Hebrew word · H6722
צִידֹנִי
tzidonim
Sidonian
Strictly, a person from Sidon. In wider biblical and Greek usage it is a general name for the coastal Canaanites we call Phoenicians.
Appears 16 times in 15 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
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
- Range of meaning
Strictly, a person from Sidon. In wider biblical and Greek usage it is a general name for the coastal Canaanites we call Phoenicians.
- Against the English
English readers naturally take 'Sidonians' to mean the people of Sidon specifically, and then wonder why Solomon names them when writing to the king of Tyre.
- How it drifted
Modern geography separates Tyre and Sidon as distinct cities. Ancient usage often treated 'Sidonian' as an ethnic name for the whole people.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Ethbaal is called 'king of the Sidonians' (1 Kgs 16:31) although Josephus (citing Menander) makes him king of Tyre. Deut 3:9 says 'the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion'. Homer calls Phoenician craftsmen 'Sidonians' (Iliad 23.743; Odyssey 4.618). Later Phoenician coins and inscriptions also show Tyrian kings ruling Sidon.
- Range of meaning
Strictly, the people of the city of Sidon. In wider Hebrew usage it means the Phoenicians of the Lebanese coast generally. Ethbaal of Tyre is called 'king of the Sidonians' (1 Kings 16:31), and Hiram of Tyre's woodcutters are 'Sidonians' (1 Kings 5:6).
- Against the English
'Sidonians' can sound to modern readers like one city's residents. The term likely covers the whole Phoenician population of the coast and the Lebanon foothills.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Phoenician inscriptions call Sidon's kings 'king of the Sidonians'. Homer also uses 'Sidonians' loosely for Phoenicians. In the Bible, see Judges 3:3, 10:12, and 18:7.
Similar words
Where it appears
Deuteronomy · 1
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Deuteronomy 3:9 צִידֹנִ֛ים [the] Sidonians
which the Sidonians call Sirion but the Amorites call Senir—
Joshua · 2
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Joshua 13:4 לַצִּידֹנִ֖ים [belongs] to the Sidonians
to the south, all the land of the Canaanites, from Mearah of the Sidonians to Aphek, as far as the border of the Amorites;
Here: 'Belonging to the Sidonians.' In the Hebrew Bible 'Sidonians' often stands for Phoenicians in general (Ethbaal, king of Tyre, is called 'king of the Sidonians' in 1 Kings 16:31). Here it marks Mearah as Phoenician territory.
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Joshua 13:6 צִ֣ידֹנִ֔ים [the] Sidonians
All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim—all the Sidonians—I Myself will drive out before the Israelites. Be sure to divide it by lot as an inheritance to Israel, as I have commanded you.
Here: Most naturally this names who the mountain dwellers are ('all the Sidonians'). In Hebrew usage 'Sidonians' often stands for the Phoenicians as a whole, the coastal city-states of Sidon, Tyre and their neighbours.
Judges · 4
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Judges 3:3 וְהַצִּ֣ידֹנִ֔י and the Sidonian[s]
the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath.
Here: 'And the Sidonian'. The people of the Phoenician coast, named after its leading city. Israelites (and Homer) often called Phoenicians in general 'Sidonians'.
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Judges 10:12 וְצִידוֹנִ֤ים and [the] Sidonians
Sidonians, Amalekites, and Maonites oppressed you and you cried out to Me, did I not save you from their hands?
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Judges 18:7 צִדֹנִ֜ים מִצִּ֣דֹנִ֔ים [the] Sidonians, from [the] Sidonians
So the five men departed and came to Laish, where they saw that the people were living securely, like the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting. There was nothing lacking in the land and no oppressive ruler. And they were far away from the Sidonians and had no alliance with anyone.
1 Kings · 5
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1 Kings 5:6 כַּצִּדֹנִֽים׃ like the Sidonians
Now therefore, order that cedars of Lebanon be cut down for me. My servants will be with your servants, and I will pay your servants whatever wages you set, for you know that there are none among us as skilled in logging as the Sidonians.”
Here: 'Like the Sidonians.' In Israelite usage this was a common name for the Phoenicians as a whole, including Hiram's Tyrians, not only the people of the city of Sidon.
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1 Kings 11:1 צֵדְנִיֹּ֖ת Sidonian [women]
King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women.
Here: Phoenician women from the coastal city of Sidon, Solomon's trading partners (5:6). Their goddess Ashtoreth (Astarte) appears in 11:5. Jezebel, a later Sidonian queen, will repeat the pattern (16:31).
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1 Kings 11:5 צִדֹנִ֑ים [the] Sidonians
Solomon followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
Here: People of Sidon. In Kings the name stands for Phoenicians in general, the people of the coast to the north. Verse 1 lists Sidonian women among Solomon's wives.
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1 Kings 11:33 צִֽדֹנִין֒ [the] Sidonians
For they have forsaken Me to worship Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in My ways, nor done what is right in My eyes, nor kept My statutes and judgments, as Solomon’s father David did.
Here: The people of Sidon, a term often used for Phoenicians in general. The unusual plural ending -in (instead of -im) is a rare variant form.
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1 Kings 16:31 צִידֹנִ֔ים [the] Sidonians
And as if it were not enough for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, he even married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and he then proceeded to serve and worship Baal.
Here: 'Sidonians' was a general term for the Phoenicians of the coast, Tyre included (cf. 1 Kgs 5:6). Ethbaal actually ruled from Tyre.
2 Kings · 1
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2 Kings 23:13 צִידֹנִ֗ים [the] Sidonians
The king also desecrated the high places east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of the Moabites, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
Here: The people of Sidon, and by extension the Phoenicians in general. Some of Solomon's foreign wives came from there (1 Kings 11:1, 5).
1 Chronicles · 1
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1 Chronicles 22:4 הַצִּֽידֹנִ֨ים the Sidonians
and more cedar logs than could be counted; for the Sidonians and Tyrians had brought a large quantity of cedar logs to David.
Ezra · 1
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Ezra 3:7 לַצִּֽדֹנִים֙ to the Sidonians
They gave money to the masons and carpenters, and food and drink and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to Joppa by sea, as authorized by Cyrus king of Persia.
Ezekiel · 1
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Ezekiel 32:30 צִֽדֹנִ֑י [the] Sidonian[s]
All the leaders of the north and all the Sidonians are there; they went down in disgrace with the slain, despite the terror of their might. They lie uncircumcised with those slain by the sword and bear their shame with those who descend to the Pit.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.