tsel · shade, shadow

What it means

tsel (צֵל) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “shade, shadow”.

Figuratively, protection.

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. A shadow: the dark shape something leaves when it blocks the light, and which soon passes.
2. Protecting shade: "in the shadow of your wings".

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Shade, shadow: that cast by a tree, a roof or a cloud. Figuratively it is protection, the place where one takes refuge from heat and danger, and also what passes quickly and does not last.

• “In the shadow of your wings”: YHWH’s protection Psalms 17:8Psalms 91:1Psalms 121:5
• “A shade from the heat” Isaiah 25:4Jonah 4:6
• The protection of a king or of a roof Judges 9:15Lamentations 4:20Genesis 19:8
• Days like a passing shadow 1 Chronicles 29:15Job 8:9Psalms 144:4
• The shadow that turns back: the sign to Hezekiah 2 Kings 20:10

Historical and cultural background

Joshua and Caleb say of the peoples of Canaan: “Their shade has turned away from over them, and YHWH {is} with us” (Numbers 14:9). Lot defends his guests because “they have come under the shadow of my roof” (Genesis 19:8).

How we translate it

“Shadow” 30 times and “shade” 19: “shade” where it is relief from the heat (“YHWH {is} your shade at your right hand”, Psalm 121:5; Jonah 4:6), and “shadow” for the image of shelter and for what passes (“in the shadow of Shaddai”, Psalm 91:1; “his days {are} like a shadow that passes”, Psalm 144:4).

How it is translated

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

• shadow ×30
• shade ×19

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×1
• Numbers×1
• Judges×2
• 2 Kings×4
• 1 Chronicles×1
• Job×4
• Psalms×10
• Ecclesiastes×4
• Song of Songs×1
• Isaiah×11
• Jeremiah×1
• Lamentations×1
• Ezekiel×4
• Hosea×2
• Jonah×2

• Genesis 19:8

  Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as is good in your eyes; only to these men do not do anything, for that is why they have come under the shadow of my roof.”

• Numbers 14:9

  Only do not rebel against YHWH; and you, do not fear the people of the land, for they are our bread. Their shade has turned away from over them, and YHWH is with us; do not fear them.”

• Judges 9:15

  The thornbush said to the trees, ‘If in truth you are anointing me as king over you, come, take refuge in my shade; but if not, let fire come out from the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’

• Judges 9:36

  Gaal saw the people and said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains.” Zebul said to him, “The shadow of the mountains you are seeing as men.”

• 2 Kings 20:9

  Isaiah said, “This shall be to you the sign from YHWH, that YHWH will do the thing that he has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?”

• 2 Kings 20:10

  Hezekiah said, “It is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps; no, but let the shadow turn back ten steps backward.”

• 2 Kings 20:11

  Isaiah the prophet cried out to YHWH, and he brought back the shadow on the steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz, backward ten steps.

• 1 Chronicles 29:15

  For we are resident aliens before you and temporary residents, like all our fathers; like a shadow are our days on the earth, and there is no hope.

• Job 7:2

  Like a slave who pants for the shade, and like a hired worker who hopes for his wages,

• Job 8:9

  For we are of yesterday and do not know, for our days are a shadow on earth.

• Job 14:2

  Like a flower he comes out and withers; he flees like the shadow and does not stand.

• Job 17:7

  And my eye has grown dim from vexation, and my limbs are like a shadow, all of them.

• Psalms 17:8

  Keep me as the pupil of the eye; in the shadow of your wings hide me

• Psalms 36:7

  How precious is your loyal love, Elohim! And human beings in the shadow of your wings take refuge.

• Psalms 57:1

  For the director. Do Not Destroy. Of David. A Miktam, when he fled from before Saul in the cave. Show me favor, Elohim, show me favor, for in you my soul has taken refuge; and in the shadow of your wings I take refuge until the calamities pass by.

• Psalms 63:7

  For you have been a help to me, and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.

• Psalms 80:10

  The mountains were covered with its shade, and with its boughs the cedars of El.

• Psalms 91:1

  He who dwells in the hiding place of Elyon will spend the night in the shadow of Shaddai.

• Psalms 102:11

  My days are like a shadow stretched out, and I like grass wither.

• Psalms 109:23

  Like a shadow when it stretches out I am gone; I am shaken off like the locust.

• Psalms 121:5

  YHWH is the one who keeps you; YHWH is your shade at your right hand.

• Psalms 144:4

  A human being is like a vapor; his days are like a shadow that passes.

• Ecclesiastes 6:12

  For who knows what is good for the human being in life, during the number of the days of his life of vapor, which he spends like a shadow? For who will tell the human being what will be after him under the sun?

• Ecclesiastes 7:12

  For in the shadow of wisdom, in the shadow of silver; and the profit of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to its owners.

• Ecclesiastes 8:13

  but it will not be well with the wicked, and he will not prolong his days like the shadow, because he does not fear before Elohim.

• Song of Songs 2:3

  Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the boys; in his shade I delighted and sat, and his fruit was sweet to my palate.

• Isaiah 4:6

  And there will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a hiding place from the downpour and from the rain.

• Isaiah 16:3

  Bring counsel, make a decision; make your shade like the night in the middle of noon; hide the banished, do not expose the wanderer.

• Isaiah 25:4

  For you have been a stronghold for the poor, a stronghold for the needy in his distress, a refuge from the downpour, a shade from the heat; for the blast of the tyrants is like a downpour against a wall.

• Isaiah 25:5

  Like heat in a dry land, the uproar of strangers you subdue; as heat by the shade of a cloud, the song of the tyrants is brought low.

• Isaiah 30:2

  who set out to go down to Egypt, and have not asked my mouth, to take refuge in the stronghold of Pharaoh, and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt.

• Isaiah 30:3

  And the stronghold of Pharaoh will become for you a shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt a humiliation.

• Isaiah 32:2

  And each one will be like a cover from the wind and a hiding place from the downpour, like streams of water in a dry land, like the shade of a heavy crag in a weary land.

• Isaiah 34:15

  There the snake will nest and lay eggs and hatch them and gather them in its shadow; yes, there the harriers will gather, each one with its mate.

• Isaiah 38:8

  Look, I am bringing back the shadow on the steps, which has gone down on the steps of Ahaz with the sun, backward ten steps.’” And the sun went back ten steps on the steps by which it had gone down.

• Isaiah 49:2

  And he made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; and he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he concealed me.

• Isaiah 51:16

  And I have put my words in your mouth, and in the shadow of my hand I have covered you, to plant the heavens and to found the earth, and to say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

• Jeremiah 48:45

  In the shadow of Heshbon the fugitives stood without strength; for fire went out from Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and it consumed the temple of Moab and the crown of the sons of tumult.

• Lamentations 4:20

  The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of YHWH, was caught in their pits, he of whom we said, “In his shadow we will live among the nations.”

• Ezekiel 17:23

  On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it, and it will bear branches and produce fruit, and become a noble cedar; and under it will dwell every bird of every wing; in the shade of its branches they will dwell.

And 9 more times.