סָבַב
to turn around
‘to turn around’ is one of 2 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Qal verb in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Hiphil
- The causative active stem (“he caused / brought about”). Here: ‘turn’
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”). Here: ‘turn’
- Niphal
- Usually the simple passive or reflexive of the Qal (“he was written”). Here: ‘turn oneself against’
- Hophal
- The passive counterpart of the Hiphil (“he was caused to…”). Here: ‘be turned’
- Piel
- An intensive or resultative active stem. Here: ‘encompass’
Form
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
- Cohortative
- A first-person volitional form expressing wish or resolve (“let me / let us write”).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Participle Passive
- A verbal adjective expressing action received (“written”).
- Jussive
- A third- or second-person volitional form expressing wish or command (“let him write”).
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Person
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
3 verses where H5437 appears in the Qal stem in the Book of Numbers. Filtered view — show all forms. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Numbers
- Numbers 21:4 לִ/סְבֹ֖ב prep + Qal inf.cs They traveled from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
- Numbers 36:7 תִסֹּ֤ב Qal impf 3fs So shall no inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe; for the children of Israel shall cleave everyone to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.
- Numbers 36:9 תִסֹּ֧ב Qal impf 3fs So shall no inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe; for the tribes of the children of Israel shall cleave everyone to his own inheritance.
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
סבב — transliterated çâbab — is a Hebrew verb carrying the sense “to turn around.” The King James Version usually renders it “turned,” while modern versions prefer “and” (unfoldingWord Literal Text) — see the renderings breakdown. With 148 verses in 25 books, it is a common word in the Hebrew Bible. Debuting at Genesis 2:11, it then recurs through the corpus. Across 5 stems, its meaning turns on the binyan (Qal, Niphal). Dig into 148-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H5437 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 148
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 148 distinct verses.
- 25 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 25 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #290
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 290 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 148 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Psalms 21 verses 14%
- 2 Chronicles 13 verses 9%
- Joshua 12 verses 8%
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 148 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 80 verses · 54%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 53 verses · 36%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 15 verses · 10%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Turned 10×, Compassed 8×, They turned 6×
- American Standard Version: Turned 10×, About 5×, Compassed 5×
- Berean Standard Bible: Turned 8×, Surrounded 6×, Turn 5×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: And 15×, Turn 12×, Go around 10×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H5437 across 162 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 80 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H5437 across 158 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 81 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H5437 across 153 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 90 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 8 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H5437 across 191 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 63 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
30 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB
Hebrew verbs can shift meaning by stem (binyan): Qal is the basic action, Niphal is often passive or reflexive, Piel often intensifies or makes it factitive, and Hiphil is typically causative. The senses below are grouped under the stem BDB assigns to each. This entry also uses Hophal (the passive of Hiphil).
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 30 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
Qal
- Pf. 3 ms. ס׳ Ez 42:19 +; 1 s. סַבֹּ֫תִי 1 S 22:22 (but v. infr.), סַבּ֫וֹתִי Ec 2:20; 7:25; 3 pl. סָֽבְבוּ Jos 6:15 + 1 S 14:21; 2 S 24:6 (v. infr.), sf. סְבָבוּנִי ψ 18:6 +, סַבּוּנִי 88:18 + 2 times, סַבֻּנִי 2 S 22:6; 2 mpl. וְסַבֹּתֶם consec. Jos 6:3, etc.; Impf. יָסֹב 1 K 7:15 +, sf. יְסֻבֵּנִי ψ 49:6; oftener יִסֹּב 1 S 5:8 +, וַיִּסֹּב Gn 42:24 +; 3 mpl. יָסֹ֫בּוּ Jb 16:13, וַיָּסֹ֫בּוּ Jos 6:14 +, 3 fpl. תְּסֻבֶּינָה Gn 37:7, etc.; Imv. ms. סֹב 1 S 22:18, fs. סֹ֫בִּי Is 23:16, etc.; Inf. cstr. לִסְבֹּב Nu 21:4, סֹב Dt 2:3; Pt. סוֹבֵב 2 K 6:15 +, הַסֹּבֵיב 8:21 (Ginsb הִסְבִּיב Kt, הַסֹּבֵב Qr), etc.;— e.g. Ezekiel 42:19
- 1. turn, intrans. (Impf. of form יִסֹּב in this sense only):
- a. turn about, often as preliminary to something else 1 S 15:12, 27 (sq. inf.), 1 Ch 16:43 (id.; וַיָּ֫שָׁב in ‖ 2 S 6:20) + 1 S 14:21 (read סָֽבְבוּ גַם for MT סָבִיב וְגַם, 𝔊 𝔖 𝔙 Th We, etc.), Je 41:14a (+ שׁוב v b, but 𝔊 om. v a cf. Gie), Ec 1:6(×2); of door, Pr 26:14 turn on (עַל) its hinge (cf. Niph. Ez 26:2); turn (toward one) 1 S 22:17, 18(×2) 2 S 18:30x2; Ct 2:17 (v. Bu); also c. אֶל־ 2 S 14:24(×2) + 24:6 (read סָֽבְבוּ for סָבִיב We Dr Bu Kit HPS; Klo יָסֹבּוּ, cf. Löhr), Ez 42:19 Ec 1:6, אֶל־אַחֲרָ֑י 2 K 9:18, 19; of cup of י׳, it shall come round unto (עַל־, with hostile implic.; עָבַר עַל La 4:22) Hb 2:16; of Jordan, turn לְאָחוֹר ψ 114:3, 5; turn about from (מֵעַל) Gn 42:24, (מִן) 1 S 18:11, + אֶל־ 17:30; so of inheritance Nu 36:7 it shall not go about from (מִן) tribe to (אֶל־) tribe, also v 9 (לְ for אֶל־); cf. (abs.) וַתִּסֹּב הַמְּלוּכָה וַתְּהִי לְאָחִי 1 K 2:15 (cf. Hiph. 1 b); = be brought round, c. acc. loc. 1 S 5:8 (of ark). e.g. 1 Samuel 15:12
- b. turn = change, only Zc 14:10 (of land, changed like [כְּ, i.e. into] a plain), cf. Hiph. 1 c. e.g. Zechariah 14:10
- c. fig. turn (in a new direction) to do something (inf.) Ec 2:20; 7:25.—ψ 71:21 is dub.; Bae reads וְתָשֻׁב for וְתִסֹּב after 𝔊 𝔖 𝔙; Hup-Now Che al. sub a. supr.: turn, comfort me.—Jb 10:8 read אַחַר תִּסֹּב for MT יחד סביב De al. e.g. Ecclesiastes 2:20
- 2.
- a. march, or walk, around, c. acc. (city) Jos 6:3, 4, 7, 14, 15(×2) (all JE), ψ 48:13; poss. also נָסֹב 1 S 16:11 (of marching about altar? so HPS; turn to do something else Th), but cf. תסוב Ecclus 32:1 sit about a table (v. SchechterBS p. 56, and cf. מֵסַב), or read נֵשֵׁב Weir in Dr Kit Bu Löhr (perhaps). e.g. Joshua 6:3
- b. go partly round, circle about, skirt, c. acc. (land) Nu 21:4 (JE) Ju 11:18, also Dt 2:1, 3; of rivers Gn 2:11, 13. e.g. Numbers 21:4
- c. make a round, or circuit, go about to, c. acc. loc. 1 S 7:16; go about in (בְּ) 2 Ch 17:9, cf. also (c. בְּ) 23:2 Ct 3:5; 5:7 Ec 12:5, so c. acc. Is 23:16; = make a circuitous march 2 K 3:9 (c. acc. דֶּרֶךְ).—Vid. also 2 S 5:23 1 Ch 14:14 Hiph. 2 a. e.g. 1 Samuel 7:16
- d. surround, encompass, abs. Gn 37:7 (E); c. acc. Jb 40:22; with hostile purpose, 2 K 6:15 Ec 9:14 (both of siege), cf. 2 K 3:25; acc. om. Ju 16:2, cf. 2 S 18:15; c. acc. rei + עַל־ pers. Ju 20:5; c. עַל־ pers. alone Jb 16:13 2 Ch 18:31; c. אֶל־ pers. 2 K 8:21 = 2 Ch 21:9; often fig. in poetry, c. acc. Ho 7:2 2 S 22:6 = ψ 18:6, ψ 22:13, 17; 49:6; 88:18; 118:10, 11(×2), 12; so also ψ 17:11 (Kt סְבָבוּנִי, Qr סְבָבוּנוּ; on text v. especially Hup-Now); lit. of cord surrounding (measuring circumf. of), c. acc. 1 K 7:15 = Je 52:21, 1 K 7:23 = 2 Ch 4:2; of ornaments, etc., surrounding something (acc.) 1 K 7:24 2 Ch 4:3; surround one with something (2 acc.) 1 K 5:17 ψ 109:3; acc. + בְּ instr. Ho 12:1; ס׳ לָעֹפֶל 2 Ch 33:14 (i.e. build a wall around it).—1 S 22:22 read חַבְתִּי (√ חוּב), 𝔊 𝔖 Th We Dr Kit Bu Löhr HPS. e.g. Genesis 37:7
Niphal
- Pf. 3 ms. נָסַב Jos 15:3 +; 3 fs. נָסֵ֫בָּה Ez 26:2 (Ges§ 67 t St§ 410 b Köi. 342); וְנָֽסְבָה 41:7 (but read וְנוֹסְפָה Ew Sm Co ToyHpt, cf. Berthol); 3 pl. נָסַ֫בּוּ Gn 19:4 +; Impf. 3 mpl. יִסַּ֫בּוּ Ez 1:9 + 5 times;— e.g. Joshua 15:3
- 1.
- a. turn oneself against (עַל־), close round upon (עַל) Gn 19:4 (J) Jos 7:9 (JE); c. acc. Ju 19:22. e.g. Genesis 19:4
- b. turn round (from a direct course), of wheels Ez 1:9, 12, 17; 10:11(×2), also v 16 (but dub., Co ישׁבו, ToyHpt leave, Symm ἀπελείποντο); נָסַ֫בָּה אֵלַי Ez 26:2 of Jerus. under fig. of door (Sm Co Berthol ToyHpt). e.g. Ezekiel 1:9
- c. especially of boundary (Hex only P): turn round from (מִן), toward (לְ) Nu 34:4, + ה loc. Jos 18:14; c. מִן + ה loc. + אֶל־ 15:10; c. מִן alone Nu 34:5; c. ה loc. alone Je 31:39 Jos 15:3; 16:6; circle about, skirt, c. acc. Jos 19:14. e.g. Numbers 34:4
- 2. pass. be turned over to (לְ, into the power of, Je 6:12. e.g. Jeremiah 6:12
Piel
- Inf. cstr. סַבֵּב אֶת־פְּנֵי הַדָּבָר 2 S 14:20 to change, transform, the aspect of the matter. Poʿ. Impf. 3 ms. sf. יְסֹבְבֵנִי Jon 2:4, 6, יְסֹבְבֶנְהוּ Dt 32:10, יְסוֹבְבֶנּוּ ψ 32:10; 3 fs. תְּסוֹבֵב Je 31:22, etc.;—encompass, surround (poet. and chiefly late):— e.g. 2 Samuel 14:20
- 1. encompass (with protection), c. acc. Dt 32:10 (י׳ subj.), c. 2 acc. חֶסֶד יְסוֹבְבֶנּוּ ψ 32:10, cf. v 7 (but 2nd obj. here dub.); similarly נְקֵבָה תְּסוֹבֵב נָּ֑בֶר Je 31:22 i.e. either shall protect (so most) or (Che, cf. Gf) the woman (fig. of Isr.), instead of holding aloof (הַבַּת הַשּׁוֹבֵבָה v 22), will, in the new future which י׳ creates, with affection press round her divine husband. e.g. Deuteronomy 32:10
- 2. come about, assemble round (acc. pers. י׳) ψ 7:8. e.g. Psalms 7:8
- 3. march or go about, city (acc.) ψ 55:11; 59:7, 15; altar (in solemn procession) 26:6; go about in (בְּ) city Ct 3:2. e.g. Psalms 55:11
- 4. enclose, envelop, c. acc. pers. Jon 2:4, 6 (of waters). e.g. Jonah 2:4
Hiphil
- Pf. 3 ms. הֵסֵב 2 K 16:18 +; 2 ms. הֲסִבֹּ֫תָ 1 K 18:37; 3 pl. הֵסַ֫בּוּ 1 S 5:9, 10, etc.; Impf. 3 ms. וַיַּסֵּב Ex 13:18 +, sf. וַיְסִבֵּ֫נִי Ez 47:2; 3 mpl. וַיַּסֵּ֫בּוּ Ju 18:23 + 2 times; 1 pl. נָסֵב 2 Ch 14:6, cohort. נָסֵ֫בָּה 1 Ch 13:3; Imv. ms. הָסֵב 2 S 5:23 1 Ch 14:14 (but v. infr.); fs. הָסֵ֫בִּי Ct 6:5; Inf. cstr. הָסֵב 2 S 3:12 1 Ch 12:23; Pt. מֵסֵב Je 21:4; perhaps also pl. sf. מְסִבָּ֑י ψ 140:10 (Ginsb);— e.g. 2 Kings 16:18
- 1.
- a. turn (trans.), cause to turn: turn face (acc.) Ju 18:23 1 K 8:14 = 2 Ch 6:3 (all = turn toward); = turn round face 1 K 21:4, + אֶל־הַקִּיר 2 K 20:2 = Is 38:2; + מִן Ez 7:22 (subj. י׳), 2 Ch 29:6 (of neglect), 35:22 (of avoiding battle); turn away eyes from (מִן), Ct 6:5; turn (back), change heart 1 K 18:37 (recall from apostasy; + אֲחֹרַנִּית), Ezr 6:22 (+ עַל־); turn back, reverse (weapons) Je 21:4. e.g. Judges 18:23
- b. bring over (i.e. to allegiance), c. acc. + אֶל־ pers., 2 S 3:12 1 Ch 12:24 (van d. H. v 23); of י׳, turn over kingdom to (לְ) 1 Ch 10:14 (cf. Qal 1 a, 1 K 2:15). e.g. 2 Samuel 3:12
- c. turn into, of changing name, 2 acc. 2 K 23:34 = 2 Ch 36:4, 2 K 24:17. e.g. 2 Kings 23:34
- d. = bring round, c. acc. 1 S 5:8, 9; + מִן 2 S 20:12; + אֶל־ 1 S 5:10 1 Ch 13:3; + acc. loc. 2 K 16:18 (sense obscure). e.g. 1 Samuel 5:8
- 2.
- a. cause to go around: of carrying ark around city (2 acc.) Jos 6:11 (JE; but Qal 𝔊 𝔖 𝔙); lead round, i.e. by a round-about way, acc. pers. + acc. דֶּרֶךְ Ex 13:18 (E) Ez 47:2; c. acc. + inf. of purpose 2 Ch 13:13; acc. om., lead round toward (אֶל־) 2 S 5:23, away from (מֵעַל־) ‖ 1 Ch 14:14 (where, however, perhaps read as S, so Be Öt, and, in both, סֹב for הָסֵב Dr KitKau Hpt Bu HPS Löhr). e.g. Joshua 6:11
- b. surround with (acc.) wall, 2 Ch 14:6 (acc. of city om.). e.g. 2 Chronicles 14:6
- c. perhaps also encompass (as foe), מְסִבָּ֑י ψ 140:10 those encompassing me (others sub מֵסַב infr.). e.g. Psalms 140:10
Hophal
- Impf. 3 ms. יוּסָּ֑ב Is 28:27; Pt. fpl. cstr. מֻסַבֹּת Ex 28:11; 39:6; מוּסַבֹּת v 13 Nu 32:38 (v. infr.); מוּסַבּוֹת Ez 41:24;— e.g. Isaiah 28:27
- 1. be turned, of cart wheel, c. עַל־ upon, over; מוּסַבּוֹת דְּלָתוֹת Ez 41:24 pt. appar. as gerundive, that can be turned, movable (Ges§ 116 e; Co reads צלעות מ׳, cf. ToyHpt); מוּס׳ שֵׁם Nu 32:38 turned (i.e. changed) as to name, but gloss, v. Di. e.g. Ezekiel 41:24
- 2. surrounded, i.e. set, of jewels (pt. cstr.) Ex 28:11; 39:6, 13 (all P). e.g. Exodus 28:11
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
vb. turn about, go around, surround (NH id., Pi. Hiph., and deriv.; Aramaic סוֹבְבָא rim, border; Arabic سَبَبٌ rope, سَبِيبٌ lock of hair; poss. also سَبٌّ ii. prepare a means of attaining sthg. Lane1284);—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: a primitive root
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
סָבַב
- (b. h.) to go around, turn. Num. R. s. 18 כשהייתי … והולך וסוֹבֵב כל וכ׳ when I travelled … and went around all the towns; הייתי סובב והולך מעיר וכ׳ I went around from town to town. Erub. 56ᵃ וסובב אל צפון בלילה ‘and turns northward’ (Koh. I, 6) by night; a. e. e.g. Ecclesiastes 1:6
- to take a turn. Num. R. s. 4 ונָסַבָּה ורחבה למעלה it turned upward and became wider.
- 1. to surround. Erub. l. c.; B. Bath. 25ᵇ (ref. to Koh. l. c.) פעמים מְסַבַּבְתָּן ופעמים מהלכתן (Rashi סוֹבַבְתָּן, v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note 4) at seasons the sun goes around them (making a circuitous route), and at seasons it passes straight through (from north-east to south-west). Erub. 23ᵇ; Num. R. s. 13 סַבֵּב tie around; a. e.—Trnsf. to be around a person, to wait upon. Deut. R. s. 1 (play on סב את ההר, Deut. II, 3) הרבה סי׳ עשו את הורו וכ׳ a long while has Esau been around his parent &c.—סי׳ על הפתחים to go around from door to door, to beg. Tosef. Peah IV, 8 המְסַבֵּב על … אין וכ׳ for the poor man that goes begging, the public charities are not bound to do anything. Y. ib. I, 15ᵈ top כבד … אפי׳ את מסבב וכ׳ ‘honor thy father and thy mother’, even if thou have to go begging (thou must support them); Pesik. R. s. 23—24; a. e.—Ruth R. to I, 1 עכשיו … מְסַבְּבִין פתחי וכ׳ now all Israel will surround my gate …, waiting for distribution of food; Yalk. ib. 598 יהיו … מְסוּבִּין. e.g. Deuteronomy 2:3
- 2. to carry around from place to place. Kel. I, 7 ומְסַבְּבִין לתוכן וכ׳ and you may carry a corpse from one (of the fortified places) to another; Tosef. Kel. B. Kam. I, 14 ומס׳ בתוכן.
- 3. to place around. Num. R. s. 2 סי׳ לכסאו וכ׳ he placed four angels around his throne.—Part. pass. מְסוּבָּב, f. מְסוּבֶּבֶת surrounded, closed. B. Bath. 25ᵇ, v. אַכְסַדְרָא.—Pl. מְסוּבִּים, מְסוּבִּין assembled, arranged around. Ab. Zar. 18ᵃ מס׳ לו וכ׳ (Ms. M. מְסוֹבְבִין אותו) (his sins) are arranged around him on the day of judgment (as witnesses). Yalk. Ruth l. c., v. supra.—Esp. reclining on the dining couch around the tables (v. מְסוּבֶּה). Ex. R. s. 25 מס׳ ואוכלין וכ׳ lying on couches and eating and praising &c. Pes. 101ᵇ בני … מס׳ לשתות the members of a party that were assembled for a feast; ib. 102ᵃ. Tosef. ib. X, 12; a. fr.—[Tanḥ. Ḥayé 3 מסביב, read: מכתיב, v. כָּתַב.]
- , הֵיסֵ׳
- 1. [to surround the table,] to recline for dining in company. Ber. VI, 6 (42ᵃ) הֵסֵיבּוּ אחד וכ׳ (Bab. ed. הֵסֵבּוּ; Y. ed. הֵיסֵבּוּ) if they lie down for a meal, one says grace in behalf of all, opp. היו יושבין. Tosef. ib. IV, 20 בעל הבית שהיה מֵיסֵב ואוכל וכ׳ if a host has been reclining in company and eating, and a neighbor called him away to speak to him. Ib. V, 5; Y. Taan. IV, 68ᵃ bot. בזמן שהן שתי … ומיסב וכ׳ when there are two couches, the highest in rank goes up and reclines at the head of the uppermost couch &c., v. הֶסֵּב. Pes. X, 1 אפי׳ עני … עד שיֵסֵב even the poorest man in Israel must not eat (on the Passover night) without reclining (to indicate that he is a free man); a. fr.
- 2. to cause to recline, to invite. Ex. R. s. 25 (ref. to ויסב, Ex. XIII, 18, a. שלחן, Ps. LXXVIII, 19) הסַיבָּן תחת ענני וכ׳ he invited them to recline under the clouds of glory (v. סִיגְמָטִין); a. e. e.g. Exodus 13:18
- 3. to turn around. Pesik. R. s. 14 עתיד אני להָסֵיב על עולמי וכ׳ I shall turn again to my world in mercy.
- to be transferred from tribe to tribe (Num. XXXVI, 7). B. Bath. 112ᵃ כבר הוּסַבָּה the field had been transferred (before the division of the land); שכבר הוסבה לא אמרינן we do not adopt the argument that a transfer before the division made any difference (v. comment., a. Rabb. D. S. a. l. notes 4 a. 5 for Var. Lect.). e.g. Numbers 36:7
- to surround. Ab. Zar. 18ᵃ, v. supra.
סְבַב
- ; Af. אַסִּב to go around (announcing). Y. R. Hash. II, 58ᵃ top דהוון אילין מַסְּבִין יומא דין וכ׳ these went around (as messengers to announce the New-Moon) to-day, and others the day after. Ib. מהו דיַסְּבוּן; למה מַסְּבָה, v. צְפַת.
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 127 distinct written forms H5437 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 67 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H5437, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derived from this word
- מוסב mûwçâb H4141 surrounding
- מסב mêçab H4524 surroundings
- נסבה nᵉçibbâh H5252 turn of affairs
- סבה çibbâh H5438 turn of events
- סביב çâbîyb H5439 round about
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 6 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 142 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 148 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 2:11
- Exodus 13:18
- Numbers 21:4
- Deuteronomy 2:1
- Joshua 6:3
- Judges 11:18
- 1 Samuel 5:8
- 2 Samuel 3:12
- 1 Kings 2:15
- 2 Kings 3:9
- 1 Chronicles 10:14
- 2 Chronicles 4:2
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
