צַמֶּ֫רֶת
tsam.me.ret
treetop
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Tsam.me.ret (צַמֶּ֫רֶת): The Treetop in Biblical Hebrew The Hebrew word *tsam.me.ret* refers specifically to a treetop—the uppermost branches and foliage of a tree. This botanical term appears five times in the biblical text, indicating it held enough conceptual importance to warrant repeated use, though it remains a relatively specialized vocabulary item. The word's consistent definition across its occurrences suggests biblical writers used it with precision when describing the highest, most visible portions of trees. The limited frequency of *tsam.me.ret* (five occurrences) indicates it served a particular communicative purpose rather than being a standard everyday term. Biblical authors apparently reached for this word when the specific idea of a treetop—rather than simply "tree" or "branches"—carried semantic weight for their narrative or poetic purposes. This suggests contexts where elevation, visibility, or the uppermost reaches of trees held significance for the passage's meaning or imagery.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
5 total occurrences across the text
and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “A great eagle with great wings and long feathers, full of feathers, which had various colors, came to Lebanon, and took the top of the cedar.
Ezekiel 17:22“The Lord Yahweh says: ‘I will also take some of the lofty top of the cedar, and will plant it. I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.
Ezekiel 31:3Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches, and with a forest-like shade, of high stature; and its top was among the thick boughs.
Ezekiel 31:10“Therefore thus said the Lord Yahweh: ‘Because you are exalted in stature, and he has set his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;
Ezekiel 31:14to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, and don’t set their top among the thick boughs. Their mighty ones don’t stand up on their height, even all who drink water; for they are all delivered to death, to the lower parts of the earth, among the children of men, with those who go down to the pit.’