Hebrew word · H5458
סְגוֹר
segor
enclosure
It comes from sāgar, 'to shut, close'. It means something shut in or something that shuts in. In Job 28:15 it is used for gold, probably 'stored' or 'refined' gold (compare zāhāb sāgûr, 'closed/pure gold', 1 Kgs 6:20). Only here is it used for a body part: the enclosure of the heart.
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
enclosure, encasement, fine gold
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
It comes from sāgar, 'to shut, close'. It means something shut in or something that shuts in. In Job 28:15 it is used for gold, probably 'stored' or 'refined' gold (compare zāhāb sāgûr, 'closed/pure gold', 1 Kgs 6:20). Only here is it used for a body part: the enclosure of the heart.
- Against the English
KJV has 'caul', ESV 'breast', BSB and NASB 'chests', WEB 'covering', YLT 'enclosure'. NIV leaves the word out and just says 'rip them open'. YLT is the most literal. 'Chest' is the anatomy most readers will picture correctly.
- How it drifted
KJV's 'caul' was a technical word in 1611 for an enclosing membrane or net. Elsewhere KJV uses it for the fatty lobe over the liver in the sacrifice laws (Lev 3:4). Today 'caul' usually means the membrane sometimes covering a newborn's head, which has nothing to do with this verse.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The Septuagint translates it synkleismos kardias, 'the enclosure of the heart', which supports the meaning 'what shuts the heart in'. The Vulgate turns to the inner organs and speaks of tearing 'the inward parts of their liver'.
- Range of meaning
This noun appears only twice. In Hosea 13:8 it means an 'enclosure' or 'casing' ('the casing of their heart'). Here, standing in parallel with 'silver', it plainly means a kind of gold. It is generally connected with the verb sāgar, 'to shut, close', and with the phrase zāhāb sāgûr, 'closed gold', used for the gold that overlaid Solomon's temple and furnishings (1 Kgs 6:20–21; 7:49–50; 10:21; 2 Chr 4:20–22; 9:20).
- Against the English
KJV, WEB, ESV and BSB simply say 'gold'. NIV ('the finest gold') and NASB ('pure gold') keep the sense that this is a premium grade. 'Gold' alone loses the point that even the best gold, the kind kept for temples and kings, fails.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Solomon's temple used 'closed gold' as its luxury grade (1 Kgs 6:20). The Greek Septuagint appears to translate the word by its root sense, as 'something shut in' (synkleismos). The Latin Vulgate gives aurum obryzum, 'refined gold'. Both show that ancient translators found the word unusual.
Where it appears
Job · 1
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Job 28:15 סְג֣וֹר fine gold
It cannot be bought with gold, nor can its price be weighed out in silver.
Here: A rare word for top-grade gold. It is probably linked to the verb sāgar, 'to shut', as in the 'closed gold' (zāhāb sāgûr) of Solomon's temple (1 Kgs 6:20–21). It means the best gold there is: refined, solid, or kept locked in a treasury.
Hosea · 1
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Hosea 13:8 סְג֣וֹר [the] cavity of
Like a bear robbed of her cubs I will attack them, and I will tear open their chests. There I will devour them like a lion, like a wild beast tearing them apart.
Here: 'The enclosure of'. It comes from the verb 'to shut', so it means the thing that shuts the heart in: the ribcage or chest wall, possibly the membrane around the heart. This is the only place in the Bible where the word has this sense.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.