Hebrew word · H6660

צְדִיָּה

tzediyah

ambush

Lying in wait, ambush, deliberate stalking. The noun appears only in Num 35:20 and 22. It comes from the verb tsadah, 'to lie in wait, hunt down'. A different Hebrew root with the same letters means 'to be desolate' (Zeph 3:6) and should not be confused with it.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

lying in wait, ambushing

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 Numbers 35:20

Range of meaning

Lying in wait, ambush, deliberate stalking. The noun appears only in Num 35:20 and 22. It comes from the verb tsadah, 'to lie in wait, hunt down'. A different Hebrew root with the same letters means 'to be desolate' (Zeph 3:6) and should not be confused with it.

Against the English

KJV, WEB, ESV and NASB keep the picture: 'lying in wait'. BSB ('intentionally') and NIV ('intentionally', by most printings) turn it into the abstract idea of intent. That is the right meaning, but the image of a stalker is lost.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exod 21:13 uses the verb for the first homicide law: 'if he did not lie in wait, but God let it happen to his hand'. In 1 Sam 24:12 (English 24:11) David tells Saul 'you are hunting my life', meaning a long pursuit. Lam 4:18 has 'they hunted our steps'. Deut 19:11 uses a different word for the same idea ('arav, 'lie in ambush'). The Septuagint renders it 'from ambush'.

Where it appears

Numbers · 2

  1. Numbers 35:20 בִּצְדִיָּ֖ה with lying in wait

    Likewise, if anyone maliciously pushes another or intentionally throws an object at him and kills him,

    Here: 'From ambush', 'having stalked him'. A rare word that appears only here and in v. 22. Its root means to lie in wait or hunt someone down, so it marks a killing that was planned and staged ahead of time.

  2. Numbers 35:22 צְדִיָּֽה׃ lying in wait

    But if anyone pushes a person suddenly, without hostility, or throws an object at him unintentionally,

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