Hebrew word · H2225

זֶ֫רַח

zarchekh

dawning

A dawning or rising, the shining-forth of light at sunrise. The root zāraḥ is the normal verb for the sun rising, and it is used of God 'dawning' on his people. Related nouns: mizrāḥ, 'east' (the place of sunrise).

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

dawning, shining

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 60:3

Range of meaning

A dawning or rising, the shining-forth of light at sunrise. The root zāraḥ is the normal verb for the sun rising, and it is used of God 'dawning' on his people. Related nouns: mizrāḥ, 'east' (the place of sunrise).

Against the English

KJV, WEB, ESV and NASB have 'your rising.' NIV and BSB have 'your dawn.' 'Dawn' keeps the sunrise picture. 'Rising' meant sunrise in older English, but today it can sound like Zion getting up from the ground, or like resurrection.

How it drifted

English 'rising' once meant sunrise in phrases like 'the rising of the sun' (as Latin ortus does). Used alone today it is heard as a person getting up or as an uprising. English also links it to 'Arise' in v. 1, but that Hebrew verb is a different root (qûm).

Used elsewhere in the period

Only here as an ordinary noun in the Hebrew Bible (Zerah also appears as a personal name). Verb: Gen 32:31 and Eccl 1:5 of the sun; Deut 33:2 ('the LORD came from Sinai and dawned from Seir'); Ps 112:4; Mal 4:2 (Heb 3:20), 'the sun of righteousness will rise.' Isa 60:1–2 uses the verb twice just before this verse. The Vulgate renders it ortus tui, 'your rising/sunrise.'

Where it appears

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 60:3 זַרְחֵֽךְ׃ dawn your

    Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

    Here: A noun from the verb zāraḥ, 'to rise / shine' (used of the sun). This is its only use as an ordinary noun in the Hebrew Bible. It picks up v. 1 ('the glory of the LORD has risen upon you') and v. 2 ('the LORD will rise upon you'). 'Your dawning' is the sunrise that breaks over Zion, and that sunrise is the LORD's own appearing.

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