Hebrew word · H8453

תּוֹשָׁב

toshav

sojourner

From yāšab, 'to sit, dwell'. It means a settler or resident without inherited land, often attached to a household as a dependent, tenant or hired worker. It is paired with śākîr, 'hired worker', in Exod 12:45, Lev 22:10 and Lev 25:6, 40.

Appears 14 times in 13 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

sojourner, stranger

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 Leviticus 25:35

Range of meaning

From yāšab, 'to sit, dwell'. It means a settler or resident without inherited land, often attached to a household as a dependent, tenant or hired worker. It is paired with śākîr, 'hired worker', in Exod 12:45, Lev 22:10 and Lev 25:6, 40. In the pair gēr wətôšāb (Gen 23:4; Lev 25:23, 35, 47; Ps 39:12 [13]) the two words together describe a landless resident.

Against the English

'Sojourner' (KJV), 'stranger' (BSB) and 'temporary resident' (WEB) vary. 'Temporary' may overstate it, since a tôšāb could be long-term. What matters is that he lacks land of his own.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lev 25:40 describes the man who has sold himself: 'as a hired worker, as a tôšāb, he shall be with you.' That suggests the tôšāb is a working dependent living on someone else's property.

From the study of Psalm 39:12

Range of meaning

From yashav, 'to sit, dwell'. A settler or tenant: someone living on land owned by another, sometimes a hired or dependent resident (paired with the hired worker in Leviticus 22:10; 25:6, 40). In practice nearly synonymous with ger. Together the pair means something like 'resident alien' or 'tenant without title'.

Against the English

KJV 'sojourner', BSB/WEB 'stranger/foreigner', ESV 'guest', YLT 'settler'. NLT's 'traveler passing through' adds a sense of travel that the word does not have. A toshav stays put. He just does not own where he stays.

How it drifted

Paraphrases influenced by the 'pilgrim' theme turn a settled-but-landless status into a journey.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 23:4; Leviticus 25:23, 35, 47; 1 Chronicles 29:15. In the Septuagint usually parepidēmos, 'temporary resident', the word picked up in 1 Peter 2:11 and Hebrews 11:13.

From the study of 1 Chronicles 29:15

Range of meaning

From yashav, 'to sit, dwell'. A resident, settler or tenant who lives in a place without owning it. In Leviticus 25 the toshav appears alongside the hired labourer (vv. 6, 40) as a dependent person living on someone else's land.

Against the English

KJV/BSB 'sojourners'/'strangers', NASB 'tenants', YLT 'settlers'. 'Tenants' (NASB) best captures the idea of living on someone else's property. 'Sojourners' and 'strangers' blur the two Hebrew words together.

Used elsewhere in the period

Found paired with ger in Gen 23:4, Lev 25:23, 25:35, 25:47, Num 35:15 and Ps 39:13. The Greek Old Testament often uses parepidēmos ('temporary resident', Gen 23:4; Ps 38:13 LXX), the word 1 Peter 2:11 picks up. Here it paraphrases with paroikountes ('those sojourning').

Where it appears

Genesis · 1
  1. Genesis 23:4 וְתוֹשָׁ֥ב and a resident alien

    “I am a foreigner and an outsider among you. Give me a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead.”

    Here: From the verb 'to sit, dwell'. It means someone who lives in a place but belongs to someone else's household or territory. Paired with ger, it stresses that he has lived here a long time but is still not a landholder.

Exodus · 1
  1. Exodus 12:45 תּוֹשָׁ֥ב a resident alien

    A temporary resident or hired hand shall not eat the Passover.

Leviticus · 8
  1. Leviticus 22:10 תּוֹשַׁ֥ב a resident alien of

    No one outside a priest’s family may eat the sacred offering, nor may the guest of a priest or his hired hand eat it.

  2. Leviticus 25:6 וּלְתוֹשָׁ֣בְךָ֔ and to resident alien your

    Whatever the land yields during the Sabbath year shall be food for you—for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, the hired hand or foreigner who stays with you,

  3. Leviticus 25:23 וְתוֹשָׁבִ֛ים and resident aliens

    The land must not be sold permanently, because it is Mine, and you are but foreigners and residents with Me.

    Here: From the verb "to sit, dwell." Someone who lives on another's property, often as a dependent worker or tenant. Paired with gerim it describes one status: people who live on the land but do not own it.

  4. Leviticus 25:35 וְתוֹשָׁ֛ב and a resident alien

    Now if your countryman becomes destitute and cannot support himself among you, then you are to help him as you would a foreigner or stranger, so that he can continue to live among you.

    Here: 'And settler.' A landless resident, often attached to a household as a dependent or hired worker. Paired with gēr, the phrase describes someone who lives on land he does not own.

  5. Leviticus 25:40 כְּתוֹשָׁ֖ב like a resident alien

    Let him stay with you as a hired worker or temporary resident; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee.

  6. Leviticus 25:45 הַתּוֹשָׁבִ֜ים the resident aliens

    You may also purchase them from the foreigners residing among you or their clans living among you who are born in your land. These may become your property.

  7. Leviticus 25:47 וְתוֹשָׁב֙ תּוֹשָׁב֙ and a resident alien, a resident alien

    If a foreigner residing among you prospers, but your countryman dwelling near him becomes destitute and sells himself to the foreigner or to a member of his clan,

Numbers · 1
  1. Numbers 35:15 וְלַתּוֹשָׁב֙ and for the resident alien

    These six cities will serve as a refuge for the Israelites and for the foreigner or stranger among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.

1 Kings · 1
  1. 1 Kings 17:1 מִתֹּשָׁבֵ֣י one of [the] resident aliens of

    Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”

    Here: A tōšāḇ is a resident outsider, someone who lives on land that is not his family's inherited territory. Elijah is marked as a man from the edges, not a native landholder or a court insider.

1 Chronicles · 1
  1. 1 Chronicles 29:15 וְתוֹשָׁבִ֖ים and resident aliens

    For we are foreigners and strangers in Your presence, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.

    Here: Someone who lives somewhere ('sits' there) without owning it, a dependent resident. Paired with gerim, it repeats the legal formula of Leviticus 25:23.

Psalms · 1
  1. Psalm 39:12 תּ֝וֹשָׁ֗ב a resident alien

    Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. For I am a foreigner dwelling with You, a stranger like all my fathers.

    Here: From the verb 'to sit, dwell': someone who lives on land he does not own, like a tenant or dependent settler. It pairs with ger to reinforce the same idea: living here, but with no permanent claim.

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