Aramaic word · H5583
סְעַד
mesa'adin
to support
To support or sustain. The Hebrew cousin sāʿad means to brace, uphold or strengthen: "your right hand supported me" (Psalm 18:35); "may he support you from Zion" (Psalm 20:2); "sustain your heart" with bread (Genesis 18:5; Psalm 104:15); upholding a throne with justice (Isaiah 9:7).
A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?
Appears once in the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·
What it means
(Aphel) to support, sustain
Aramaic of sa.ad (סָעַד "to support" H5582)
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
To support or sustain. The Hebrew cousin sāʿad means to brace, uphold or strengthen: "your right hand supported me" (Psalm 18:35); "may he support you from Zion" (Psalm 20:2); "sustain your heart" with bread (Genesis 18:5; Psalm 104:15); upholding a throne with justice (Isaiah 9:7). Aramaic səʿad appears only here in the Bible.
- Against the English
"Helping" (KJV, BSB, WEB) is accurate but general. "Supporting" (YLT, and several modern versions) is closer to the bracing, sustaining sense of the root.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The LXX has boēthountes, "helping, coming to aid." The Vulgate has adiuvantes, "helping." 1 Esdras 6:2, which retells this verse in Greek, also speaks of the prophets helping.
Where it appears
Ezra · 1
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Ezra 5:2 מְסָעֲדִ֥ין supporting
Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak rose up and began to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them.
Here: "Supporting." The form describes ongoing action, so the prophets kept on backing the builders. The related Hebrew verb is used for bracing someone up or strengthening them, even with food, so the picture is steady support that keeps them going.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.