Hebrew word · H6703

צַח

tzach

dazzling

Glaring, dazzling, bright and clear; of heat or wind, scorching and dry; of skin, radiant (Song 5:10, 'my beloved is radiant [ṣaḥ] and ruddy'); of speech, clear (Isa 32:4).

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

What it means

dazzling, glowing, clear, bright

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 18:4

Range of meaning

Glaring, dazzling, bright and clear; of heat or wind, scorching and dry; of skin, radiant (Song 5:10, 'my beloved is radiant [ṣaḥ] and ruddy'); of speech, clear (Isa 32:4).

Against the English

'Clear heat' (KJV, WEB, ESV) is literal but faint. 'Shimmering heat' (BSB, NIV) captures the visual effect well, though 'shimmering' adds a slight sense of movement. The point is heat that is intense, still and cloudless.

Used elsewhere in the period

Jer 4:11 'a scorching (ṣaḥ) wind from the bare heights'; Lam 4:7 of radiant nobles. The cognate verb in Aramaic and Arabic means to be bright or clear.

From the study of Song of Songs 5:10

Range of meaning

From a root meaning "to be dazzling, glaring, bright." Used of shimmering or glaring heat (Isaiah 18:4, "clear heat in sunshine"), a hot, glaring wind off the desert heights (Jeremiah 4:11), and speech that is clear and plain (Isaiah 32:4). The core idea is brightness that strikes the eye. It covers both radiance and clearness or purity of appearance.

Against the English

KJV and WEB "white" follows the Greek (leukos) and Latin (candidus) translations. Modern versions prefer "radiant" (NIV, ESV) or "dazzling" (BSB, NASB). YLT "clear" keeps the sense of clearness but loses the shine. "White" is a possible meaning of the root, but on its own it makes the word sound like a flat colour rather than a light-filled glow.

How it drifted

"White" came through the Greek and Latin and stayed in English through the KJV. To a modern reader, "white and ruddy" can sound like a racial description or a pale complexion, which the Hebrew does not suggest.

Used elsewhere in the period

The closest parallel is Lamentations 4:7, which describes Jerusalem's young nobles: "purer than snow, they gleamed (ṣaḥû) more than milk, they were redder (ʾādmû) in body than coral." That verse has the same pairing, gleaming and ruddy, as the ideal appearance of healthy, high-born young men. The Septuagint translates leukos ("white, bright"), and the Vulgate candidus ("shining white, bright").

Where it appears

Song of Songs · 1

  1. Song of Songs 5:10 צַח֙ [is] dazzling

    My beloved is dazzling and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand.

    Here: Shining, radiant, bright to the eye. Elsewhere it is used of shimmering heat and clear speech. Here it describes a glowing, luminous appearance, his skin and whole person catching the light. It is about brilliance, not about a skin-colour category.

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 18:4 צַח֙ dazzling

    For this is what the LORD has told me: “I will quietly look on from My dwelling place, like shimmering heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

    Here: Bright, glaring and cloudless. It describes the shimmering, motionless heat of a clear summer day.

  2. Isaiah 32:4 צָחֽוֹת׃ clearly

    The mind of the rash will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will speak clearly and fluently.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 4:11 צַ֤ח scorching

    At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A searing wind from the barren heights in the desert blows toward the daughter of My people, but not to winnow or to sift;

    Here: 'Glaring' or 'scorching'. The word describes something blindingly bright or clear, here the white-hot glare of a desert heat wave.

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