Hebrew word · H6725

צִיּוּן

tziyun

signpost

A marker set up on the ground, such as a cairn, a small pillar or a monument. It can mark a grave (2 Kgs 23:17, the 'monument' of the man of God) or a place where something lies (Ezek 39:15, a sign set up beside human bones). The basic idea is a visible sign that makes a spot recognisable.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

signpost, monument, market

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 Jeremiah 31:21

Range of meaning

A marker set up on the ground, such as a cairn, a small pillar or a monument. It can mark a grave (2 Kgs 23:17, the 'monument' of the man of God) or a place where something lies (Ezek 39:15, a sign set up beside human bones). The basic idea is a visible sign that makes a spot recognisable.

Against the English

'Road markers', 'road signs' or 'waymarks' all get the function right. Do not picture modern lettered signs. The image is heaped stones or upright stones along an unpaved route.

Used elsewhere in the period

The word occurs only three times in the Hebrew Bible (2 Kgs 23:17; Jer 31:21; Ezek 39:15). Later Hebrew also uses the word for marking graves and hazards.

Where it appears

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 23:17 הַצִּיּ֣וּן [is] the monument

    Then the king asked, “What is this monument I see?” And the men of the city replied, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things that you have done to the altar of Bethel.”

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 31:21 צִיֻּנִ֗ים signposts

    “Set up the road markers, put up the signposts. Keep the highway in mind, the road you have traveled. Return, O Virgin Israel, return to these cities of yours.

    Here: Stone markers, cairns or small monuments. Elsewhere the word marks a grave (2 Kgs 23:17) or a spot where bones lie (Ezek 39:15). Here they are waymarks for a route.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 39:15 צִיּ֑וּן a marker

    As they pass through the land, anyone who sees a human bone will set up a pillar next to it, until the gravediggers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog.

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