צָבָא
tsa.va
army
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# צָבָא (tsava): Army and Organized Service The Hebrew term *tsava* appears 144 times in the biblical text with the primary meaning of "army." This frequency indicates it was a fundamental concept in ancient Israelite discourse, reflecting the centrality of military organization to the society's functioning and self-understanding. The word denotes an organized, structured force—not merely scattered warriors but a coordinated body capable of collective action under command. The basic definition of "army" suggests the term encompasses both the concrete reality of armed troops and the abstract concept of military organization itself. With 144 biblical occurrences, the word likely appears in varied contexts: historical narratives describing actual military campaigns, poetic passages evoking military strength, and possibly theological language where divine power is conceptualized in military terms. This range of usage would have made *tsava* an important vocabulary item for Israelite writers and speakers seeking to communicate about warfare, national security, and organized power structures. The lexical data provided here establishes only the core meaning and frequency; understanding the full significance of *tsava* would require examining specific biblical passages to see how the term functioned in particular historical, political, and religious contexts. Nevertheless, its high frequency alone demonstrates that concepts of military organization and collective armed force were persistent preoccupations in the biblical literature.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
144 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
A man of God came to him, saying, “O king, don’t let the army of Israel go with you, for Yahweh is not with Israel, with all the children of Ephraim.
2 Chronicles 26:14Uzziah prepared for them, even for all the army, shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows, and stones for slinging.
2 Chronicles 28:9But a prophet of Yahweh was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria, and said to them, “Behold, because Yahweh, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he has delivered them into your hand, and you have slain them in a rage which has reached up to heaven.
2 Chronicles 33:3For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; and he raised up altars for the Baals, made Asheroth, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served them.
2 Chronicles 33:5He built altars for all the army of the sky in the two courts of Yahweh’s house.
2 Chronicles 33:11Therefore Yahweh brought on them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh in chains, bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
Nehemiah 9:6You are Yahweh, even you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their army, the earth and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all. The army of heaven worships you.
Nehemiah 9:6You are Yahweh, even you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their army, the earth and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all. The army of heaven worships you.
Job 10:17You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation on me. Changes and warfare are with me.
Psalms 33:6By Yahweh’s word, the heavens were made: all their army by the breath of his mouth.
Psalms 44:9But now you rejected us, and brought us to dishonor, and don’t go out with our armies.
Psalms 60:10Haven’t you, God, rejected us? You don’t go out with our armies, God.
Psalms 68:11The Lord announced the word. The ones who proclaim it are a great company.
Psalms 103:21Praise Yahweh, all you armies of his, you servants of his, who do his pleasure.
Psalms 108:11Haven’t you rejected us, God? You don’t go out, God, with our armies.
Psalms 148:2Praise him, all his angels! Praise him, all his army!
Isaiah 13:4The noise of a multitude is in the mountains, as of a great people; the noise of an uproar of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! Yahweh of Armies is mustering the army for the battle.
Isaiah 24:21It will happen in that day that Yahweh will punish the army of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth on the earth.
Isaiah 34:2For Yahweh is enraged against all the nations, and angry with all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them. He has given them over for slaughter.
Isaiah 34:4All of the army of the sky will be dissolved. The sky will be rolled up like a scroll, and all its armies will fade away, as a leaf fades from off a vine or a fig tree.
Isaiah 34:4All of the army of the sky will be dissolved. The sky will be rolled up like a scroll, and all its armies will fade away, as a leaf fades from off a vine or a fig tree.
Isaiah 40:26Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is lacking.
Isaiah 45:12I have made the earth, and created man on it. I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens. I have commanded all their army.
Deuteronomy 20:9It shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall appoint captains of armies at the head of the people.
Jeremiah 8:2They will spread them before the sun, the moon, and all the army of the sky, which they have loved, which they have served, after which they have walked, which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered or be buried. They will be like dung on the surface of the earth.
Jeremiah 19:13The houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, will be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the army of the sky and have poured out drink offerings to other gods.” ’ ”
Jeremiah 33:22As the army of the sky can’t be counted, and the sand of the sea can’t be measured; so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant and the Levites who minister to me.’ ”
Jeremiah 51:3Against him who bends, let the archer bend his bow, also against him who lifts himself up in his coat of mail. Don’t spare her young men! Utterly destroy all her army!
Jeremiah 52:25and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and seven men of those who saw the king’s face, who were found in the city; and the scribe of the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the middle of the city.
Daniel 8:10It grew great, even to the army of the sky; and it cast down some of the army and of the stars to the ground, and trampled on them.
Daniel 8:10It grew great, even to the army of the sky; and it cast down some of the army and of the stars to the ground, and trampled on them.
Daniel 8:11Yes, it magnified itself, even to the prince of the army; and it took away from him the continual burnt offering, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.
Daniel 8:12The army was given over to it together with the continual burnt offering through disobedience. It cast down truth to the ground, and it did its pleasure and prospered.
Daniel 8:13Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who spoke, “How long will the vision about the continual burnt offering, and the disobedience that makes desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the army to be trodden under foot be?”
Amos 3:13“Listen, and testify against the house of Jacob,” says the Lord Yahweh, the God of Armies.
Zephaniah 1:5those who worship the army of the sky on the housetops, those who worship and swear by Yahweh and also swear by Malcam,
1 Chronicles 18:15Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder;
Genesis 2:1The heavens, the earth, and all their vast array were finished.
Genesis 21:22At that time, Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his army spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do.
Genesis 21:32So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Abimelech rose up with Phicol, the captain of his army, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.
Genesis 26:26Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army.
Exodus 6:26These are that Aaron and Moses to whom Yahweh said, “Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies.”
Exodus 7:4But Pharaoh will not listen to you, so I will lay my hand on Egypt, and bring out my armies, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.
Exodus 12:17You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this same day I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance forever.
Exodus 12:41At the end of four hundred thirty years, to the day, all of Yahweh’s armies went out from the land of Egypt.
Exodus 12:51That same day, Yahweh brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.
Numbers 2:16“All who were counted of the camp of Reuben were one hundred fifty-one thousand four hundred fifty, according to their armies. They shall set out second.
Numbers 1:3from twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go out to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall count them by their divisions.
Numbers 1:52The children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, according to their divisions.
Numbers 2:3Those who encamp on the east side toward the sunrise shall be of the standard of the camp of Judah, according to their divisions. The prince of the children of Judah shall be Nahshon the son of Amminadab.