Hebrew word · H6767

צֶלְצְלִים

betziltzelei

banging

From a root meaning 'to tingle, quiver, ring' (as ears 'tingle' at bad news, 1 Sam 3:11). The doubled form copies a repeated sound. Its uses: a whirring insect, probably a kind of locust or cricket (Deut 28:42); a harpoon or fish-spear (Job 40:31 [Eng.

Appears 6 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

musical instrument of percussion, cymbals (with clashing sound

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 Isaiah 18:1

Range of meaning

From a root meaning 'to tingle, quiver, ring' (as ears 'tingle' at bad news, 1 Sam 3:11). The doubled form copies a repeated sound. Its uses: a whirring insect, probably a kind of locust or cricket (Deut 28:42); a harpoon or fish-spear (Job 40:31 [Eng. 41:7], possibly named for its whizzing or quivering). Related forms ṣelṣəlîm mean cymbals (2 Sam 6:5; Ps 150:5).

Against the English

BSB, NIV and ESV say 'whirring'; WEB 'rustling'; KJV 'shadowing'. YLT's 'shadowed' takes the word from ṣēl, 'shadow', which is unlikely because the doubled sound-form and the parallels all point to noise. NLT turns it into 'fluttering sails.'

How it drifted

KJV's 'shadowing' came from linking the word to 'shadow' rather than to sound. Later readers built pictures of a protecting nation spreading eagle's wings on that reading, which the Hebrew does not support.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX: 'wings of ships' (ploiōn pterynges), reading the wings as sails. Vulgate: cymbalo alarum, 'with the cymbal of wings', keeping the sound sense. The Aramaic Targum also thinks of ships whose sails spread like wings. The ancient translators already disagreed.

Where it appears

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 28:42 הַצְּלָצַֽל׃ the locust[s]

    Swarms of locusts will consume all your trees and the produce of your land.

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 6:5 וּֽבְצֶלְצֶלִֽים׃ and on cymbals

    David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD with all kinds of wood instruments, harps, stringed instruments, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.

Job · 1

  1. Job 41:7 וּבְצִלְצַ֖ל and with a spear of

    Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 150:5 בְצִלְצְלֵי־ בְּֽצִלְצְלֵ֥י with cymbals of

    Praise Him with clashing cymbals; praise Him with resounding cymbals.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 18:1 צִלְצַ֣ל whirring of

    Woe to the land of whirring wings, along the rivers of Cush,

    Here: A word that sounds like what it describes, built by doubling a root meaning 'to tingle, quiver, ring.' Elsewhere it names a whirring insect (Deut 28:42), and related forms mean cymbals. Here it is the hum or rustle made by wings.

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