צֵל
tsel
shadow
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredThe Hebrew word "tsel" (H6738) is defined as "shadow." It falls within the semantic domain of Light & Darkness, indicating its connection to the concepts of illumination and obscurity. This word appears 49 times in the Bible, suggesting its significance in various contexts. The meaning of "tsel" is straightforward, referring to the dark area or silhouette created by an object blocking light. Its range of usage is broad, encompassing physical shadows, such as those cast by trees or buildings, as well as metaphorical shadows, like the darkness of fear or uncertainty. In the Bible, "tsel" is often used to describe the protection and comfort provided by a figurative shadow, such as God's presence or a loved one's care. The significance of "tsel" lies in its ability to convey a sense of security, comfort, and protection. In a world where light and darkness are fundamental opposites, the concept of a shadow serves as a reminder that even in the midst of uncertainty, there can be a sense of safety and refuge.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
49 total occurrences across the text
As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, as a hireling who looks for his wages,
Job 8:9(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.)
Job 14:2He grows up like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn’t continue.
Job 17:7My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow. All my members are as a shadow.
Psalms 17:8Keep me as the apple of your eye. Hide me under the shadow of your wings,
Psalms 36:7How precious is your loving kindness, God! The children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings.
Psalms 57:1Be merciful to me, God, be merciful to me, for my soul takes refuge in you. Yes, in the shadow of your wings, I will take refuge, until disaster has passed.
Psalms 63:7For you have been my help. I will rejoice in the shadow of your wings.
Psalms 80:10The mountains were covered with its shadow. Its boughs were like God’s cedars.
Psalms 91:1He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalms 102:11My days are like a long shadow. I have withered like grass.
Psalms 109:23I fade away like an evening shadow. I am shaken off like a locust.
Psalms 121:5Yahweh is your keeper. Yahweh is your shade on your right hand.
Psalms 144:4Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away.
Ecclesiastes 6:12For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends like a shadow? For who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?
Ecclesiastes 7:12For wisdom is a defense, even as money is a defense; but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.
Ecclesiastes 7:12For wisdom is a defense, even as money is a defense; but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.
Isaiah 32:2A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the storm, as streams of water in a dry place, as the shade of a large rock in a weary land.
Ecclesiastes 8:13But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow, because he doesn’t fear God.
Song of Solomon 2:3As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, his fruit was sweet to my taste.
Isaiah 4:6There will be a pavilion for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and for a shelter from storm and from rain.
Isaiah 16:3Give counsel! Execute justice! Make your shade like the night in the middle of the noonday! Hide the outcasts! Don’t betray the fugitive!
Isaiah 25:4For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast of the dreaded ones is like a storm against the wall.
Isaiah 25:5As the heat in a dry place you will bring down the noise of strangers; as the heat by the shade of a cloud, the song of the dreaded ones will be brought low.
Isaiah 30:2who set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked my advice, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt!
Isaiah 30:3Therefore the strength of Pharaoh will be your shame, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.
Isaiah 34:15The arrow snake will make her nest there, and lay, hatch, and gather under her shade. Yes, the kites will be gathered there, every one with her mate.
Isaiah 38:8Behold, I will cause the shadow on the sundial, which has gone down on the sundial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps.” ’ ” So the sun returned ten steps on the sundial on which it had gone down.
Isaiah 49:2He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand. He has made me a polished shaft. He has kept me close in his quiver.
Isaiah 51:16I have put my words in your mouth and have covered you in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and tell Zion, ‘You are my people.’ ”
Jeremiah 48:45“Those who fled stand without strength under the shadow of Heshbon; for a fire has gone out of Heshbon, and a flame from the middle of Sihon, and has devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.
Lamentations 4:20The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Yahweh, was taken in their pits; of whom we said, under his shadow we will live among the nations.
Ezekiel 17:23I will plant it in the mountain of the height of Israel; and it will produce boughs, and bear fruit, and be a good cedar. Birds of every kind will dwell in the shade of its branches.
Ezekiel 31:6All the birds of the sky made their nests in its boughs. Under its branches, all the animals of the field gave birth to their young. All great nations lived under its shadow.
Ezekiel 31:12Strangers, the tyrants of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him. His branches have fallen on the mountains and in all the valleys and his boughs are broken by all the watercourses of the land. All the peoples of the earth have gone down from his shadow, and have left him.
Ezekiel 31:17They also went down into Sheol with him to those who are slain by the sword; yes, those who were his arm, who lived under his shadow in the middle of the nations.
Hosea 4:13They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, and your brides commit adultery.
Hosea 14:7Men will dwell in his shade. They will revive like the grain, and blossom like the vine. Their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon.
Jonah 4:5Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made himself a booth, and sat under it in the shade, until he might see what would become of the city.
Jonah 4:6Yahweh God prepared a vine, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the vine.
Genesis 19:8See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only don’t do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof.”
Numbers 14:9Only don’t rebel against Yahweh, neither fear the people of the land; for they are bread for us. Their defense is removed from over them, and Yahweh is with us. Don’t fear them.”
Judges 9:15“The bramble said to the trees, ‘If in truth you anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’
Judges 9:36When Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Behold, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains.” Zebul said to him, “You see the shadows of the mountains as if they were men.”
2 Kings 20:9Isaiah said, “This will be the sign to you from Yahweh, that Yahweh will do the thing that he has spoken: should the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?”
2 Kings 20:10Hezekiah answered, “It is a light thing for the shadow to go forward ten steps. No, but let the shadow return backward ten steps.”
2 Kings 20:10Hezekiah answered, “It is a light thing for the shadow to go forward ten steps. No, but let the shadow return backward ten steps.”
2 Kings 20:11Isaiah the prophet cried to Yahweh; and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz.
1 Chronicles 29:15For we are strangers before you, and foreigners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no remaining.