טוּחַ
tu.ach
to overspread
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Analysis of טוּחַ (tuach) The Hebrew verb טוּחַ carries the primary sense of "to overspread," indicating an action of covering or coating a surface with some material. The term describes a physical process where something is applied across an area, emphasizing the comprehensive nature of the application—the prefix "over-" suggests completeness rather than partial coverage. This vocabulary choice points to ancient practices involving the coating or sealing of surfaces, whether for protective, functional, or structural purposes. With eleven occurrences across the biblical text, this word appears with sufficient frequency to represent an established part of biblical Hebrew's vocabulary for material processes. The limited but consistent presence suggests the term was used for specific, recognizable activities in ancient Israel rather than serving as a general synonym for broader concepts. The word's technical character—referring to a deliberate, applied action—indicates it was employed when precision about the type of surface treatment mattered. While the lexical data provided does not specify which surfaces or materials are overspreaded in particular contexts, the word's definition positions it within the semantic field of construction, maintenance, and craft work. Understanding טוּחַ requires recognition that biblical Hebrew maintained distinct vocabulary for different kinds of covering actions, with this verb reserved for the particular sense of spreading material comprehensively across a surface.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
11 total occurrences across the text
“ ‘Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, “Peace;” and there is no peace. When one builds up a wall, behold, they plaster it with whitewash.
Ezekiel 13:11Tell those who plaster it with whitewash that it will fall. There will be an overflowing shower; and you, great hailstones, will fall. A stormy wind will tear it.
Ezekiel 13:12Behold, when the wall has fallen, won’t it be said to you, “Where is the plaster with which you have plastered it?”
Ezekiel 13:14So I will break down the wall that you have plastered with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be uncovered. It will fall, and you will be consumed in the middle of it. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.
Ezekiel 13:15Thus I will accomplish my wrath on the wall, and on those who have plastered it with whitewash. I will tell you, ‘The wall is no more, neither those who plastered it;
Ezekiel 13:15Thus I will accomplish my wrath on the wall, and on those who have plastered it with whitewash. I will tell you, ‘The wall is no more, neither those who plastered it;
Ezekiel 22:28Her prophets have plastered for them with whitewash, seeing false visions, and divining lies to them, saying, ‘The Lord Yahweh says,’ when Yahweh has not spoken.
Leviticus 14:42They shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house.
Leviticus 14:43“If the plague comes again, and breaks out in the house after he has taken out the stones, and after he has scraped the house, and after it was plastered,
Leviticus 14:48“If the priest shall come in, and examine it, and behold, the plague hasn’t spread in the house, after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed.
1 Chronicles 29:4even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, with which to overlay the walls of the houses;