the location of people, objects, or concepts in relation to one another was a frequent communicative need in biblical narratives and instruction. The significance of this word lies in its practical utility: *etsel* allowed biblical writers to establish clear spatial orientations essential for storytelling, legal instruction, and architectural description. Without such prepositions, the narratives and regulations preserved in Hebrew Scripture would lack the precise locational details that ground their accounts in concrete, visualizable settings. Though simple in meaning, *etsel* performed an important structural function in making biblical communication clear and comprehensible.

Source data & methodology
Strong's
H0681
Lemma
אֵ֫צֶל
Transliteration
e.tsel
Definition
beside
Occurrences
61
Model
claude-haiku-4-5-20251001
Prompt version
1

AI synthesis uses only the lexicon data above as context — never training knowledge.

Occurrences in Scripture

61 total occurrences across the text — showing 50

2 Chronicles 28:15

The men who have been mentioned by name rose up and took the captives, and with the plunder clothed all who were naked among them, dressed them, gave them sandals, and gave them something to eat and to drink, anointed them, carried all the feeble of them on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brothers. Then they returned to Samaria.

Nehemiah 2:6

The king said to me (the queen was also sitting by him), “How long will your journey be? When will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I set a time for him.

Nehemiah 3:23

After them, Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs across from their house. After them, Azariah the son of Maaseiah the son of Ananiah made repairs beside his own house.

Nehemiah 4:3

Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, “What they are building, if a fox climbed up it, he would break down their stone wall.”

Nehemiah 4:12

When the Jews who lived by them came, they said to us ten times from all places, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.”

Nehemiah 4:18

Among the builders, everyone wore his sword at his side, and so built. He who sounded the trumpet was by me.

Nehemiah 8:4

Ezra the scribe stood on a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

Proverbs 7:8

passing through the street near her corner, he went the way to her house,

Proverbs 7:12

Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner.

Proverbs 8:30

then I was the craftsman by his side. I was a delight day by day, always rejoicing before him,

Isaiah 19:19

In that day, there will be an altar to Yahweh in the middle of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Yahweh at its border.

Jeremiah 35:4

and I brought them into Yahweh’s house, into the room of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was by the room of the princes, which was above the room of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold.

Jeremiah 41:17

They departed and lived in Geruth Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt

Ezekiel 1:15

Now as I saw the living creatures, behold, there was one wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, for each of the four faces of it.

Ezekiel 1:19

When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them. When the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

Ezekiel 9:2

Behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand. One man in the middle of them was clothed in linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side. They went in, and stood beside the bronze altar.

Ezekiel 10:6

It came to pass, when he commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, “Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim,” that he went in, and stood beside a wheel.

Ezekiel 10:9

I looked, and behold, there were four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub, and another wheel beside another cherub. The appearance of the wheels was like a beryl stone.

Ezekiel 10:9

I looked, and behold, there were four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub, and another wheel beside another cherub. The appearance of the wheels was like a beryl stone.

Ezekiel 10:9

I looked, and behold, there were four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub, and another wheel beside another cherub. The appearance of the wheels was like a beryl stone.

Ezekiel 10:16

When the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels also didn’t turn from beside them.

Ezekiel 10:16

When the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels also didn’t turn from beside them.

Ezekiel 33:30

“As for you, son of man, the children of your people talk about you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak to one another, everyone to his brother, saying, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes out from Yahweh.’

Ezekiel 39:15

Those who pass through the land will pass through; and when anyone sees a man’s bone, then he will set up a sign by it, until the undertakers have buried it in the valley of Hamon Gog.

Ezekiel 40:7

Every lodge was one reed long and one reed wide. Between the lodges was five cubits. The threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate toward the house was one reed.

Ezekiel 43:6

I heard one speaking to me out of the house; and a man stood by me.

Ezekiel 43:8

in their setting of their threshold by my threshold, and their door post beside my door post. There was a wall between me and them; and they have defiled my holy name by their abominations which they have committed. Therefore I have consumed them in my anger.

Daniel 8:7

I saw him come close to the ram, and he was moved with anger against him, and struck the ram, and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to stand before him; but he cast him down to the ground, and trampled on him. There was no one who could deliver the ram out of his hand.

Daniel 8:17

So he came near where I stood; and when he came, I was frightened, and fell on my face; but he said to me, “Understand, son of man; for the vision belongs to the time of the end.”

Daniel 10:13

But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; but, behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me because I remained there with the kings of Persia.

Amos 2:8

and they lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.

Genesis 39:10

As she spoke to Joseph day by day, he didn’t listen to her, to lie by her, or to be with her.

Genesis 39:15

When he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment by me, and ran outside.”

Genesis 39:16

She laid up his garment by her, until his master came home.

Genesis 39:18

and as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment by me, and ran outside.”

Genesis 41:3

Behold, seven other cattle came up after them out of the river, ugly and thin, and stood by the other cattle on the brink of the river.

Leviticus 1:16

and he shall take away its crop and its feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, in the place of the ashes.

Leviticus 6:10

The priest shall put on his linen garment, and he shall put on his linen trousers upon his body; and he shall remove the ashes from where the fire has consumed the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar.

Leviticus 10:12

Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons who were left, “Take the meal offering that remains of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, and eat it without yeast beside the altar; for it is most holy;

Deuteronomy 11:30

Aren’t they beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Arabah near Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?

Deuteronomy 16:21

You shall not plant for yourselves an Asherah of any kind of tree beside Yahweh your God’s altar, which you shall make for yourselves.

Judges 19:14

So they passed on and went their way; and the sun went down on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin.

1 Samuel 5:2

The Philistines took God’s ark, and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon.

1 Samuel 17:30

He turned away from him toward another, and spoke like that again; and the people answered him again the same way.

1 Samuel 20:19

When you have stayed three days, go down quickly, and come to the place where you hid yourself when this started, and remain by the stone Ezel.

1 Samuel 20:41

As soon as the boy was gone, David arose out of the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times. They kissed one another, and wept one with another, and David wept the most.

1 Kings 1:9

Adonijah killed sheep, cattle, and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En Rogel; and he called all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah, the king’s servants;

1 Kings 2:29

King Solomon was told, “Joab has fled to Yahweh’s Tent, and behold, he is by the altar.” Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, fall on him.”

1 Kings 3:20

She arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

1 Kings 4:12

Baana the son of Ahilud, in Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth Shean which is beside Zarethan, beneath Jezreel, from Beth Shean to Abel Meholah, as far as beyond Jokmeam;