זָנַב

From the study of Deuteronomy 25:18

Range of meaning

A verb built from the noun zanav, "tail". In the Piel stem (a verb pattern that often expresses intensive or repeated action) it means "to deal with the tail": attack the rear, cut off the hindmost. It occurs only twice in the Hebrew Bible, here and in Joshua 10:19 ("attack their rear", of chasing a fleeing army).

Against the English

KJV and WEB use "smote/struck the hindmost/rearmost". BSB says "attacked all your stragglers". These get the sense across but lose the animal picture of the Hebrew. Some modern versions keep the image with "cut off your tail".

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint renders it ἔκοψέν σου τὴν οὐραγίαν, "cut off your rear-guard/tail of the column". Ouragia was the ordinary military word for the rear of a marching army. The Joshua 10:19 parallel shows it was a recognised military expression.

From the study of Joshua 10:19

Range of meaning

A verb formed from the noun זָנָב, 'tail'. In the piel (intensive) form it means 'to deal with the tail', that is, to attack the rear of a marching or fleeing group and cut off the stragglers. It appears only twice in the Hebrew Bible: here and Deuteronomy 25:18.

Against the English

KJV 'smite the hindmost', BSB 'attack them from behind', WEB 'attack them from the rear', ESV 'attack their rear guard'. All catch the idea of the back of the column. 'Rear guard' may suggest an organised unit protecting a retreat, while the Hebrew picture is simply the 'tail' of a fleeing crowd, the slowest and most exposed. YLT's 'ye have smitten' turns a command into a past event.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deuteronomy 25:18 uses it of Amalek, who 'cut off at your tail all the stragglers behind you' when Israel was 'faint and weary' after leaving Egypt. Israel remembered this as a cowardly, merciless tactic. The Greek Septuagint renders the idea with language about overtaking the enemy's rear (Greek οὐραγία, 'rear of a column'). The Vulgate has the hindmost of the fugitives cut down.