Hebrew word · H2128

זִיף

zif

Ziph

A personal name and a place name. Two towns in Judah carry it: one in the southern Negev district (Joshua 15:24), and the better-known one in the hill country near Hebron (Joshua 15:55). The second gives its name to 'the wilderness of Ziph'.

Appears 10 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

Ziph = "battlement"

a city of Judah, southeast of Hebron, between Carmel and Juttah in the highland district

Also named: zi.phi (זִיפִי "Ziphite" H2130)

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 1 Chronicles 4:16

Range of meaning

A personal name and a place name. Two towns in Judah carry it: one in the southern Negev district (Joshua 15:24), and the better-known one in the hill country near Hebron (Joshua 15:55). The second gives its name to 'the wilderness of Ziph'.

Against the English

Spelled 'Ziph' in every major version. English readers usually do not know that it is also a place.

Used elsewhere in the period

At the wilderness of Ziph David hid from Saul, and the Ziphites twice reported him (1 Samuel 23:14-24; 26:1). Rehoboam fortified Ziph (2 Chronicles 11:8). 'Ziph' (zyp) is one of the four place names stamped on the royal 'belonging to the king' storage-jar handles of late 8th-century Judah, beside Hebron, Socoh and the unidentified mmšt. The site is usually identified with Tell Zif, about 6 km south-east of Hebron.

Where it appears

Joshua · 2

  1. Joshua 15:24 זִ֥יף Ziph

    Ziph, Telem, Bealoth,

  2. Joshua 15:55 וָזִ֥יף and Ziph

    Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah,

1 Samuel · 5

  1. 1 Samuel 23:14 זִ֑יף Ziph

    And David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God would not deliver David into his hand.

    Here: A town of Judah (Joshua 15:55), usually identified with Tell Zif, about 6 km (4 miles) southeast of Hebron. This was David's own tribe's territory, yet the people of Ziph will betray him to Saul (23:19).

  2. 1 Samuel 23:15 זִ֖יף Ziph

    While David was in Horesh in the Wilderness of Ziph, he saw that Saul had come out to take his life.

  3. 1 Samuel 23:24 זִ֖יפָה Ziph towards

    So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the Wilderness of Maon in the Arabah south of Jeshimon,

  4. 1 Samuel 26:2 זִ֔יף זִֽיף׃ Ziph

    So Saul, accompanied by three thousand chosen men of Israel, went down to the Wilderness of Ziph to search for David there.

1 Chronicles · 2

  1. 1 Chronicles 2:42 זִ֑יף Ziph

    The sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel: Mesha his firstborn, who was the father of Ziph, and Mareshah his second son, who was the father of Hebron.

  2. 1 Chronicles 4:16 זִ֣יף Ziph

    The sons of Jehallelel: Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria, and Asarel.

    Here: First son. Ziph is also a well-known town in Judah's hill country south-east of Hebron, so the name almost certainly stands for the clan connected with that town as well as for a person.

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 11:8 זִֽיף׃ Ziph

    Gath, Mareshah, Ziph,

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