Hebrew word · H6720

צֵידָה

tzeidah

provision

Provisions, food for a journey, rations packed for the road. It is related to tsayid ("game, hunted food," Gen 27:3).

Appears 9 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

provision, food

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 Exodus 12:39

Range of meaning

Provisions, food for a journey, rations packed for the road. It is related to tsayid ("game, hunted food," Gen 27:3). Used for Joseph's gift of rations to his brothers (Gen 42:25; 45:21), the stale "provisions" of the Gibeonites (Josh 9:11–14), the order to "prepare provisions" before crossing the Jordan (Josh 1:11), and Ps 78:25, where God sent the people manna "to the full" as their tsedah.

Against the English

KJV "victual" is archaic but exact. "Provisions" (BSB/ESV) is best. NIV/WEB "food" is broader and loses the sense of travel supplies.

Used elsewhere in the period

Josh 1:11 deliberately reverses this verse: at the Jordan Israel is told to make tsedah, while at the exodus they had none. Ps 78:25 calls the manna God's tsedah for them.

From the study of Joshua 9:11

Range of meaning

Food for a journey. It is related to tsayid, "game, food" (from the root for hunting, tsud). The same word is used for travel food in Gen 42:25 and Exod 12:39.

Against the English

"Provisions", "supplies" and KJV's "victuals" are all accurate. The weakness is that English cannot show that this one root keeps recurring through the chapter.

Used elsewhere in the period

Joshua 9 itself repeats the root: tsedam, "their provisions" (9:5, 14); hitstayyadnu, "we provisioned ourselves" (9:12, a reflexive verb from the same root); and Joshua 1:11, where Israel was told to prepare tseidah to cross the Jordan.

From the study of Psalm 78:25

Range of meaning

Provisions for a journey, rations, travel-food. It is related to ṣayid, 'game, hunted food', from the root ṣwd, 'to hunt'. In use it means food packed or supplied for travel: Joseph's brothers' 'provisions for the journey' (Genesis 42:25; 45:21), the Gibeonites' 'provisions' (Joshua 9:11), and Joshua 1:11, 'prepare provisions'.

Against the English

BSB, ESV and NASB say 'food'. KJV says 'meat', which in 1611 meant food in general. YLT says 'venison', which follows the hunting root and the older English sense of venison as any hunted game. None of these brings out the 'journey rations' sense.

How it drifted

KJV 'meat' and YLT 'venison' have both narrowed in modern English. A reader now hears 'animal flesh' and 'deer meat', which can wrongly suggest the quail of verses 26–27 are meant.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exodus 12:39 is the decisive echo. Israel left Egypt so fast that 'they had not prepared any provisions (ṣêdâ) for themselves'. The Septuagint renders the word here as ἐπισιτισμόν, 'provisioning, supplies', a common term for soldiers' or travellers' rations.

Where it appears

Genesis · 2

  1. Genesis 42:25 צֵדָ֖ה provision[s]

    Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return each man’s silver to his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. This order was carried out,

  2. Genesis 45:21 צֵדָ֖ה provision[s]

    So the sons of Israel did as they were told. Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh had instructed, and he also gave them provisions for their journey.

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 12:39 צֵדָ֖ה provision[s]

    Since their dough had no leaven, the people baked what they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves. For when they had been driven out of Egypt, they could not delay and had not prepared any provisions for themselves.

    Here: Food packed for travel. The same word is used for Joseph's brothers' rations (Gen 42:25) and for the supplies Israel is told to prepare before crossing the Jordan (Josh 1:11).

Joshua · 2

  1. Joshua 1:11 צֵידָ֑ה food

    “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you will cross the Jordan to go in and take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’”

  2. Joshua 9:11 צֵידָה֙ provision[s]

    So the elders and inhabitants of our land told us, ‘Take provisions for your journey; go to meet them and say to them: We are your servants. Please make a treaty with us.’

    Here: Food for a journey. The same root runs through the story (9:5 "their provisions", 9:12 "we provisioned ourselves", 9:14 "the men took some of their provisions"). The food is the bait, and Israel's leaders inspect it instead of asking the LORD.

Judges · 2

  1. Judges 7:8 צֵדָה֩ provision[s]

    So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred men, who took charge of the provisions and rams’ horns of the others. And the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.

  2. Judges 20:10 צֵדָ֖ה provision[s]

    We will take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred out of every thousand, and a thousand out of every ten thousand, to supply provisions for the army when they go to Gibeah in Benjamin to punish them for the atrocity they have committed in Israel.”

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 22:10 וְצֵידָ֖ה and food

    Ahimelech inquired of the LORD for him and gave him provisions. He also gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 78:25 צֵידָ֬ה food

    Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance.

    Here: The word for travel rations, the food packed for a journey. Exodus 12:39 says Israel left Egypt without having prepared any ṣêdâ, so here God himself supplies the rations they never packed.

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