Hebrew word · H6737
צָיַר
vaiyitztaiyaru
to take provision
The Masoretic reading comes from tsir, 'envoy, messenger' (Isa 18:2; Prov 13:17), in a reflexive form: 'they acted as envoys, made themselves an embassy'. The variant comes from tsayid / tsedah, 'provisions for a journey': 'they supplied themselves with provisions'.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) (BDB) (Hithpael) to supply oneself with provisions, take as one's provision
2) (CLBL) to act as envoy
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
The Masoretic reading comes from tsir, 'envoy, messenger' (Isa 18:2; Prov 13:17), in a reflexive form: 'they acted as envoys, made themselves an embassy'. The variant comes from tsayid / tsedah, 'provisions for a journey': 'they supplied themselves with provisions'.
- Against the English
KJV, WEB, YLT and BSB follow the Masoretic Text ('made as if they had been ambassadors', 'set out as envoys'). Some modern versions (e.g. NRSV, and ESV in its wording 'made ready provisions') follow the variant.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The 'envoy' verb occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. The 'provisions' verb in this same reflexive form appears a few verses later in 9:12: 'we provisioned ourselves (hitstayyadnu) with this bread'. The Septuagint (ἐπεσιτίσαντο, 'they took provisions'), the Vulgate, the Syriac, the Targum and a number of Hebrew manuscripts support the 'provisions' reading.
Where it appears
Joshua · 1
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Joshua 9:4 וַיִּצְטַיָּ֑רוּ and they acted as ambassadors
acted deceptively and set out as envoys, carrying on their donkeys worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended.
Here: As written in the standard Hebrew text, this verb appears only here. It means 'they made themselves envoys', taking on the role of an official embassy. Many ancient witnesses read a near-identical verb, 'they packed provisions', which matches the same verb in verse 12. The supplied gloss 'take provision' reflects that variant, and the in-context gloss 'acted as ambassadors' reflects the standard text.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.