Hebrew word · H6750

צָלַל

titzalnah

to tingle

Lexicons distinguish this root (tsalal I) from two others with the same letters ('to sink', Exod 15:10; 'to grow dark', Neh 13:19). It means to tingle, quiver, ring or rattle.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to tingle, quiver

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to tingle (of ears)

1a2) to quiver (of fear)

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 19:3

Range of meaning

Lexicons distinguish this root (tsalal I) from two others with the same letters ('to sink', Exod 15:10; 'to grow dark', Neh 13:19). It means to tingle, quiver, ring or rattle. Related words include tseltselim, 'cymbals' (2 Sam 6:5; Ps 150:5), and probably tselatsal, a whirring or buzzing thing such as an insect or spear (Deut 28:42; Job 40:31).

Against the English

Most versions keep 'tingle' (KJV, WEB, YLT, ESV, NASB, NIV). BSB has 'ring'. Today 'tingle' often suggests a pleasant thrill ('tingling with excitement') or a mild pins-and-needles feeling. The Hebrew is a shocked, ringing reverberation, the stunned noise in the ears after a blow or a deafening crash.

How it drifted

'Tingle' was originally a variant of 'tinkle' (to ring, of the ears) and was chosen in the early English Bibles for exactly that sense. Its modern associations have shifted toward excitement or sensation.

Used elsewhere in the period

The root appears only four times as a verb in the Hebrew Bible. Three are this same idiom: 1 Sam 3:11 (the coming ruin of Eli's house, linked to the fall of Shiloh); 2 Kgs 21:12 (Jerusalem's coming destruction for Manasseh's sins); and here. The fourth, Hab 3:16, has 'my lips quivered' at news of approaching judgment. Per HALOT and BDB, the cymbal noun shows the basic idea of vibration and ringing.

Where it appears

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 3:11 תְּצִלֶּ֖ינָה they will tingle

    Then the LORD said to Samuel, “I am about to do something in Israel at which the ears of all who hear it will tingle.

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 21:12 תִּצַּ֖לְנָה they will tingle

    this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah that the news will reverberate in the ears of all who hear it.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 19:3 תִּצַּ֥לְנָה they will tingle

    saying, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and residents of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on this place that the ears of all who hear of it will ring,

    Here: The ears 'quiver' or 'ring' with shock, like a struck cymbal (the related noun tseltselim means cymbals). It is a stunned, almost physical jolt at news too terrible to take in.

Habakkuk · 1

  1. Habakkuk 3:16 צָלֲל֣וּ they quivered

    I heard and trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Decay entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Yet I must wait patiently for the day of distress to come upon the people who invade us.

    Here: Elsewhere this verb is used for ears that 'tingle' at terrible news (1 Sam 3:11). Here it is the lips: they tremble and chatter, and he cannot control his mouth.

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