צִנָּה
tsin.nah
shield
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# צִנָּה (tsin.nah): The Hebrew Shield The Hebrew word *tsin.nah* refers to a shield—a defensive piece of military equipment. With twenty occurrences throughout the biblical text, this term appears with sufficient frequency to indicate it was a established part of the Hebrew vocabulary for warfare and protection. The word's consistency in meaning across its usages suggests it denoted a specific, recognizable object rather than a metaphorical or abstract concept. The presence of this term in biblical literature reflects the practical realities of ancient warfare and the material culture of biblical societies. As a concrete military object appearing across multiple biblical texts, the shield held both practical and symbolic significance in ancient Near Eastern conflict. Its repeated mention indicates that shields were common enough in the experience of biblical communities to warrant a dedicated term in the Hebrew lexicon, distinguishing them from other weapons or protective equipment. Without additional lexical data regarding specific types, sizes, or materials of shields this word may have denoted, we can only confirm that *tsin.nah* functioned as the standard Hebrew designation for this defensive weapon. The frequency of its occurrence—appearing in one of every several hundred biblical verses—suggests it was sufficiently important to the biblical authors' worldview to merit regular mention in their texts.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
20 total occurrences across the text
Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together, and ordered them according to their fathers’ houses, under captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, even all Judah and Benjamin. He counted them from twenty years old and upward, and found that there were three hundred thousand chosen men, able to go out to war, who could handle spear and shield.
Psalms 5:12For you will bless the righteous. Yahweh, you will surround him with favor as with a shield.
Psalms 35:2Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for my help.
Psalms 91:4He will cover you with his feathers. Under his wings you will take refuge. His faithfulness is your shield and rampart.
Jeremiah 46:3“Prepare the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle!
Ezekiel 23:24They will come against you with weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with a company of peoples. They will set themselves against you with buckler, shield, and helmet all around. I will commit the judgment to them, and they will judge you according to their judgments.
Ezekiel 26:8He will kill your daughters in the field with the sword. He will make forts against you, cast up a mound against you, and raise up the buckler against you.
Ezekiel 38:4I will turn you around, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, with all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords;
Ezekiel 39:9“ ‘ “Those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out, and will make fires of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the war clubs and the spears, and they will make fires with them for seven years;
1 Samuel 17:7The staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. His shield bearer went before him.
1 Samuel 17:41The Philistine walked and came near to David; and the man who bore the shield went before him.
1 Kings 10:16King Solomon made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of gold went to one buckler.
1 Kings 10:16King Solomon made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of gold went to one buckler.
1 Chronicles 12:8Some Gadites joined David in the stronghold in the wilderness, mighty men of valor, men trained for war, who could handle shield and spear; whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were as swift as the gazelles on the mountains:
1 Chronicles 12:24The children of Judah who bore shield and spear were six thousand eight hundred, armed for war.
1 Chronicles 12:34Of Naphtali: one thousand captains, and with them with shield and spear thirty-seven thousand.
2 Chronicles 9:15King Solomon made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold. Six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one buckler.
2 Chronicles 9:15King Solomon made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold. Six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one buckler.
2 Chronicles 11:12He put shields and spears in every city, and made them exceedingly strong. Judah and Benjamin belonged to him.
2 Chronicles 14:8Asa had an army of three hundred thousand out of Judah who bore bucklers and spears, and two hundred eighty thousand out of Benjamin who bore shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valor.