Hebrew word · H5543

סַלּוּא

salu'

Sallu

A proper name. Its meaning is uncertain; suggested links (for example to a root meaning 'to lift up' or 'to weigh') are guesses. The same spelling is used for a Benjaminite in Neh 11:8.

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

A man living at the time of Exile and Return, only mentioned at Neh.11.8; also translated "valor";

§ Sallu or Salu or Sallai = "weighed"

a Benjamite

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 Nehemiah 12:20

Range of meaning

A proper name. Its meaning is uncertain; suggested links (for example to a root meaning 'to lift up' or 'to weigh') are guesses. The same spelling is used for a Benjaminite in Neh 11:8.

Against the English

All the supplied versions keep 'Sallai'. Some modern versions harmonize it to 'Sallu' to match 12:7.

Used elsewhere in the period

The parallel list in Neh 12:7 reads סַלּוּ (Sallu) in the same position, between Jedaiah/Joiarib and Amok. The names in 12:1–7 and 12:12–21 match up nearly one for one.

Where it appears

Numbers · 1

  1. Numbers 25:14 סָל֑וּא Salu

    The name of the Israelite who was slain with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family.

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 9:7 סַלּוּא֙ Sallu

    From the Benjamites: Sallu son of Meshullam, the son of Hodaviah, the son of Hassenuah;

    Here: The head of this Benjamite family resettled in Jerusalem. He also appears in Nehemiah 11:7. What the name means is uncertain.

Nehemiah · 4

  1. Nehemiah 11:7 סַלֻּ֡א Sallu

    From the descendants of Benjamin: Sallu son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshaiah;

  2. Nehemiah 11:8 סַלָּ֑י Sallai

    and his followers Gabbai and Sallai—928 men.

  3. Nehemiah 12:7 סַלּ֣וּ Sallu

    Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah. These were the leaders of the priests and their associates in the days of Jeshua.

  4. Nehemiah 12:20 לְסַלַּ֥י of Sallai

    of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber;

    Here: The small prefix le- ('to, for, belonging to') marks the priestly ancestral house. Sallai is the family name, the same group called Sallu in 12:7, one of the priestly clans that returned with Zerubbabel.

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