Hebrew word · H6864

צֹר

tzor

flint

Flint, hard stone; by extension a flint edge or blade (Ezekiel 3:9 'harder than flint'; Isaiah 5:28, hooves 'like flint').

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) flint, hard pebble

1a) used as a knife

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 Exodus 4:25

Range of meaning

Flint, hard stone; by extension a flint edge or blade (Ezekiel 3:9 'harder than flint'; Isaiah 5:28, hooves 'like flint').

Against the English

'Flint' (WEB, YLT, and ESV) is literal. 'Flint knife' (BSB, NIV) gives the function. 'Sharp stone' (KJV) is fair.

Used elsewhere in the period

Joshua 5:2–3: 'Make knives of flint (ḥarvôt tsurîm) and circumcise the Israelites again.' The Greek of Joshua 24:31 (LXX) adds that the flint knives were buried with Joshua. Egyptian evidence, such as the circumcision scene in the Old Kingdom tomb of Ankhmahor at Saqqara, shows circumcision was an ancient practice in the region.

Where it appears

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 4:25 צֹ֗ר a flint

    But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched it to Moses’ feet. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said.

    Here: Literally 'a flint', a sharp stone. The Hebrew does not say 'knife'. Flint was the traditional tool for circumcision even after metal knives existed (compare Joshua 5:2–3).

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 3:9 מִצֹּ֖ר more than flint

    I will make your forehead like a diamond, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or dismayed at their presence, even though they are a rebellious house.”

    Here: 'Than flint.' The prefix mi- ('from') makes a comparison here. Flint was the everyday standard of hardness and was used for blades (Exod 4:25). Shamir is harder still.

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