סָבַב
savav · go around, surround
Hebrew word · Strong’s number H5437 · appears 157 times in the Bible
What is the Strong number?
Strong’s number identifies this word: use it to find the same word in other study tools.What it means
savav (סָבַב) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “go around, surround”.
Go around, turn around; surround.
How to say it
sa·vav
Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.
Its senses in the Bible
- To enclose someone or something on every side.
- To follow a road that circles instead of going straight.
- To turn another way, or to pass to another owner: the face, a kingdom, a name.
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)
Word study
To go around, to surround; to turn; to change. BDB: to revolve, surround or border, in many applications, literal and figurative.
- Going around the city Joshua 6:14Genesis 19:4
- “The cords of Sheol surrounded me” Psalms 18:5
- Making a round 1 Samuel 7:16
- Turning; turning the face 2 Kings 20:2Ezekiel 1:9
- Changing a name 2 Kings 23:34
Historical and cultural background
In Joshua 6:14-15 Israel goes around the city of Jericho once a day for six days, and on the seventh day “seven times”.
How we translate it
“Turned” 32 times, “surrounded” 28, “turn” 23, “go around” 15, “went around” 12, “surround” 6, “changed” 5… The sense comes from the context: “surround” or “go around” a place, “turn”, and “changed” when a king changes another's name (2 Kings 23:34).
How it is translated
The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.
- turned ×32
- surrounded ×28
- turn ×23
- go around ×15
- went around ×12
- surround ×6
- changed ×5
- circling ×3
- circle around ×2
- one that goes around ×2
- others ×29
Related words
Words that come from it
Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.
Where it appears
- Genesis×5
- Exodus×1
- Numbers×6
- Deuteronomy×3
- Joshua×13
- Judges×5
- 1 Samuel×14
- 2 Samuel×10
- 1 Kings×8
- 2 Kings×10
- 1 Chronicles×5
- 2 Chronicles×13
- Ezra×1
- Job×2
- Psalms×22
- Proverbs×1
- Ecclesiastes×7
- Song of Songs×5
- Isaiah×3
- Jeremiah×6
- Ezekiel×11
- Hosea×2
- Jonah×2
- Habakkuk×1
- Zechariah×1
- Genesis 2:11
The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that goes around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
- Genesis 2:13
And the name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that goes around the whole land of Cush.
- Genesis 19:4
Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, from young to old, all the people from every quarter.
- Genesis 37:7
Look, we were binding sheaves in the middle of the field, and look, my sheaf rose and also stood upright; and look, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down before my sheaf.”
- Genesis 42:24
He turned away from them and wept. Then he returned to them and spoke to them, and he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.
- Exodus 13:18
So Elohim led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Sea of Reeds. And the sons of Israel went up in battle formation from the land of Egypt.
- Numbers 21:4
And they set out from Hor the mountain by the way of the Sea of Reeds, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people grew impatient on the way.
- Numbers 32:38
Nebo, and Baal-meon —their names changed— and Sibmah; and they gave names to the cities that they built.
- Numbers 34:4
And the border shall turn for you south of the ascent of Akrabbim and pass on to Zin, and it shall end south of Kadesh-barnea; and it shall go out to Hazar-addar and pass on to Azmon.
- Numbers 34:5
And the border shall turn from Azmon to the brook of Egypt, and it shall end at the sea.
- Numbers 36:7
So the inheritance of the sons of Israel shall not pass from tribe to tribe, for the sons of Israel shall hold fast, each to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.
- Numbers 36:9
So the inheritance shall not pass from tribe to another tribe, for the tribes of the sons of Israel shall hold fast, each to his own inheritance.”
- Deuteronomy 2:1
Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Reeds, as YHWH had spoken to me, and we went around Mount Seir many days.
- Deuteronomy 2:3
“You have gone around this mountain long enough. Turn north.
- Deuteronomy 32:10
He found him in a land of wilderness, and in an emptiness of howling, a wasteland; he surrounded him, he cared for him, he guarded him like the pupil of his eye.
- Joshua 6:3
You shall go around the city, all the men of war, circling the city once. Thus you shall do for six days.
- Joshua 6:4
And seven priests shall carry seven rams’ horns before the ark. And on the seventh day you shall go around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the horns.
- Joshua 6:7
And he said to the people, “Pass on and go around the city, and let the armed men pass on before the ark of YHWH.”
- Joshua 6:11
So he had the ark of YHWH go around the city, circling it once; and they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.
- Joshua 6:14
They went around the city on the second day once and returned to the camp. Thus they did for six days.
- Joshua 6:15
And it came about on the seventh day that they rose early at the rising of the dawn and went around the city in this same manner seven times; only on that day they went around the city seven times.
- Joshua 7:9
The Canaanite and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?”
- Joshua 15:3
and it went out south of the Ascent of Akrabbim, and passed along to Zin, and went up south of Kadesh-barnea, and passed along Hezron, and went up to Addar, and turned to Karka;
- Joshua 15:10
and the border turned from Baalah westward to Mount Seir, and passed along to the slope of Mount Jearim on the north (that is Chesalon), and went down to Beth-shemesh, and passed along to Timnah;
- Joshua 16:6
and the border went out to the sea, with Michmethath on the north; and the border turned eastward to Taanath-shiloh, and passed along it on the east of Janoah;
- Joshua 18:14
And the border bent and turned on the west side southward from the hill that lies over against Beth-horon on the south, and its ends were at Kiriath-baal (that is Kiriath-jearim), a city of the sons of Judah. This was the west side.
- Joshua 19:14
and the border turned around it on the north to Hannathon, and its ends were at the Valley of Iphtah-el;
- Judges 11:18
Then he went through the wilderness and went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came from the rising of the sun to the land of Moab, and they camped beyond the Arnon; and they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab.
- Judges 16:2
It was told to the Gazites, “Samson has come here.” And they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city, and kept quiet all night, saying, “Until the light of morning; then we will kill him.”
- Judges 18:23
And they called out to the sons of Dan; and they turned their faces and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you that you have been summoned?”
- Judges 19:22
They were making their hearts merry, when the men of the city, perverse men, surrounded the house, beating on the door; and they spoke to the old man, the master of the house, saying, “Bring out the man who came into your house, so that we may know him.”
- Judges 20:5
And the lords of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house around me at night. Me they intended to kill, and my concubine they humiliated, and she died.
- 1 Samuel 5:8
So they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Elohim of Israel?” And they said, “Let the ark of the Elohim of Israel be moved around to Gath.” So they moved the ark of the Elohim of Israel.
- 1 Samuel 5:9
And it happened, after they had moved it, that the hand of YHWH was against the city with a very great confusion; and he struck the men of the city, from the small to the great, and tumors broke out on them.
- 1 Samuel 5:10
So they sent the ark of Elohim to Ekron. And it happened, as the ark of Elohim came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have moved the ark of the Elohim of Israel around to me to put me to death and my people!”
- 1 Samuel 7:16
He would go year by year and make the round of Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah, and judge Israel in all these places.
- 1 Samuel 15:12
Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning; and it was told to Samuel, saying, “Saul came to Carmel, and look, he is setting up for himself a monument; and he turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.”
- 1 Samuel 15:27
Samuel turned to go, and he seized the edge of his robe, and it tore.
- 1 Samuel 16:11
Samuel said to Jesse, “Are the young men all here?” He said, “There remains still the youngest, and look, he is pasturing the flock.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit around until he comes here.”
- 1 Samuel 17:30
He turned from beside him toward another and spoke according to this word; and the people brought him back word according to the first word.
And 117 more times.