Hebrew word · H6807

צְעָדָה

tze'adah

marching

'Step, stepping, marching', a noun from tsa'ad, 'to step, stride, march'. The root covers ordinary walking (Prov 7:8) and the measured tread of a procession (2 Sam 6:13, the ark-bearers' 'six steps'). Most notably it covers the march of a warrior.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

marching

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 2 Samuel 5:24

Range of meaning

'Step, stepping, marching', a noun from tsa'ad, 'to step, stride, march'. The root covers ordinary walking (Prov 7:8) and the measured tread of a procession (2 Sam 6:13, the ark-bearers' 'six steps'). Most notably it covers the march of a warrior. The related form tse'adot names ankle ornaments, 'step-chains' (Isa 3:20).

Against the English

BSB, WEB, ESV and NASB have 'marching', which is accurate. KJV's 'sound of a going' and YLT's 'a stepping' are literal but flat to modern ears; 'a going' now sounds vague. Paraphrases that make it only 'a sound like marching' tone down a statement that is direct in Hebrew.

Used elsewhere in the period

Judges 5:4: 'Yahweh, when you went out from Seir, when you marched (betsa'dekha) from the field of Edom, the earth trembled.' Psalm 68:7 [Heb. 8]: 'O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched (betsa'dekha) through the wilderness…' Both passages pair 'go out' (yatsa) with 'march' (tsa'ad) for God as warrior, the same pairing found in this verse. 1 Chronicles 14:15 keeps the word in its parallel.

Where it appears

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 5:24 צְעָדָ֛ה marching

    As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move quickly, because this will mean that the LORD has gone out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.”

    Here: The tread of steps, from tsa'ad, 'to step, march'. It is an army word, the sound of a column on the move, and it is the same root used of Yahweh 'marching' out to war in Judges 5:4 and Psalm 68:7.

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 14:15 הַצְּעָדָה֙ <the> marching

    As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move out to battle, because this will mean that God has gone out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.”

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 3:20 וְהַצְּעָדוֹת֙ and the ankle chains

    their headdresses, ankle chains, and sashes; their perfume bottles and charms;

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