Hebrew word · H8316

שְׂרֵפָה

serefah

fire

A burning, a conflagration. Also the burnt remains. From the verb śārap̄, to burn completely. The verb is used for burning down cities, burning sacrificial remains, and burning bricks.

Appears 13 times in 12 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

burning

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 Isaiah 64:11

Range of meaning

A burning, a conflagration. Also the burnt remains. From the verb śārap̄, to burn completely. The verb is used for burning down cities, burning sacrificial remains, and burning bricks.

Against the English

English "burned with fire" keeps the doubling well. Hebrew says the house "has become a burning of fire," which means it now is the burning, the burnt remains.

Used elsewhere in the period

The verb is used for the event itself: Nebuzaradan "burned the house of the LORD" (2 Kings 25:9; Jeremiah 52:13). The noun appears in Leviticus 10:6 and Amos 4:11 ("a brand plucked from the burning"). The root also gives śārāp̄, "seraph" (Isaiah 6:2).

From the study of 2 Chronicles 16:14

Range of meaning

A burning or conflagration. It can be destructive, as in the 'burning' of Nadab and Abihu (Lev 10:6) or a city set on fire (Amos 4:11). In a funeral context it means a ceremonial fire made in honor of a dead king. The noun comes from the verb saraf, 'to burn'.

Against the English

KJV and WEB: 'a very great burning / fire for him'. BSB, NIV and ESV add 'in his honor', which brings out the 'for him'. Without that phrase, some modern readers take 'burning' to mean the body was cremated.

How it drifted

In modern Western culture, a fire at a funeral suggests cremation. Ancient Judeans buried their dead. Burning a corpse was exceptional (Saul, 1 Sam 31:12, and even there the bones were buried) or a deliberate insult (Amos 2:1 condemns Moab for burning the bones of Edom's king).

Used elsewhere in the period

The same rite appears in Jeremiah 34:5: 'as burnings were made for your fathers, the former kings… so they will make a burning for you'. In 2 Chronicles 21:19 the people pointedly 'made no burning for him [Jehoram] like the burning for his fathers'. Later rabbinic tradition remembered the custom of 'burning for kings', meaning burning the king's bed and personal articles, and treated it as a legitimate Israelite custom and not a pagan one (Tosefta Shabbat 7:18; Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 52b and Avodah Zarah 11a, which tells how a large sum's worth of goods was burned at the funeral of Rabban Gamaliel the Elder). The Septuagint seems to render the word as ekphora, 'funeral procession', which treats it as the funeral rite as a whole.

From the study of Jeremiah 51:25

Range of meaning

Burning, conflagration; something burned (e.g. Lev 10:6; Num 19:6, 17; Amos 4:11 'a brand plucked from the burning'). From saraf, 'to burn'.

Against the English

'Burnt mountain' (KJV, WEB), 'charred mountain' (BSB), 'burned-out mountain' (several modern versions). All are acceptable. 'Burned-out' best fits the sense: the burning is over and what is left is dead and spent, not an active volcano.

How it drifted

Some readers picture a volcano, partly because of Revelation 8:8's 'great mountain burning with fire'. The Hebrew describes the end state of fire, not an eruption.

Used elsewhere in the period

Jer 51:30, 32, 58: Babylon's dwellings, reed marshes and gates are set on fire. Rev 8:8 ('something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea') very probably echoes this verse, alongside Rev 18:21's use of Jer 51:63–64.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 11:3 לִשְׂרֵפָ֑ה to burning

    And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.

    Here: 'To a burning': a noun from the same root as the verb before it, used to make it stronger. It means 'fire them hard' or 'bake them thoroughly'. It also echoes 'brick bricks'.

Leviticus · 1

  1. Leviticus 10:6 הַשְּׂרֵפָ֔ה the burning

    Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not let your hair become disheveled and do not tear your garments, or else you will die, and the LORD will be angry with the whole congregation. But your brothers, the whole house of Israel, may mourn on account of the fire that the LORD has ignited.

    Here: The fiery event itself, the blaze that killed Nadab and Abihu. Israel's mourning is for this catastrophe.

Numbers · 3

  1. Numbers 16:37 הַשְּׂרֵפָ֔ה the burning

    “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to remove the censers from the flames and to scatter the coals far away, because the censers are holy.

  2. Numbers 19:6 שְׂרֵפַ֥ת [the] burning of

    The priest is to take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer.

  3. Numbers 19:17 שְׂרֵפַ֣ת [the] burning of

    For the purification of the unclean person, take some of the ashes of the burnt sin offering, put them in a jar, and pour fresh water over them.

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 29:23 שְׂרֵפָ֣ה a burning waste

    All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger.

    Here: A fire, or the scorched ground a fire leaves behind. With sulfur and salt it forms a three-part picture of land that is burnt, poisoned and sterile.

2 Chronicles · 3

  1. 2 Chronicles 16:14 שְׂרֵפָ֖ה a burning

    And he was buried in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bier that was full of spices and various blended perfumes; then they made a great fire in his honor.

    Here: "A burning." This is the noun of the verb before it ('they burned a burning'). It was a recognized royal funeral rite, most likely a great fire of spices or incense, and possibly of the king's personal belongings too.

  2. 2 Chronicles 21:19 שְׂרֵפָ֖ה כִּשְׂרֵפַ֥ת a burning, like [the] burning of

    This continued day after day until two full years had passed. Finally, his intestines came out because of his disease, and he died in severe pain. And his people did not make a fire in his honor as they had done for his fathers.

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 9:5 לִשְׂרֵפָ֖ה for burning

    For every trampling boot of battle and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.

    Here: 'For burning', meaning destined to be burned up. These things are not kept, reused or sold.

  2. Isaiah 64:11 לִשְׂרֵ֣פַת <into> a burning of

    Our holy and beautiful temple, where our fathers praised You, has been burned with fire, and all that was dear to us lies in ruins.

    Here: "Into a burning." The house has become something burnt. The same root is used for the Babylonian burning of the temple in 2 Kings 25:9 and Jeremiah 52:13. It is also the root of "seraphim," the burning beings of Isaiah 6.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 51:25 שְׂרֵפָֽה׃ burning

    “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who devastate the whole earth, declares the LORD. I will stretch out My hand against you; I will roll you over the cliffs and turn you into a charred mountain.

    Here: 'Burning', i.e. burnt-out, fire-gutted. The next verse explains the point: stone cracked by fire cannot be reused for building.

Amos · 1

  1. Amos 4:11 מִשְׂרֵפָ֑ה from [the] burning

    “Some of you I overthrew as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.

    Here: "From the burning." The noun means an actual fire, the act of burning something up. Israel was pulled out while the fire was still going.

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