Hebrew word · H6881

צׇרְעָה

tzare'ah

Zorah

A proper name for a town. Some link it to tsir'ah, traditionally "hornet" (or possibly a skin disease or terror), but no one knows why the town got the name.

Appears 10 times in 10 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

§ Zareah or Zoreah or Zorah = "hornet"

a town in Dan, residence of Manoah and the home town of Samson

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 Joshua 15:33

Range of meaning

A proper name for a town. Some link it to tsir'ah, traditionally "hornet" (or possibly a skin disease or terror), but no one knows why the town got the name.

Against the English

Most versions have "Zorah." KJV and YLT have "Zoreah" in this verse because they follow the slightly different vowel pointing the Hebrew text has here. It is the same town.

Used elsewhere in the period

It is widely identified with Tel Tzora (Arabic Sar'a), on a ridge on the north side of the Sorek valley. Many scholars connect it with Ṣarḫa in the Amarna letters (EA 273), 14th-century BC letters from Canaanite rulers to Pharaoh, which shows the town is older than Israel. It is also listed for Dan (Josh 19:41). It was Samson's birthplace (Judg 13:2), and Rehoboam fortified it (2 Chr 11:10). After the exile it was resettled by people of Judah (Neh 11:29).

From the study of Joshua 19:41

Range of meaning

Place name. It is identified with Tel Tsor'a (Arabic Ṣar'a) above the Sorek Valley. Some connect the name with tsir'ah, 'hornet' or a 'scourge' (Exod 23:28), but this is not certain.

Against the English

English simply transliterates the name. Nothing is lost except the possible meaning of the name.

Used elsewhere in the period

A town named Ṣarḫa, mentioned together with Aijalon (Ayaluna) in the Amarna letters (EA 273, 14th c. BC), is probably this Zorah. It also appears in Judah's list (Josh 15:33), in the Samson and Danite-migration stories (Judg 13; 16:31; 18:2, 8, 11), in Rehoboam's fortifications (2 Chr 11:10), and in the post-exilic settlement list (Neh 11:29).

Where it appears

Joshua · 2

  1. Joshua 15:33 וְצָרְעָ֖ה and Zorah

    These were in the foothills: Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah,

    Here: "And Zorah": a hilltop town above the Sorek valley, close to Eshtaol. The two are almost always named together. It was Samson's birthplace and the starting point of the Danite migration north.

  2. Joshua 19:41 צָרְעָ֥ה Zorah

    The territory of their inheritance included Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh,

    Here: A town on a ridge above the north side of the Sorek Valley, in the low hills west of Jerusalem. Later remembered as the hometown of Samson's family (Judges 13:2).

Judges · 6

  1. Judges 13:2 מִצָּרְעָ֛ה from Zorah

    Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children.

    Here: Zorah was a hill town in the western foothills, overlooking the Sorek valley, on the frontier facing Philistine territory. The location matters: this family lives on the front line of the oppression described in verse 1.

  2. Judges 13:25 צָרְעָ֖ה Zorah

    And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

    Here: Manoah's hometown (13:2), on the ridge above the Sorek valley in the foothills facing Philistine country.

  3. Judges 16:31 צָרְעָה֙ Zorah

    Then Samson’s brothers and his father’s family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. And he had judged Israel twenty years.

  4. Judges 18:2 מִצָּרְעָ֣ה from Zorah

    So the Danites sent out five men from their clans, men of valor from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out the land and explore it. “Go and explore the land,” they told them. The men entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night.

  5. Judges 18:8 צָרְעָ֖ה Zorah

    When the men returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers asked them, “What did you find?”

  6. Judges 18:11 מִצָּרְעָ֖ה from Zorah

    So six hundred Danites departed from Zorah and Eshtaol, armed with weapons of war.

2 Chronicles · 1

  1. 2 Chronicles 11:10 צָרְעָה֙ Zorah

    Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, the fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin.

Nehemiah · 1

  1. Nehemiah 11:29 וּבְצָרְעָ֖ה and in Zorah

    in En-rimmon, Zorah, Jarmuth,

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