Hebrew word · H6791
צֵן
tzinim
thorn
Thorns, prickly plants, barbs. The word is rare and its exact shade is not certain. Job 5:5 uses it of thorny hedges the hungry reach through. A related form, tsenînîm, means 'thorns' in Num 33:55 and Josh 23:13, and tsinnôt in Amos 4:2 seems to mean 'hooks'.
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) thorn, barb
1a) meaning uncertain
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 Proverbs 22:5
- Range of meaning
Thorns, prickly plants, barbs. The word is rare and its exact shade is not certain. Job 5:5 uses it of thorny hedges the hungry reach through. A related form, tsenînîm, means 'thorns' in Num 33:55 and Josh 23:13, and tsinnôt in Amos 4:2 seems to mean 'hooks'. So the core idea is something sharp that catches and tears.
- Against the English
Most English versions say 'thorns', which is fair. NIV drops the word and gives 'snares and pitfalls', which loses the picture of visible, tearing hazards next to hidden ones.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Josh 23:13 is the closest parallel. It also pairs the two ideas: the nations left in the land will be 'a snare (paḥ) and a trap... and thorns (tsenînîm) in your eyes.' The Greek Septuagint translates our verse with triboloi, 'thistles' or caltrops (spiked plants, and later spiked devices scattered on the ground).
Where it appears
Job · 1
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Job 5:5 מִצִּנִּ֥ים from thorns
The hungry consume his harvest, taking it even from the thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth.
Proverbs · 1
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Proverbs 22:5 צִנִּ֣ים thorns
Thorns and snares lie on the path of the perverse; he who guards his soul stays far from them.
Here: A rare word for thorns or barbed growth (elsewhere only Job 5:5; a related form appears in Num 33:55 and Josh 23:13). It opens the verse with no 'and', a blunt picture of what tears at a traveller's skin and clothes.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.