tsava · serve; wage war

What it means

tsava (צָבָא) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “serve; wage war”.

Serve in a body and by turns; also go out to war.

How to say it

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

1. To make war against someone.
2. To work at the tent of meeting.
3. To call up the people for war.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• wage war ×4
• serve ×2
• served ×2
• who mustered ×2
• They waged war ×1
• have waged war ×1
• serving women ×1
• who had fought ×1

Where it appears

• Exodus×2
• Numbers×4
• 1 Samuel×1
• 2 Kings×1
• Isaiah×4
• Jeremiah×1
• Zechariah×1

• Exodus 38:8

  And he made the basin of bronze and its stand of bronze, from the mirrors of the serving women who served at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

• Numbers 4:23

  from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old you shall count them, everyone who enters to serve in the ranks, to do the service in the tent of meeting.

• Numbers 8:24

  “This is what applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward one shall enter to serve in the ranks in the service of the tent of meeting.

• Numbers 31:7

  They waged war against Midian, as YHWH had commanded Moses, and they killed every male.

• Numbers 31:42

  And from the half of the sons of Israel, which Moses had divided from the men who had fought

• 1 Samuel 2:22

  Now Eli was very old, and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and that they were lying with the women who served at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

• 2 Kings 25:19

  and from the city he took an official who was in charge of the men of war, and five men of those who saw the face of the king, who were found in the city, and the scribe of the chief of the army, who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city.

• Isaiah 29:7

  And like a dream, a vision of the night, will be the multitude of all the nations that wage war against Ariel, and all who wage war against her and her fortress, and those who distress her.

• Isaiah 29:8

  And it will be as when the hungry man dreams, and look, he is eating, and he awakes, and his soul is empty; and as when the thirsty man dreams, and look, he is drinking, and he awakes, and look, he is faint, and his soul longs; so will be the multitude of all the nations that wage war against Mount Zion.

• Isaiah 31:4

  For thus YHWH said to me: “As the lion growls, and the young lion, over its prey, when a full band of shepherds is called out against it, at their voice it is not terrified, and at their tumult it is not abashed, so YHWH Tsevaot will come down to wage war upon Mount Zion and upon its hill.

• Jeremiah 52:25

  and from the city he took an official who was in charge of the men of war, and seven men of those who saw the face of the king, who were found in the city, and the scribe of the chief of the army, who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city.

• Zechariah 14:12

  And this will be the plague with which YHWH will strike all the peoples that have waged war against Jerusalem: his flesh will waste away while he stands on his feet, and his eyes will waste away in their sockets, and his tongue will waste away in their mouth.

And 2 more times.