Tsel צֵל

Tsel (Hebrew צֵל, Strong's H6738) is a Hebrew masculine noun meaning “shadow”. It occurs 49 times in 47 verses of the Old Testament.

Definition

From the STEPBible Brief Lexicon of Hebrew (based on the abridged Brown-Driver-Briggs), STEPBible.org, CC BY 4.0.

Translated as

Verses

Every verse with Tsel, with the English words that translate it highlighted (KJV or BSB; other translations show the KJV here).

Genesis

• Genesis 19:8
  Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them to you, and you can do to them as you please. But do not do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

Numbers

• Numbers 14:9
  Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.Only do not rebel against the LORD, and do not be afraid of the people of the land, for they will be like bread for us. Their protection has been removed, and the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them!”

Judges

• Judges 9:15
  And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.But the thornbush replied, ‘If you really are anointing me as king over you, come and find refuge in my shade. But if not, may fire come out of the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’
• Judges 9:36
  And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, Behold, there come people down from the top of the mountains. And Zebul said unto him, Thou seest the shadow of the mountains as if they were men.When Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the mountains!” But Zebul replied, “The shadows of the mountains look like men to you.”

2 Kings

• 2 Kings 20:9
  And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the Lord, that the Lord will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees?And Isaiah had replied, “This will be a sign to you from the LORD that He will do what He has promised: Would you like the shadow to go forward ten steps, or back ten steps?”
• 2 Kings 20:10
  And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.“It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps,” answered Hezekiah, “but not for it to go back ten steps.”
• 2 Kings 20:11
  And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.So Isaiah the prophet called out to the LORD, and He brought the shadow back the ten steps it had descended on the stairway of Ahaz.

1 Chronicles

• 1 Chronicles 29:15
  For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.For we are foreigners and strangers in Your presence, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.

Job

• Job 7:2
  As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work:Like a slave he longs for shade; like a hireling he waits for his wages.
• Job 8:9
  (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:)For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow.
• Job 14:2
  He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
• Job 17:7
  Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.

Psalms

• Psalm 17:8
  Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings
• Psalm 36:7
  How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.How precious is Your loving devotion, O God, that the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings!
• Psalm 57:1
  Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy, for in You my soul takes refuge. In the shadow of Your wings I will take shelter until the danger has passed.
• Psalm 63:7
  Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.For You are my help; I will sing for joy in the shadow of Your wings.
• Psalm 80:10
  The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.The mountains were covered by its shade, and the mighty cedars with its branches.
• Psalm 91:1
  He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
• Psalm 102:11
  My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.My days are like lengthening shadows, and I wither away like grass.
• Psalm 109:23
  I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.I am fading away like a lengthening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.
• Psalm 121:5
  The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is the shade on your right hand.
• Psalm 144:4
  Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

Ecclesiastes

• Ecclesiastes 6:12
  For who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life which he spendeth as a shadow? for who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?
• Ecclesiastes 7:12
  For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it.For wisdom, like money, is a shelter, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of its owner.
• Ecclesiastes 8:13
  But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.

Song of Solomon

• Song of Solomon 2:3
  As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.

Isaiah

• Isaiah 4:6
  And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and the rain.
• Isaiah 16:3
  Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth.“Give us counsel; render a decision. Shelter us at noonday with shade as dark as night. Hide the refugees; do not betray the one who flees.
• Isaiah 25:4
  For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.For You have been a refuge for the poor, a stronghold for the needy in distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like rain against a wall,
• Isaiah 25:5
  Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.like heat in a dry land. You subdue the uproar of foreigners. As the shade of a cloud cools the heat, so the song of the ruthless is silenced.
• Isaiah 30:2
  That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shade.
• Isaiah 30:3
  Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and the refuge of Egypt’s shade your disgrace.
• Isaiah 32:2
  And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.Each will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry land, like the shadow of a great rock in an arid land.
• Isaiah 34:15
  There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.There the owl will make her nest; she will lay and hatch her eggs and gather her brood under her shadow. Even there the birds of prey will gather, each with its mate.
• Isaiah 38:8
  Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees, by which degrees it was gone down.I will make the sun’s shadow that falls on the stairway of Ahaz go back ten steps.’” So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had descended.
• Isaiah 49:2
  And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;He made My mouth like a sharp sword; He hid Me in the shadow of His hand. He made Me like a polished arrow; He hid Me in His quiver.
• Isaiah 51:16
  And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.I have put My words in your mouth, and covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”

Jeremiah

• Jeremiah 48:45
  They that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of the force: but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.“Those who flee will stand helpless in Heshbon’s shadow, because fire has gone forth from Heshbon and a flame from within Sihon. It devours the foreheads of Moab and the skulls of the sons of tumult.

Lamentations

• Lamentations 4:20
  The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.The LORD’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. We had said of him, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”

Ezekiel

• Ezekiel 17:23
  In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.I will plant it on the mountain heights of Israel so that it will bear branches; it will yield fruit and become a majestic cedar. Birds of every kind will nest under it, taking shelter in the shade of its branches.
• Ezekiel 31:6
  All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.All the birds of the air nested in its branches, and all the beasts of the field gave birth beneath its boughs; all the great nations lived in its shade.
• Ezekiel 31:12
  And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.Foreigners, the most ruthless of the nations, cut it down and left it. Its branches have fallen on the mountains and in every valley; its boughs lay broken in all the earth’s ravines. And all the peoples of the earth left its shade and abandoned it.
• Ezekiel 31:17
  They also went down into hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.They too descended with it to Sheol, to those slain by the sword. As its allies they had lived in its shade among the nations.

Hosea

• Hosea 4:13
  They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. And so your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.
• Hosea 14:7
  They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.They will return and dwell in his shade; they will grow grain and blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

Jonah

• Jonah 4:5
  So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.Then Jonah left the city and sat down east of it, where he made himself a shelter and sat in its shade to see what would happen to the city.
• Jonah 4:6
  And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.So the LORD God appointed a vine, and it grew up to provide shade over Jonah’s head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was greatly pleased with the plant.

Notes

1. Definition and verse list from STEPBible's tagged Hebrew Old Testament (TAHOT) and Greek New Testament (TAGNT) and Brief Lexicons, STEPBible.org, CC BY 4.0.
2. English renderings from the public-domain KJV with Strong's numbers (eBible.org) and the Berean Standard Bible interlinear (public domain).