Hebrew word · H6877

צְרִיחַ

tzeriach

stronghold

It appears only here and in Judges 9:46, 49, where it is the ṣərîaḥ of the house of El-berith at Shechem: an inner, defensible chamber or keep that could be set on fire. Suggested meanings include vault, crypt, underground chamber, tower, or stronghold. There is no agreement.

Appears 4 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) excavation, underground chamber, cellar, underground room

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 1 Samuel 13:6

Range of meaning

It appears only here and in Judges 9:46, 49, where it is the ṣərîaḥ of the house of El-berith at Shechem: an inner, defensible chamber or keep that could be set on fire. Suggested meanings include vault, crypt, underground chamber, tower, or stronghold. Some connect it with a South Arabian/Nabataean word for a high building or a rock-cut chamber. There is no agreement.

Against the English

KJV and YLT have 'high places'. WEB has 'tombs'. BSB has 'cellars' and NASB has a similar choice. ESV has 'tombs'. The range of choices shows how uncertain the word is.

How it drifted

KJV 'high places' leads modern readers to think of the cultic bāmôt, the 'high places' condemned throughout Kings. The Hebrew here is a different word with no religious meaning in this verse.

Used elsewhere in the period

Judges 9:46, 49. The Septuagint does not match it neatly here. The Vulgate uses words for hidden places and grottoes.

From the study of Judges 9:49

Range of meaning

A rare word, found only in Judges 9:46, 9:49 (twice) and 1 Samuel 13:6. It names some kind of protected refuge, but its shape is unclear. Two main lines of meaning have been proposed: (1) a high, fortified keep or citadel; (2) a sunken vault, crypt or hidden chamber. BDB gives 'underground chamber? stronghold?'. HALOT also treats it as uncertain and offers 'vault, cellar'-type meanings next to 'stronghold'.

Against the English

KJV 'hold' (that is, a stronghold); WEB, ESV, NIV 'stronghold'; BSB and NASB 'inner chamber'; YLT 'high place'. The renderings disagree because the word itself is uncertain, not because some translators got it wrong.

Used elsewhere in the period

In 1 Samuel 13:6 frightened Israelites hide 'in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in tseriachim, and in pits'. That list points to hiding places, perhaps hollowed-out or rock-cut ones. Arabic has a related word, ṣarḥ, 'lofty building, tower, palace'. It is used in the Qur'an of the tower Pharaoh orders built to reach heaven, and it supports the 'high keep' reading. Greek translations of Judges render the word with terms for a 'stronghold'.

Where it appears

Judges · 3

  1. Judges 9:46 צְרִ֔יחַ [the] underground chamber of

    On hearing of this, all the leaders in the tower of Shechem entered the inner chamber of the temple of El-berith.

  2. Judges 9:49 הַצְּרִ֔יחַ הַצְּרִ֖יחַ the underground chamber

    So each man also cut his own branch and followed Abimelech. Then they piled the branches against the inner chamber and set it on fire above them, killing everyone in the tower of Shechem, about a thousand men and women.

    Here: The refuge of the temple of El-berith where the people of the Tower of Shechem had crowded in (v.46). Its exact form, whether a high keep or a sunken vault, is uncertain. See studies.

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 13:6 וּבַצְּרִחִ֖ים and in <the> underground chambers

    Seeing that they were in danger because their troops were hard-pressed, the men of Israel hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in cellars and cisterns.

    Here: A rare word, found elsewhere only in Judges 9:46, 49, where it is the inner chamber of a fortified temple. It probably means a vault, crypt or cut-out chamber. The exact sense is uncertain.

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