Hebrew word · H2180

זָנָב

zanav

tail

zānāb = tail, tail-end, hence the stub or end of something. ʾûd = a stick or brand used to stir a fire. ʿāšēn = smoking. Together: the charred tail-ends of fire-poking sticks, still smoking but nearly burned out.

Appears 11 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

tail, end, stump

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 Isaiah 7:4

Range of meaning

zānāb = tail, tail-end, hence the stub or end of something. ʾûd = a stick or brand used to stir a fire. ʿāšēn = smoking. Together: the charred tail-ends of fire-poking sticks, still smoking but nearly burned out.

Against the English

KJV and WEB 'tails of… smoking firebrands/torches', ESV 'smoldering stumps of firebrands', NIV and BSB 'smoldering stubs of firewood'. Modern versions rightly turn 'tails' into 'stubs/stumps'. WEB's 'torches' points a reader toward a light source rather than a spent stick.

How it drifted

The KJV's 'tails', which echoes the Vulgate's 'caudis', now makes readers picture animal tails. 'Firebrand' in modern English mostly means an agitator, not a burning stick.

Used elsewhere in the period

ʾûd: 'a brand plucked out of the burning' (Amos 4:11; Zechariah 3:2), a stick almost destroyed by fire. zānāb is used of the 'tail' versus the 'head' in Deuteronomy 28:13 and Isaiah 9:14–15 (where it is applied to lying prophets), always the inferior, trailing end.

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 4:4 בִּזְנָב֑וֹ on tail its

    “Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail,” the LORD said to Moses, who reached out his hand and caught the snake, and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

Deuteronomy · 2

  1. Deuteronomy 28:13 לְזָנָ֔ב into [the] tail

    The LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you will only move upward and never downward, if you hear and carefully follow the commandments of the LORD your God, which I am giving you today.

  2. Deuteronomy 28:44 לְזָנָֽב׃ into [the] tail

    He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, and you will be the tail.

Judges · 3

  1. Judges 15:4 זָנָב֙ זָנָ֔ב הַזְּנָב֖וֹת tail, the tails

    Then Samson went out and caught three hundred foxes. And he took torches, turned the foxes tail-to-tail, and fastened a torch between each pair of tails.

Job · 1

  1. Job 40:17 זְנָב֣וֹ tail its

    His tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are tightly knit.

Isaiah · 4

  1. Isaiah 7:4 זַנְב֧וֹת [the] stumps of

    and say to him: Calm down and be quiet. Do not be afraid or disheartened over these two smoldering stubs of firewood—over the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah.

    Here: Literally 'tails': the burnt-down tail-end of a stick, the stub left after most of it has burned away. It suggests something almost used up.

  2. Isaiah 9:14 וְזָנָ֛ב and tail

    So the LORD will cut off Israel’s head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day.

    Here: An animal's tail: the lowest, rear, least honoured end. 'Head and tail' is a set phrase for everyone from top to bottom (compare Deut 28:13, 44).

  3. Isaiah 9:15 הַזָּנָֽב׃ [is] the tail

    The head is the elder and honorable man, and the tail is the prophet who teaches lies.

    Here: 'The tail': the lowest, back end of the animal and the part that follows the head. Calling the false prophet the tail is deliberately belittling.

  4. Isaiah 19:15 וְזָנָ֖ב and tail

    There is nothing Egypt can do—head or tail, palm or reed.

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