Hebrew word · H2152

זַלְעָפָה

zal'afah

scorching

This is rare: only three times in the Hebrew Bible. Psalm 119:53 has 'hot indignation (or horror) has seized me'. Lamentations 5:10 has 'the burning heat of famine' (the fever-heat of starvation).

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

burning heat, raging heat

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 Psalm 11:6

Range of meaning

This is rare: only three times in the Hebrew Bible. Psalm 119:53 has 'hot indignation (or horror) has seized me'. Lamentations 5:10 has 'the burning heat of famine' (the fever-heat of starvation). The root meaning seems to be 'scorching, glowing heat', and it can also mean an inner heat of rage or horror.

Against the English

KJV's 'horrible tempest' turns it into a storm. Most modern versions say 'scorching' or 'burning' wind, which matches the other Hebrew uses better.

How it drifted

KJV follows the line of the Greek and Latin translations (Septuagint pneuma kataigidos, 'wind of a squall'; Vulgate spiritus procellarum, 'wind of storms') instead of the heat sense the Hebrew word has elsewhere.

Used elsewhere in the period

The other two biblical uses, together with how later Hebrew used the root, support 'burning'. The picture fits the Levant's dreaded hot east wind (the sirocco, today called sharav or ḥamsin). It withers crops in hours (Genesis 41:6; Ezekiel 17:10; Hosea 13:15).

From the study of Psalm 119:53

Range of meaning

Only three uses. (1) Ps 11:6: rûaḥ zilʿāpôt, a 'scorching wind' that God rains on the wicked with fire and sulphur. (2) Lam 5:10: zalʿăpôt rāʿāb, the 'burning heat (fever) of famine' that makes the skin hot as an oven. (3) Ps 119:53: an inner burning that grips the psalmist. The basic picture is fierce, searing heat. Used of feeling, it means hot indignation, but it can also carry anguish or shuddering distress. Many lexicons tie it to the root zʿp, 'to rage, be vexed' (compare zaʿap, 'raging fury', 2 Chr 28:9), with an added l. That link is likely but not certain.

Against the English

BSB 'rage', WEB/NIV 'indignation', ESV/NASB 'hot/burning indignation', KJV/YLT 'horror'. 'Burning indignation' keeps both halves: the heat and the moral outrage. 'Rage' keeps the heat but suggests losing your temper. 'Horror' keeps the involuntary, overpowering quality but drops the heat.

How it drifted

The word is so rare that translators have had to guess from its other two uses and from the possible link to 'rage'. Ancient translators already disagreed: the Greek Septuagint read it as despondency, and others as horror.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 11:6 and Lam 5:10 (see above). The Septuagint has athymia, 'dejection, losing heart'; the Latin Vulgate follows it with defectio, 'fainting, failing'. Jerome's later translation from the Hebrew is generally given as horror, which probably lies behind the KJV.

Where it appears

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 11:6 זִלְעָפ֗וֹת burning heat

    On the wicked He will rain down fiery coals and sulfur; a scorching wind will be their portion.

    Here: This is a rare word for burning heat or fever-like rage, and the plural makes it stronger: 'scorchings'. Put together, the phrase means a searing wind, like the desert sirocco (a hot, dry wind) that withers everything it touches.

  2. Psalm 119:53 זַלְעָפָ֣ה burning indignation

    Rage has taken hold of me because of the wicked who reject Your law.

    Here: A rare word for searing heat: elsewhere a scorching desert wind (Ps 11:6) and the burning fever of famine (Lam 5:10). Here it is an inner heat that sweeps over the psalmist. It stands first for emphasis, and it also supplies the letter zayin that this stanza's lines must begin with.

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 5:10 זַלְעֲפ֥וֹת [the] burning heat of

    Our skin is as hot as an oven with fever from our hunger.

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