Hebrew word · H6675

צֹאָה

tzo'ah

filth

Human excrement; also vomit and similar foul matter; by extension anything revolting and defiling. It is the more acceptable word for excrement, not a vulgarity, but it means excrement.

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

filth, excrement

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 Isaiah 4:4

Range of meaning

Human excrement; also vomit and similar foul matter; by extension anything revolting and defiling. It is the more acceptable word for excrement, not a vulgarity, but it means excrement.

Against the English

'Filth' (KJV, BSB, WEB and most modern versions) is accurate in direction but too vague. A modern reader hears general dirt or moral grime and misses the shock of the image.

How it drifted

English translators have always softened bodily language in public reading. 'Filth' lost its concrete sense over time and now means generic uncleanness.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 28:8: tables 'full of vomit, filth (ṣōʾāh)' at the drunken feasts of priests and prophets. Isaiah 36:12 / 2 Kings 18:27: where the written text has a cruder word for the besieged men's dung, the Masoretic reading tradition says ṣōʾātām aloud instead, so this was the 'decent' word for the thing. Deuteronomy 23:13: the related ṣēʾāh is excrement buried outside the camp 'because the LORD walks in the midst of your camp… so your camp must be holy'. Proverbs 30:12: 'a generation pure in its own eyes, yet not washed (rāḥaṣ) of its filth (ṣōʾāh)', the same two words as here. Zechariah 3:3–4: the high priest's 'filthy (ṣōʾîm) garments' are removed as a sign of removed guilt. The Septuagint translates it rhypos, 'dirt'.

From the study of Proverbs 30:12

Range of meaning

Excrement or dung, and by extension disgusting filth. It is related to tse'ah, the excrement Israelite soldiers had to bury outside the camp (Deut 23:13–14).

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'filthiness', BSB/NIV/ESV 'filth'. Every common version softens it to a general word for dirt.

How it drifted

English 'filth' and 'filthiness' have become vague. They suggest general grime, or 'filthy' as in obscene. The Hebrew is concrete and deliberately revolting: human waste.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 28:8: tables 'full of vomit and filth (tso'ah)'. 2 Kings 18:27 / Isaiah 36:12: the Assyrian taunt that the besieged will eat their own dung (tso'ah in the read text). Isaiah 4:4: 'when the Lord has washed (rachats) away the filth (tso'at) of the daughters of Zion' uses the same pairing of noun and verb as this verse. Zechariah 3:3–4: the high priest Joshua stands in garments 'filthy' (tso'im, the related adjective) until they are removed. Ezekiel 4:12–15: bread baked on human dung is the image of defilement.

Where it appears

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 18:27 צוֹאָתָ֗ם own excrement their

    But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 30:12 וּ֝מִצֹּאָת֗וֹ and from excrement its

    There is a generation of those who are pure in their own eyes and yet unwashed of their filth.

    Here: 'And from his excrement'. A crude word that elsewhere means human dung or vomit-and-dung (Deut 23:13; Isa 28:8; 2 Kgs 18:27). The 'and' works as 'and yet', setting up the contrast.

Isaiah · 3

  1. Isaiah 4:4 צֹאַ֣ת [the] excrement of

    when the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains from the heart of Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire.

    Here: Human excrement or vomit, not ordinary dirt. It is a deliberately revolting picture of what clings to the perfumed, jewelled women of 3:16–24 (compare 3:24, 'instead of perfume, a stench').

  2. Isaiah 28:8 צֹאָ֑ה filth

    For all their tables are covered with vomit; there is not a place without filth.

  3. Isaiah 36:12 צוֹאָתָ֗ם own excrement their

    But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”

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