Hebrew word · H6689

צוּף

tzuf

Zuph

A personal name, also used for a region ('the land of Zuph,' 1 Sam 9:5). It may be connected with ṣûp, 'honeycomb,' though that link is uncertain. The ending -ay is a common way of forming names.

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

What it means

A man of the tribe of Levi living at the time of United Monarchy, first mentioned at 1Sa.1.1;

son of: Elkanah (H0511J);

father of: Tohu (H8459); also called Zophai at 1Ch.6.26;

§ Zuph or Zophai = "honeycomb"

1) a Kohathite Levite, ancestor of Elkanah and Samuel

2) a district northwest of Jerusalem where Saul encountered Samuel

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 6:26

Range of meaning

A personal name, also used for a region ('the land of Zuph,' 1 Sam 9:5). It may be connected with ṣûp, 'honeycomb,' though that link is uncertain. The ending -ay is a common way of forming names.

Against the English

KJV, BSB and others keep the spelling 'Zophai' here. In v.35 and in 1 Samuel the same man is 'Zuph.'

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Sam 1:1 calls him 'Zuph, an Ephraimite' and the ancestor of Elkanah, Samuel's father. Samuel's town is 'Ramathaim-zophim' (1 Sam 1:1), probably 'Ramah of the Zuphites.' In 1 Chr 6:35 (English) he is 'Zuph son of Elkanah.'

From the study of 1 Chronicles 6:35

Range of meaning

A personal name, probably meaning 'honeycomb' (compare tsuph devash, 'honeycomb', in Proverbs 16:24). It also names a family and the district where they settled.

Against the English

English versions all say 'Zuph'. The variant 'Zophai' in 6:26 is the same person.

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Samuel 1:1 calls Samuel's father Elkanah a descendant of Zuph. Samuel's town is called Ramathaim-zophim (1 Samuel 1:1), and Saul comes to 'the land of Zuph' (1 Samuel 9:5). Both names keep the clan's name alive.

Where it appears

1 Samuel · 2

  1. 1 Samuel 1:1 צ֖וּף Zuph

    Now there was a man named Elkanah who was from Ramathaim-zophim in the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

    Here: The founder of the clan. His name seems to lie behind 'Zophim' earlier in the verse and 'the land of Zuph' in 1 Samuel 9:5, so the line goes back to the man the local clan and district were named after.

  2. 1 Samuel 9:5 צ֔וּף Zuph

    When they reached the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant, “Come, let us go back, or my father will stop worrying about the donkeys and start worrying about us.”

1 Chronicles · 2

  1. 1 Chronicles 6:26 צוֹפַ֥י Zophai

    Elkanah his son, Zophai his son, Nahath his son,

    Here: A variant spelling of Zuph, the ancestor named in Samuel's family tree (1 Sam 1:1; 1 Chr 6:35). His name is tied to the home district of Samuel's family, 'the land of Zuph' and Ramathaim-zophim.

  2. 1 Chronicles 6:35 צוּף֙ Zuph

    the son of Zuph, the son of Elkanah, the son of Mahath, the son of Amasai,

    Here: An ancestor in the family line of the prophet Samuel. The same man is called 'Zophai' in 6:26 and 'Zuph' in 1 Samuel 1:1, and the district called 'the land of Zuph' (1 Samuel 9:5) was named after this family. The name may mean 'honeycomb'.

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