Hebrew word · H6836
צְפִּיָּה
betzipiyatenu
watch
צָפָה: to look out, keep watch, scan for what is coming. It is the job of the city sentry (the צֹפֶה, 'watchman'). צְפִיָּה appears only here: a lookout post or the act of watching.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
lookout post, lookout, watchtower
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 Lamentations 4:17
- Range of meaning
צָפָה: to look out, keep watch, scan for what is coming. It is the job of the city sentry (the צֹפֶה, 'watchman'). צְפִיָּה appears only here: a lookout post or the act of watching.
- Against the English
BSB and NIV make it a place ('from our towers'). KJV, WEB and ESV keep the repetition ('in our watching we have watched'). YLT has 'in our watch-tower'.
- Used elsewhere in the period
2 Sam 18:24–27 (watchman on the gate tower spotting runners); 2 Kgs 9:17; Ezek 3:17 and 33:2–7 (the prophet as watchman); Mic 7:7 ('I will watch for the LORD').
Where it appears
Lamentations · 1
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Lamentations 4:17 בְּצִפִּיָּתֵ֣נוּ in watchtower our
All the while our eyes were failing as we looked in vain for help. We watched from our towers for a nation that could not save us.
Here: Found only here in the Bible. Either 'in our lookout post' (a watchtower on the walls) or 'in our watching'. Both point to sentries scanning the road for an approaching army.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.