סִין
sin
Pelusium
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Pelusium (סִין) The Hebrew word *sin* refers to Pelusium, a geographical location that appears twice in the biblical text. Rather than a common noun or abstract concept, this term functions as a proper place name, indicating a specific city or region of historical importance in the ancient world. The minimal occurrence of this toponym—appearing in only two biblical passages—suggests it held particular significance for certain biblical narratives or contexts, though its limited frequency prevents broad generalizations about its theological or literary importance. The dual attestation indicates the word was known to biblical authors and their audiences, but was not a prominent or repeatedly referenced location in the way that major cities like Jerusalem or Egypt itself appear throughout scripture. Pelusium's inclusion in the biblical lexicon underscores the historical and geographical specificity of ancient Near Eastern texts, where precise place names served to ground narratives in recognizable physical locations. Understanding such toponyms requires consultation of extra-biblical historical and archaeological sources to fully appreciate their significance in the ancient world.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
2 total occurrences across the text