panim · face, presence

What it means

panim (פָּנִים) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “face, presence”.

Face. From there "surface" (the face of something) and "presence" (being before someone's face); with a preposition it means "before" or "in front of".

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. The front of the head, of someone or of God.
2. Literally "the face": being before someone, face to face.
3. The surface: "the face of the earth".
4. Literally "to the face of": in sight of someone, or on account of something.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Face (in Hebrew the word is plural in form). From there come “surface” (the face of something), “presence” (being before someone's face) and, with prepositions, “before”, “in front of”, “because of”.

• The face of a person or of God Numbers 6:25Genesis 32:30Exodus 33:11
• Presence Exodus 33:14Exodus 25:30
• Surface, face of something Genesis 1:2Genesis 4:14
• “Before” Exodus 20:3

Historical and cultural background

The “bread of the presence”, literally “bread of the face”, was always on the table before YHWH (Exodus 25:30).

How we translate it

The most frequent rendering is “before” (1246 times), because לִפְנֵי (“at the face of”) is the Hebrew preposition for “before, in front of”. Besides that: “face” 393, “faces” 67, “because of” 63 (מִפְּנֵי), “front of” 49, “presence” 40. “Face to face” keeps the image (Genesis 32:30; Exodus 33:11).

How it is translated

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

• before ×1246
• face ×393
• faces ×67
• because of ×63
• front of ×49
• presence ×40
• front ×34
• facing ×18
• from ×16
• because ×15
• others ×185

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×141
• Exodus×128
• Leviticus×107
• Numbers×119
• Deuteronomy×132
• Joshua×91
• Judges×46
• Ruth×2
• 1 Samuel×98
• 2 Samuel×73
• 1 Kings×100
• 2 Kings×73
• 1 Chronicles×63
• 2 Chronicles×119
• Ezra×10
• Nehemiah×31
• Esther×37
• Job×70
• Psalms×133
• Proverbs×42
• Ecclesiastes×21
• Song of Songs×2
• Isaiah×90
• Jeremiah×128
• Lamentations×11
• Ezekiel×155
• Daniel×33
• Hosea×9
• Joel×8
• Amos×7
• Jonah×4
• Micah×5
• Nahum×5
• Habakkuk×3
• Zephaniah×3
• Haggai×2
• Zechariah×16
• Malachi×10

• Genesis 1:2

  Now the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of Elohim was hovering over the surface of the waters.

• Genesis 1:20

  And Elohim said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living beings, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the vault of the heavens.”

• Genesis 1:29

  And Elohim said, “Look, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree that has fruit yielding seed; it will be food for you.

• Genesis 2:6

  but a mist would go up from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.

• Genesis 3:8

  And they heard the sound of YHWH Elohim walking about in the garden in the wind of the day, and the man and his wife hid from the presence of YHWH Elohim among the trees of the garden.

• Genesis 4:5

  but Cain and his offering he did not regard. And Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

• Genesis 4:6

  And YHWH said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?

• Genesis 4:14

  Look, you have driven me out today from the face of the ground, and from your presence I will be hidden; and I will be a wanderer and a drifter on the earth, and it will happen that whoever finds me will kill me.”

• Genesis 4:16

  And Cain went out from the presence of YHWH and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

• Genesis 6:1

  And it happened, when human beings began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them,

• Genesis 6:7

  And YHWH said, “I will wipe out the human being whom I have created from the face of the ground, from human being to livestock, to creeping things and to the birds of the sky, for I am sorry that I made them.”

• Genesis 6:11

  And the earth was corrupt before Elohim, and the earth was filled with violence.

• Genesis 6:13

  And Elohim said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and look, I am going to destroy them with the earth.

• Genesis 7:1

  And YHWH said to Noah, “Come, you and all your household, into the ark, for you I have seen to be righteous before me in this generation.

• Genesis 7:3

  also of the birds of the sky seven and seven, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth.

• Genesis 7:4

  For in seven more days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe out all that exists, which I have made, from the face of the ground.”

• Genesis 7:7

  And Noah went into the ark, and his sons and his wife and the wives of his sons with him, because of the waters of the flood.

• Genesis 7:18

  And the waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark moved on the surface of the waters.

• Genesis 7:23

  And he wiped out all that existed that was on the face of the ground, from human being to livestock, to creeping things and to the birds of the sky; and they were wiped out from the earth. And only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark.

• Genesis 8:8

  And he sent out the dove from him to see whether the waters had decreased from the face of the ground.

• Genesis 8:9

  But the dove did not find a resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were on the face of all the earth. And he reached out his hand and took her and brought her to himself into the ark.

• Genesis 8:13

  And it happened in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, that the waters dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and look, the face of the ground had dried.

• Genesis 9:23

  And Shem and Japheth took the cloak and laid it on the shoulders of both of them, and they walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned backward, and the nakedness of their father they did not see.

• Genesis 10:9

  He was a mighty hunter before YHWH; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before YHWH.”

• Genesis 11:4

  And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, so that we are not scattered over the face of all the earth.”

• Genesis 11:8

  So YHWH scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city.

• Genesis 11:9

  That is why its name was called Babel, because there YHWH confused the language of all the earth, and from there YHWH scattered them over the face of all the earth.

• Genesis 11:28

  Haran died in the presence of Terah his father in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

• Genesis 13:9

  Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you go to the left, I will go to the right; and if you go to the right, I will go to the left.”

• Genesis 13:10

  Lot lifted his eyes and saw the whole plain of the Jordan, that all of it was well-watered (before YHWH destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of YHWH, like the land of Egypt, as you go toward Zoar.

• Genesis 16:6

  But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your slave woman is in your hand; do to her what is good in your eyes.” So Sarai afflicted her, and she fled from her presence.

• Genesis 16:8

  He said, “Hagar, slave woman of Sarai, where from have you come, and where are you going?” She said, “From the presence of Sarai my mistress I am fleeing.”

• Genesis 16:12

  He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone, and the hand of everyone against him; and facing all his brothers he will dwell.”

• Genesis 17:1

  When Abram was ninety-nine years old, YHWH appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai; walk before me and be blameless.

• Genesis 17:3

  Abram fell on his face, and Elohim spoke with him, saying,

• Genesis 17:17

  Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a son be born to one who is a hundred years old? And Sarah, will she, at ninety years, give birth?”

• Genesis 17:18

  Abraham said to Elohim, “If only Ishmael might live before you!”

• Genesis 18:8

  He took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

• Genesis 18:16

  Then the men got up from there and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them on their way.

• Genesis 18:22

  The men turned from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before YHWH.

And 2087 more times.