Hebrew word · H8303
שִׂרְיֹן
siryon
Sirion
The name Hermon went by among the Phoenicians / coastal Canaanites. Some connect it with the similar Hebrew word siryon / shiryon, 'coat of mail, scale armour' (H8302), picturing the snowy, glinting ridge as a breastplate. This is attractive but speculative.
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
Sirion = "breastplate"
one of the names of Mount Hermon this one used by the Sidonians
Another spelling of cher.mon (חֶרְמוֹן "(Mount )Hermon" H2768)
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 Deuteronomy 3:9
- Range of meaning
The name Hermon went by among the Phoenicians / coastal Canaanites. Some connect it with the similar Hebrew word siryon / shiryon, 'coat of mail, scale armour' (H8302), picturing the snowy, glinting ridge as a breastplate. This is attractive but speculative.
- Against the English
All English versions transliterate it as 'Sirion'. Nothing is lost, but readers may not know it is a real, ancient name used by Israel's neighbours and not an invented label.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Ugaritic texts (c. 1300 BC, Baal Cycle, KTU 1.4 VI) pair 'Lebanon and its trees, Sirion (šryn) and its choicest cedars' as the timber sources for Baal's palace. Hittite treaties of the 14th century BC list a divine mountain Šariyana among the witnessing gods, often identified with Sirion. In the Bible: Ps 29:6, 'Lebanon… and Sirion like a young wild ox'.
- Range of meaning
The Sidonian (Phoenician) name for Mount Hermon: 'the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir' (Deut 3:9). The word may be related to širyôn, 'body armor', perhaps because of the mountain's gleaming, plated look.
- Against the English
Most versions keep 'Sirion'. NLT replaces it with 'Mount Hermon', which is clearer but loses the deliberate use of the foreign, Phoenician name.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Ugaritic texts pair Lebanon and Siryon (šryn) exactly as here. In the Baal Cycle, cedars are brought 'from Lebanon and its trees, from Siryon its choicest cedars' to build Baal's palace (KTU 1.4 VI 18–21).
Where it appears
Deuteronomy · 1
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Deuteronomy 3:9 שִׂרְיֹ֑ן Sirion
which the Sidonians call Sirion but the Amorites call Senir—
Here: The Phoenician (coastal Canaanite) name for Hermon, also found in the much older Ugaritic texts, where 'Lebanon and Sirion' are paired as mountains of cedar. The same pairing appears in Psalm 29:6.
Psalms · 1
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Psalm 29:6 וְ֝שִׂרְיֹ֗ן and Sirion
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.
Here: 'And Sirion': the Phoenician (Sidonian) name for Mount Hermon (Deut 3:9), the highest peak in the region (about 2,800 m). Using the foreign name puts the scene in Canaanite and Phoenician territory, where Baal's storm-god poems were sung.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.