Hebrew word · H5570

סְנָאָה

sena'ah

Senaah

A name of uncertain meaning, with the definite article 'the'. Since personal names do not normally take the article, it probably names a clan or family group ('the Senuah [family]'), possibly linked to a town.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

§ Senaah or Hassenaah [with the article] = "thorny"

ancestor of a family who returned from exile with Zerubbabel

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 1 Chronicles 9:7

Range of meaning

A name of uncertain meaning, with the definite article 'the'. Since personal names do not normally take the article, it probably names a clan or family group ('the Senuah [family]'), possibly linked to a town. It is probably related to 'the sons of Senaah' (Ezra 2:35; Nehemiah 7:38), a large group of returnees, and to 'the sons of Hassenaah' who built the Fish Gate (Nehemiah 3:3).

Against the English

English versions fuse the article into the name: 'Hassenuah' (BSB, WEB, YLT, most modern versions), 'Hasenuah' (KJV). The reader cannot tell that the Hebrew says 'the Senuah', which looks like a clan label rather than an individual.

How it drifted

Translators usually transliterate names whole. This is defensible but hides the article.

Used elsewhere in the period

The same form appears in Nehemiah 11:9 ('Judah son of Hassenuah'). Related forms appear in Ezra 2:35, Nehemiah 3:3 and 7:38. Ezra 2:35 counts 3,630 'sons of Senaah' and Nehemiah 7:38 counts 3,930, one of the largest groups on the list. Some scholars think that figure points to a lower-status population group rather than one family, but this is debated.

Where it appears

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 9:7 הַסְּנֻאָֽה׃ <the> Senaah

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

    Here: Hebrew normally does not put 'the' on a personal name, so this looks like a clan or family-group name, perhaps tied to a place. English versions turn the article into part of the name ('Hassenuah'). The line ends with the clan the family belonged to.

Ezra · 1

  1. Ezra 2:35 סְנָאָ֔ה Senaah

    and the descendants of Senaah, 3,630.

Nehemiah · 2

  1. Nehemiah 3:3 הַסְּנָאָ֑ה <the> Senaah

    The Fish Gate was rebuilt by the sons of Hassenaah. They laid its beams and installed its doors, bolts, and bars.

  2. Nehemiah 7:38 סְנָאָ֔ה Senaah

    and the descendants of Senaah, 3,930.

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