Aramaic word · H1684

דְּבַח

davechin

to sacrifice

To slaughter as a sacrifice; sacrifices, especially animal offerings slaughtered at an altar.

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears once in the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·

What it means

(P'al) to sacrifice

Aramaic of za.vach (זָבַח "to sacrifice" H2076)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Ezra 6:3

Range of meaning

To slaughter as a sacrifice; sacrifices, especially animal offerings slaughtered at an altar.

Against the English

English 'offer sacrifices' is fine. The KJV's past tense 'where they offered' is one possible reading. The Aramaic participle simply describes what the place is for, so it can look back to what was done there and forward to what will be.

Used elsewhere in the period

The same root runs through Semitic languages (Hebrew zābaḥ/zebaḥ, Ugaritic dbḥ). In the Elephantine memorandum (TAD A4.9) the Persian officials approve meal offering and incense but notably leave out burnt offerings, so the Persians did take an interest in exactly what sacrifices a temple offered.

Where it appears

Ezra · 1

  1. Ezra 6:3 דָבְחִ֣ין [they were] sacrificing

    In the first year of King Cyrus, he issued a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem: Let the house be rebuilt as a place for offering sacrifices, and let its foundations be firmly laid. It is to be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide,

    Here: A participle with no stated subject: 'where they sacrifice', or 'where sacrifices are offered'. It describes what goes on there in general, not one particular time, so it can mean what used to happen there or what is to happen there.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.