Hebrew word · H2239

זֶ֫רֶת

zeret

span

The span from thumb to little finger on a spread hand. As a standard length it was half a cubit, about 22–23 cm.

Appears 7 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) span

1a) a unit of measure, approx half-cubit, or the distance from the thumb to the little finger on an outstretched hand

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 40:12

Range of meaning

The span from thumb to little finger on a spread hand. As a standard length it was half a cubit, about 22–23 cm.

Against the English

KJV, BSB and WEB keep 'span'. NIV's 'breadth of his hand' blurs it, because the breadth of the hand was a separate, smaller Hebrew unit (ṭefaḥ, about 7.5 cm).

How it drifted

'Span' as a hand measure is no longer everyday English, so readers may hear only a vague 'extent'.

Used elsewhere in the period

It appears in Exod 28:16 and 39:9 (the high priest's breastpiece is a span square), 1 Sam 17:4 (Goliath's height, 'six cubits and a span') and Ezek 43:13. The Septuagint uses spithamē, the standard Greek word for the same hand measure.

Where it appears

Exodus · 4

  1. Exodus 28:16 זֶ֥רֶת וְזֶ֥רֶת [will be] a span, and [will be] a span

    It must be square when folded over double, a span long and a span wide.

  2. Exodus 39:9 זֶ֧רֶת וְזֶ֥רֶת [was] a span, and [was] a span

    It was square when folded over double, a span long and a span wide.

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 17:4 וָזָֽרֶת׃ and a span

    Then a champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was six cubits and a span in height,

    Here: 'And a span.' The span is the stretch of an open hand from thumb tip to little-finger tip, about half a cubit (roughly 22 cm / 9 in). Adding it makes the measurement sound exact, as if someone actually measured the man.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 40:12 בַּזֶּ֣רֶת with <the> span

    Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on a scale and the hills with a balance?

    Here: The span is the distance from thumb tip to little-finger tip on a spread hand, about half a cubit (roughly 22 cm). The whole sky is sized up with a stretch of the fingers.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 43:13 זֶ֣רֶת a span

    These are the measurements of the altar in long cubits (a cubit and a handbreadth): Its gutter shall be a cubit deep and a cubit wide, with a rim of one span around its edge. And this is the height of the altar:

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