Hebrew word · H6766
צֶלְצַח
betzeltzach
Zelzah
A place name found only here; no location has been identified. The letters look like the verb tsalach, 'to rush, advance, prosper'.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
§ Zelzah = "shadow"
a place on the boundary of Benjamin, close to Rachel's tomb, 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Jerusalem
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 1 Samuel 10:2
- Range of meaning
A place name found only here; no location has been identified. The letters look like the verb tsalach, 'to rush, advance, prosper'.
- Against the English
All supplied English versions keep 'Zelzah' as a place. The ancient Greek and Latin translators did not, so the English is more confident than the evidence.
- Used elsewhere in the period
No other biblical or outside mention. The Septuagint appears to render the word as 'leaping greatly'; the Vulgate appears to have 'at noon' (see textual notes).
Where it appears
1 Samuel · 1
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1 Samuel 10:2 בְּצֶלְצַ֑ח at Zelzah
When you leave me today, you will find two men at Rachel’s tomb in Zelzah on the border of Benjamin. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you seek have been found, and now your father has stopped worrying about the donkeys and started worrying about you, asking, “What should I do about my son?”’
Here: 'At Zelzah'. The name is found only here and its location is unknown. The ancient translations did not read it as a place name at all (see textual notes), so its meaning is uncertain.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.