צֵל

Genesis 19:8 בְּצֵ֥ל in [the] shadow of

Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them to you, and you can do to them as you please. But do not do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

Numbers 14:9 צִלָּ֧ם shade their

Only do not rebel against the LORD, and do not be afraid of the people of the land, for they will be like bread for us. Their protection has been removed, and the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them!”

Here: 'Their shade.' In the Near Eastern heat, shade means shelter and protection. It is the image used for a protecting king or god. Whatever sheltered the Canaanites has moved off them.

Judges 9:15 בְצִלִּ֑י in shade my

But the thornbush replied, ‘If you really are anointing me as king over you, come and find refuge in my shade. But if not, may fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’

Here: 'In my shade.' A king's 'shade' was a common image for his protection, but a knee-high thornbush casts almost no shade. The offer is empty, and the irony is the point.

Judges 9:36 צֵ֧ל [the] shadow of

When Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the mountains!” But Zebul replied, “The shadows of the mountains look like men to you.”

2 Kings 20:9 הַצֵּל֙ the shadow

And Isaiah had replied, “This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised: Would you like the shadow to go forward ten steps, or back ten steps?”

Here: 'The shadow': the sun's shadow falling on a known set of steps (v. 11, 'the steps of Ahaz'). Everyone in the palace would have watched it move through the day.

2 Kings 20:10 לַצֵּ֔ל הַצֵּ֛ל to the shadow, the shadow

“It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps,” answered Hezekiah, “but not for it to go back ten steps.”

2 Kings 20:11 הַצֵּ֗ל the shadow

So Isaiah the prophet called out to the LORD, and He brought the shadow back the ten steps it had descended on the stairway of Ahaz.

1 Chronicles 29:15 כַּצֵּ֧ל׀ [are] like <the> shadow

For we are foreigners and strangers in Your presence, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.

Here: A shadow is the stock picture of something that lengthens, moves and is gone by evening. Here it stands for how short and insubstantial a human lifetime is.

Job 7:2 צֵ֑ל shade

Like a slave he longs for shade; like a hireling he waits for his wages.

Job 8:9 צֵ֖ל [are] a shadow

For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow.

Here: A shadow has no substance and does not last. It stretches out in the late afternoon and is gone at dusk. Placed first in its clause, it carries the weight: 'a shadow, that is what our days are.'

Job 14:2 כַּ֝צֵּ֗ל like <the> shadow

Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.

Here: 'Like the shadow': the shadow cast by the sun, which creeps across the ground through the day, stretches out in the evening and disappears at sunset. The image here is transience and constant movement, not gloom.

Job 17:7 כַּצֵּ֣ל [are] like <the> shadow

My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.

Psalm 17:8 בְּצֵ֥ל in [the] shadow of

Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings

Here: 'In the shade of.' In the hot Levant, shade means relief and protection from the sun, so ṣēl often simply means 'protection' (Numbers 14:9). It is a place of safety, not of gloom.

Psalm 36:7 בְּצֵ֥ל in [the] shadow of

How precious is Your loving devotion, O God, that the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings!

Here: "In the shade of." In the Near Eastern sun, shade means protection and relief. It is not a gloomy word. The phrase is the shelter a person runs into.

Psalm 57:1 וּבְצֵֽל־ and in [the] shadow of

For the choirmaster. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A Miktam of David, when he fled from Saul into the cave. Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy, for in You my soul takes refuge. In the shadow of Your wings I will take shelter until the danger has passed.

Here: "And in the shade of." In a hot, dry land, shade means protection and relief. Being in a powerful figure's shade was a common picture for being under that figure's protection.

Psalm 63:7 וּבְצֵ֖ל and in [the] shadow of

For You are my help; I will sing for joy in the shadow of Your wings.

Here: Shade as shelter. Under the Judean desert sun (see the heading of the psalm), shade means relief and survival, and in Hebrew poetry "shade" is a standard picture of protection.

Psalm 80:10 צִלָּ֑הּ shade its

The mountains were covered by its shade, and the mighty cedars with its branches.

Here: 'Its shade': the shade of the vine, which is Israel. In a hot country shade means cool, shelter and protection. A plant with a wide shade is big enough for others to live under.

Psalm 91:1 בְּצֵ֥ל in [the] shadow of

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

Here: 'In the shade of.' In a hot land, shade means relief and safety, and 'the shadow of' a king was a stock phrase for his protection.

Psalm 102:11 כְּצֵ֣ל [are] like a shadow

My days are like lengthening shadows, and I wither away like grass.

Here: "Like a shadow": the prefix kə- means "like". A shadow has no substance of its own and depends on the sun's position. In Hebrew poetry it is a standard picture of a life that is passing and insubstantial.

Psalm 109:23 כְּצֵל־ like a shadow

I am fading away like a lengthening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.

Psalm 121:5 צִ֝לְּךָ֗ [is] shade your

The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is the shade on your right hand.

Here: 'Your shade': cover from the sun, as verse 6 makes clear. In Israel and the wider ancient Near East, 'shade' was also a common picture for the protection a patron or king gave.

Psalm 144:4 כְּצֵ֣ל [are] like a shadow

Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

Here: "Like a shadow." Elsewhere ṣēl is often the welcome shade that protects someone ("the shadow of your wings"), but here it is the shadow as something with no body of its own, moving and fading as the light changes.

Ecclesiastes 6:12 כַּצֵּ֑ל like <the> shadow

For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?

Here: "Like the shadow": a standard Hebrew picture of something that lengthens, slides away and vanishes as the day ends.

Ecclesiastes 7:12 בְּצֵ֥ל בְּצֵ֣ל [is] <in> a shade

For wisdom, like money, is a shelter, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.

Here: 'In the shade of.' In a hot land shade means protection and relief. In Ecclesiastes the shadow is also a picture of something fleeting (6:12; 8:13).

Ecclesiastes 8:13 כַּצֵּ֑ל like <the> shadow

Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.

Here: "Like the shadow": a picture of something that does not last. Hebrew allows two readings. Either the shadow describes the days (his days are shadow-like and fleeting), or it describes the lengthening (his days will not stretch out the way a shadow stretches toward evening). The medieval accent marks close the first half of the verse on this word, so it belongs with the lengthening clause, not with what follows.

Song of Songs 2:3 בְּצִלּוֹ֙ in shade his

Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

Here: 'In his shade': shelter from the burning sun, so relief, rest and protection. In Hebrew it is a picture of refreshment, not darkness.

Isaiah 4:6 לְצֵל־ for shade

a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and the rain.

Isaiah 16:3 צִלֵּ֖ךְ shade your

“Give us counsel; render a decision. Shelter us at noonday with shade as dark as night. Hide the refugees; do not betray the one who flees.

Isaiah 25:4 צֵ֣ל a shade

For You have been a refuge for the poor, a stronghold for the needy in distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like rain against a wall,

Here: Shade in a land of blazing sun, which saves lives. In Hebrew and its neighbors, shade was also a set image for a ruler's or god's protection.

Isaiah 25:5 בְּצֵ֣ל in [the] shade of

like heat in a dry land. You subdue the uproar of foreigners. As the shade of a cloud cools the heat, so the song of the ruthless is silenced.

Isaiah 30:2 בְּצֵ֥ל in [the] shadow of

They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shade.

Here: "In the shade of." In a hot land shade means relief and protection from a killing sun. In Israel and its neighbours a king's 'shade' was a common picture of his protection over those under him.

Isaiah 30:3 בְּצֵל־ in [the] shadow of

But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and the refuge of Egypt’s shade your disgrace.

Isaiah 32:2 כְּצֵ֥ל like [the] shadow of

Each will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry land, like the shadow of a great rock in an arid land.

Here: Shade, protection from the sun. In the ancient Near East 'shade' was a stock picture of a protecting king (Lam 4:20; Judg 9:15).

Isaiah 34:15 בְצִלָּ֑הּ in shadow its

There the owl will make her nest; she will lay and hatch her eggs and gather her brood under her shadow. Even there the birds of prey will gather, each with its mate.

Isaiah 38:8 צֵ֣ל [the] shadow of

I will make the sun’s shadow that falls on the stairway of Ahaz go back ten steps.’” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had descended.

Isaiah 49:2 בְּצֵ֥ל in [the] shadow of

He made My mouth like a sharp sword; He hid Me in the shadow of His hand. He made Me like a polished arrow; He hid Me in His quiver.

Here: "In the shadow of." Shade in a hot land, meaning shelter and protection. The phrase comes first in its clause, which puts the stress on where the servant was kept.

Isaiah 51:16 וּבְצֵ֥ל and with [the] shadow of

I have put My words in your mouth, and covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”

Here: 'And in the shade of.' In the Near Eastern climate shade means protection and relief, not gloom. It also carries a sense of being hidden away and kept safe.

Jeremiah 48:45 בְּצֵ֥ל in [the] shadow of

“Those who flee will stand helpless in Heshbon’s shadow, because fire has gone forth from Heshbon and a flame from within Sihon. It devours the foreheads of Moab and the skulls of the sons of tumult.

Lamentations 4:20 בְּצִלּ֖וֹ in shadow his

The LORD’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. We had said of him, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”

Here: 'In his shade.' In a hot land, shade means shelter and safety. This is a standard image for a protecting king (Judges 9:15) and for God (Psalm 91:1).

Ezekiel 17:23 בְּצֵ֥ל in [the] shadow of

I will plant it on the mountain heights of Israel so that it will bear branches; it will yield fruit and become a majestic cedar. Birds of every kind will nest under it, taking shelter in the shade of its branches.

Here: Shade is protection from scorching heat. In Israel's political language, to live in a king's 'shade' meant living under his protection.

Ezekiel 31:6 וּבְצִלּוֹ֙ and in shade its

All the birds of the air nested in its branches, and all the beasts of the field gave birth beneath its boughs; all the great nations lived in its shade.

Ezekiel 31:12 מִצִּלּ֛וֹ from shade its

Foreigners, the most ruthless of the nations, cut it down and left it. Its branches have fallen on the mountains and in every valley; its boughs lay broken in all the earth’s ravines. And all the peoples of the earth left its shade and abandoned it.

Ezekiel 31:17 בְצִלּ֖וֹ in shade its

They too descended with it to Sheol, to those slain by the sword. As its allies they had lived in its shade among the nations.

Hosea 4:13 צִלָּ֑הּ shade its

They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. And so your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.

Here: 'Its shade'. In a hot land shade is relief, and in biblical speech it is also a picture of protection, which Hosea later claims for life under God (14:7). The 'its' is singular, treating the trees as one or pointing to the last one named.

Hosea 14:7 בְצִלּ֔וֹ in shade its

They will return and dwell in his shade; they will grow grain and blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

Jonah 4:5 בַּצֵּ֔ל in the shade

Then Jonah left the city and sat down east of it, where he made himself a shelter and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city.

Here: "In the shade." Shade is the key word of the next few verses. The plant is given "to be a shade over his head" (4:6), and the Hebrew there puns on tsel (shade) and lehatsil (to rescue).

Jonah 4:6 צֵל֙ shade

So the LORD God appointed a vine, and it grew up to provide shade over Jonah’s head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant.