Hebrew word · H2384
חִזָּיוֹן
chizayon
vision
Hizzayon means a vision or revelation, especially one received at night or in a prophetic state (2 Sam 7:17; Job 4:13; 33:15; Joel 2:28). It is related to hazon, the word that opens the whole book ('The vision of Isaiah', 1:1), and to hozeh, 'seer'.
Appears 9 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) vision
1a) vision (in the ecstatic state)
1a1) valley of vision (perhaps fig. of Jerusalem or Hinnom)
1b) vision (in the night)
1c) vision, oracle, prophecy (in divine communication)
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
- Range of meaning
Hizzayon means a vision or revelation, especially one received at night or in a prophetic state (2 Sam 7:17; Job 4:13; 33:15; Joel 2:28). It is related to hazon, the word that opens the whole book ('The vision of Isaiah', 1:1), and to hozeh, 'seer'.
- Against the English
'Valley of Vision' is a literal and accurate rendering. The risk is that English 'vision' now suggests foresight, aspiration or inspiring outlook.
- How it drifted
Modern use of 'vision' for goals and inspired leadership ('vision statement', 'a person of vision') colours the phrase as something admirable.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The phrase appears only in Isa 22:1 and 22:5, as the heading of this oracle. Elsewhere Isaiah's oracle titles are cryptic code names: 'the wilderness of the sea' for Babylon (21:1) and 'Dumah' (21:11). The Greek Septuagint simply interprets it as 'the valley of Zion'.
- Range of meaning
A vision: something God shows, often at night or in a state like dreaming. A rare word (9 times): God's oracle to David through Nathan, 'according to all this vision' (2 Sam 7:17); 'the valley of vision' (Isa 22:1, 5); 'visions of the night' (Job 4:13; 7:14; 33:15, 'in a dream, a vision of the night'); and the shamed false prophet's vision (Zech 13:4). It is related to chazon (the prophetic 'vision' that titles Isaiah, Obadiah and Nahum) and to chozeh, 'seer'.
- Against the English
English 'vision' now commonly means a plan or picture of the future (a 'vision statement,' a leader 'with vision'). The Hebrew means a sight given by God, the kind of experience that made someone a 'seer.'
- How it drifted
The leadership and business sense of 'vision' is 20th-century. It was strengthened in churches by reading Prov 29:18 ('Where there is no vision', also chazon, prophetic revelation) as being about strategic planning.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Job 33:15 sets chalom and chizzayon side by side as the same kind of night revelation, exactly as Joel does. Isaiah 1:1 uses the related word chazon for the whole prophetic book.
- Range of meaning
A vision or revelation received by a prophet, often at night or in a dream. It comes from ḥāzâ, 'to see, behold', the root behind ḥōzeh, 'seer', and ḥāzôn, 'vision'.
- Against the English
'Vision' is right, provided it is understood as prophetic revelation and not foresight or a goal.
- How it drifted
Modern English 'vision' often means a forward-looking plan or a mental ideal (as in a 'vision statement'). The Hebrew means something seen by revelation from God.
- Used elsewhere in the period
2 Samuel 7:17 (Nathan's oracle to David); Job 4:13; 20:8; 33:15; Isaiah 22:5; 29:7 ('like a dream, a vision of the night'); Joel 2:28 (Hebrew 3:1). Isaiah's whole book is headed 'The vision (ḥăzôn) of Isaiah… concerning Judah and Jerusalem' (1:1).
Where it appears
2 Samuel · 1
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2 Samuel 7:17 הַחִזָּי֣וֹן the vision
So Nathan relayed to David all the words of this entire revelation.
Job · 4
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Job 4:13 מֵחֶזְיֹנ֣וֹת from visions of
In disquieting visions in the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
Here: "From visions of." The prefix "from" shows the agitated thoughts come out of, or are caused by, things seen in the night. Ḥizzāyôn is a revelatory sight, not a passing daydream.
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Job 7:14 וּֽמֵחֶזְיֹנ֥וֹת and from visions
then You frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions,
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Job 20:8 כְּחֶזְי֥וֹן like a vision of
He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.
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Job 33:15 חֶזְי֬וֹן a vision of
In a dream, in a vision in the night, when deep sleep falls upon men as they slumber on their beds,
Here: Something 'seen', from the verb 'to see' that is used for prophetic sight. It stands beside 'dream' as a second name for the same night experience. It does not mean a waking trance.
Isaiah · 2
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Isaiah 22:1 חִזָּי֑וֹן vision
This is the burden against the Valley of Vision: What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the rooftops,
Here: A revelation that a prophet 'sees'. Jerusalem is the place where God's visions were given (Isaiah's whole book is called a 'vision', 1:1). That makes the title bitterly ironic, because the city fails to see what is happening (22:11).
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Isaiah 22:5 חִזָּי֑וֹן vision
For the Lord GOD of Hosts has set a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the Valley of Vision—of breaking down the walls and crying to the mountains.
Here: A vision in the prophetic sense: something God shows a seer. 'Valley of Vision' is the oracle's title for Jerusalem (22:1). There is probably a bitter irony in it: the city of prophetic sight cannot see what is coming.
Joel · 1
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Joel 2:28 חֶזְיֹנ֖וֹת visions
And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
Here: 'Visions': revelatory sights, often at night, from the root 'to see,' the same root behind the old word for a prophet, 'seer' (chozeh). It means seeing what God shows, not planning goals.
Zechariah · 1
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Zechariah 13:4 מֵחֶזְיֹנ֖וֹ from vision his
And on that day every prophet who prophesies will be ashamed of his vision, and he will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.