צָוָה
to command
also: charge, give orders, lay charge, give charge to fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Piel verb in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Piel
- An intensive or resultative active stem. Here: ‘lay charge’
- Pual
- The passive counterpart of the Piel.
Form
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
- 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).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
State
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Person
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
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).
Every verse where H6680 appears in the Book of Exodus — 54 distinct verses. 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.
Exodus
- Exodus 1:22 וַ/יְצַ֣ו conj + Piel wimpf 3ms Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, "You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive."
- Exodus 4:28 צִוָּֽ/הוּ Piel pf 3ms + sfx pers 3ms Moses told Aaron all the words of Yahweh with which he had sent him, and all the signs with which he had charged him.
- Exodus 5:6 וַ/יְצַ֥ו conj + Piel wimpf 3ms The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying,
- Exodus 6:13 וַ/יְצַוֵּ/ם֙ conj + Piel wimpf 3ms + sfx pers 3mp Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and gave them a charge to the children of Israel, and to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
- Exodus 7:2 אֲצַוֶּ֑/ךָּ Piel impf 1cs + sfx pers 2ms You shall speak all that I command you; and Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.
- Exodus 7:6 צִוָּ֧ה Piel pf 3ms Moses and Aaron did so. As Yahweh commanded them, so they did.
- Exodus 7:10 צִוָּ֣ה Piel pf 3ms Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, as Yahweh had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
- Exodus 7:20 צִוָּ֣ה Piel pf 3ms Moses and Aaron did so, as Yahweh commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.
- Exodus 12:28 צִוָּ֧ה Piel pf 3ms The children of Israel went and did so; as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
- Exodus 12:50 צִוָּ֧ה Piel pf 3ms Thus did all the children of Israel. As Yahweh commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
- Exodus 16:16 צִוָּ֣ה Piel pf 3ms This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded: "Gather of it everyone according to his eating; an omer a head, according to the number of your persons, shall you take it, every man for those who are in his tent."
- Exodus 16:24 צִוָּ֣ה Piel pf 3ms They laid it up until the morning, as Moses asked, and it didn't become foul, neither was there any worm in it.
- Exodus 16:32 צִוָּ֣ה Piel pf 3ms Moses said, "This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded, 'Let an omer-full of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt."
- Exodus 16:34 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms As Yahweh commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.
- Exodus 18:23 וְ/צִוְּ/ךָ֣ conj + Piel wpf 3ms + sfx pers 2ms If you will do this thing, and God commands you so, then you will be able to endure, and all of these people also will go to their place in peace."
- Exodus 19:7 צִוָּ֖/הוּ Piel pf 3ms + sfx pers 3ms Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which Yahweh commanded him.
- Exodus 23:15 צִוִּיתִ֗/ךָ Piel pf 1cs + sfx pers 2ms You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out from Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty.
- Exodus 25:22 אֲצַוֶּ֛ה Piel impf 1cs There I will meet with you, and I will tell you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the testimony, all that I command you for the children of Israel.
- Exodus 27:20 תְּצַוֶּ֣ה Piel impf 2ms "You shall command the children of Israel, that they bring to you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually.
- Exodus 29:35 צִוִּ֖יתִי Piel pf 1cs "Thus shall you do to Aaron, and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. Seven days shall you consecrate them.
- Exodus 31:6 צִוִּיתִֽ/ךָ Piel pf 1cs + sfx pers 2ms I, behold, I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and in the heart of all who are wise-hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded you:
- Exodus 31:11 צִוִּיתִ֖/ךָ Piel pf 1cs + sfx pers 2ms the anointing oil, and the incense of sweet spices for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded you they shall do."
- Exodus 32:8 צִוִּיתִ֔/ם Piel pf 1cs + sfx pers 3mp They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, 'These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.'"
- Exodus 34:4 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms He chiseled two tablets of stone like the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up to Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him, and took in his hand two stone tablets.
- Exodus 34:11 מְצַוְּ/ךָ֣ Piel ptcp.act ms cs + sfx pers 2ms Observe that which I command you this day. Behold, I drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
- Exodus 34:18 צִוִּיתִ֔/ךָ Piel pf 1cs + sfx pers 2ms "You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt.
- Exodus 34:32 וַ/יְצַוֵּ֕/ם conj + Piel wimpf 3ms + sfx pers 3mp Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all of the commandments that Yahweh had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.
- Exodus 34:34 יְצֻוֶּֽה Pual impf 3ms But when Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the children of Israel that which he was commanded.
- Exodus 35:1 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms Moses assembled all the congregation of the children of Israel, and said to them, "These are the words which Yahweh has commanded, that you should do them.
- Exodus 35:4 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms Moses spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, "This is the thing which Yahweh commanded, saying,
- Exodus 35:10 צִוָּ֖ה Piel pf 3ms "Let every wise-hearted man among you come, and make all that Yahweh has commanded:
- Exodus 35:29 צִוָּ֧ה Piel pf 3ms The children of Israel brought a freewill offering to Yahweh; every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all the work, which Yahweh had commanded to be made by Moses.
- Exodus 36:1 צִוָּ֖ה Piel pf 3ms "Bezalel and Oholiab shall work with every wise-hearted man, in whom Yahweh has put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that Yahweh has commanded."
- Exodus 36:5 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms They spoke to Moses, saying, "The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which Yahweh commanded to make."
- Exodus 36:6 וַ/יְצַ֣ו conj + Piel wimpf 3ms Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, "Let neither man nor woman make anything else for the offering for the sanctuary." So the people were restrained from bringing.
- Exodus 38:22 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Exodus 39:1 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms Of the blue, purple, and scarlet, they made finely worked garments, for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron; as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Exodus 39:5 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms The skillfully woven band that was on it, with which to fasten it on, was of the same piece, like its work; of gold, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen; as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Exodus 39:7 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms He put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the children of Israel, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Exodus 39:21 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms They bound the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastplate might not come loose from the ephod, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Exodus 39:26 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, around the skirts of the robe, to minister in, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Exodus 39:29 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms and the sash of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, the work of the embroiderer, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Exodus 39:31 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms They tied to it a lace of blue, to fasten it on the turban above, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Exodus 39:32 צִוָּ֧ה Piel pf 3ms Thus all the work of the tent of the tent of meeting was finished. The children of Israel did according to all that Yahweh commanded Moses; so they did.
- Exodus 39:42 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms According to all that Yahweh commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did all the work.
- Exodus 39:43 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms Moses saw all the work, and, behold, they had done it as Yahweh had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them.
- Exodus 40:16 צִוָּ֧ה Piel pf 3ms Thus did Moses: according to all that Yahweh commanded him, so he did.
- Exodus 40:19 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms He spread the covering over the tent, and put the roof of the tent above on it, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Exodus 40:21 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms He brought the ark into the tent, and set up the veil of the screen, and screened the ark of the testimony, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Exodus 40:23 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms He set the bread in order on it before Yahweh, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Exodus 40:25 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms He lit the lamps before Yahweh, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Exodus 40:27 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms and he burnt incense of sweet spices on it, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Exodus 40:29 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms He set the altar of burnt offering at the door of the tent of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the meal-offering, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Exodus 40:32 צִוָּ֥ה Piel pf 3ms When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they came near to the altar, they washed, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
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.
צוה (tsâvâh) is a Hebrew verb most often rendered “to command.” Debuting at Genesis 2:16, it then recurs through the corpus. With 475 verses in 27 books, it is a common word in the Hebrew Bible. The verb spans 2 stems, from Piel to Pual. From the same root come מצוה, צו and צי. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H6680 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 →
- 475
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 475 distinct verses.
- 27 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 27 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #103
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 103 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 475 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Deuteronomy 86 verses 18%
- Exodus 54 verses 11%
- Numbers 45 verses 9%
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 475 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 245 verses · 52%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 166 verses · 35%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 64 verses · 13%
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: Commanded 165×, Had commanded 30×, I command 30×
- American Standard Version: Commanded 148×, I command 28×, I commanded 26×
- Berean Standard Bible: Had commanded 85×, Commanded 50×, Has commanded 21×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Commanded 108×, Had commanded 74×, And 31×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H6680 across 494 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 82 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 H6680 across 493 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 114 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 H6680 across 491 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 117 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 2 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H6680 across 538 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 71 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
20 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 Pual (the passive of Piel).
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 20 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.
Piel
- lay charge (upon), give charge (to), charge, command, order (BaZMG xli (1887), 641 Gerber 124 cp. Arabic وَصَى combine, ii. enjoin, iv. charge; وَصِيَّةٌ injunction, command; Syriac ܨܘܳܐ, head up stones, ܨܘܳܝܳܐ, stone-heap, Arabic صُوَّةٌ guide-stone, cf. Schulth 57; Gerber makes Heb. vb. denom. from מִצְוָה, but vb. is much earlier);—Pf. 3 ms. צִוָּה Gn 6:22 +; sf. צִוַּנִי Dt 4:5 +; צִוְּךָ Dt 4:23 +; צִוָּהוּ Gn 7:5 +, etc.; 1 s. צִוִּיתִי Ex 29:35 + 29 times, צִוֵּיתִי Lv 8:31 + 4 times, etc.; Impf. 3 ms. יְצַוֶּה Gn 18:19 + 8 times; יְצַו Dt 28:8; וַיְצַו Gn 2:16 +; sf. וִיצַוְּךָ 1 Ch 22:12, etc.; 1 s. וָאֲצַוֶּה Ezr 8:17 Qr (> Kt ואוצאה); 3 mpl. וַיְצַוּוּ Gn 50:16 +, etc.; Inf. cstr. צַוֹּת 2 S 18:5 +, etc.; Imv. ms. צַוֵּה Jos 4:16 + 2 times; צַו Lv 6:2 + 9 times; mpl. צַוּוּ Jos 1:11; 4:3; Pt. מְצַוֶּה Nu 32:25 +; cstr. מְצַוֵּה Is 55:4, etc.; f. מְצַוָּה Gn 27:8;— e.g. Genesis 6:22
- 1.
- a. lay charge upon, c. עַל pers., Gn 2:16 (J) 28:6 (P) 1 K 2:43; 11:11; Am 2:12; Je 35:6 + 6 times; עַל rei, עַל הֶעָבִים אֲצַוֶּה מֵהַמְטִיר Is 5:6, cf. Jb 36:32, צ׳ עַל־חָגָב 2 Ch 7:13. e.g. Genesis 2:16
- b. give charge to, command to c. לְ pers. Ex 1:22 (E) 1 S 20:29; 1 Ch 22:17; Is 13:3; Jer 32:23; ψ 105:8 תּוֹרָה צ׳ לָנוּ מֹשֶׁה Dt 33:4, cf. Ne 9:14; צַו לְבֵיתֶ֑ךָ 2 K 20:1 give charge to the household (in preparation for death) = Is 38:1 (cf. NH, B.Bath. 151 b, צַוָּאָה ‘verbal will’ Id 147a). e.g. Exodus 1:22
- c. give charge unto, c. אֶל pers. Ex 16:34 (P), 1 K 11:10; וַיְצַו אֶל־בֵּיתוֹ 2 S 17:23 (cf. b). e.g. Exodus 16:34
- d. give charge over, appoint, c. acc. pers. + עַל rei, Ne 7:2; 1 Ch 22:12, נָגִיד עַל (לִהְיוֹת) צ׳ appoint one (to be) ruler over 2 S 6:21; 1 K 1:35; c. לנגיד 1 S 13:14; 25:30; שׁפטים על 2 S 7:11 = 1 Ch 17:10; c. inf. (no על), לִרְעוֹת עמי 2 S 7:7 = 1 Ch 17:6; וְצִוִּיתָה אֹתוֹ לְעֵינֵיהֶם Nu 27:19 (P) and thou shalt install him in their sight, cf. v 23 (P). e.g. Nehemiah 7:2
- e. give one charge, command (often עַל concerning), Gn 12:20 (J), Nu 8:22 (P), 2 S 14:8; 18:5; Je 7:22; 39:11; Is 45:12 (AV RV Che RyKau; > Ges Ew Di Du al. as d), 10:6 (al. against), Na 1:14 (al. id.); c. לְ Nu 9:8; 32:28 (P), ψ 91:11 La 1:17 Est 3:2; c. אֶל Is 23:11 Je 47:7. e.g. Genesis 12:20
- 2. charge, command:
- a. c. acc. pers. + rei, often, especially of the law: Deut. phrases are אשׁר אנכי מצוךָ Ex 34:11 (J), Dt 4:40; 6:2, 6 + 18 times Dt, cf. 15:15; אשׁר אנכי מצוה אתכם Dt 4:2(×2) + 9 times Dt; †הַדֶּרֶךְ אשׁר ע׳ Dt 13:6; Ex 32:8 (E) Dt 5:30; 9:12, 16; 11:28; 31:29. e.g. Exodus 34:11
- b. c. acc. pers. + obj. clause, e.g., Inf. Gn 50:2 +; ו consec. Pf. 18:19 (J), Nu 35:2 (P); ו consec. Impf. 2 S 4:12; 1 K 2:46; weak ו c. Impf. Ex 27:20 (P) Jos 4:16; Imv. Jos 1:9; 1 S 18:22. e.g. Genesis 50:2
- c. acc. pers., acc. rei om., Ex 18:23 (E) Gn 49:33 (P) +; obj. given after לֵאמֹר Gn 26:11; 32:18, 20; Lv 6:2 +; וַיֹּאמֶר, etc., Gn 28:1; 49:29 +. e.g. Exodus 18:23
- d. acc. rei, acc. pers. om., צ׳ לעולם בריתוֹ ψ 111:9; †זֶה הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר צ׳ י׳, Ex 16:16, 32; 35:4; Lv 8:5; 9:6; 17:2; Nu 30:2; 36:6 (P); obj. cl., Lv 8:34 (P), 13:54 (P); Gn 42:25 (E), 1 K 5:20; Ju 4:6 e.g. Psalms 111:9
- e. abs. Gn 50:16 (E), La 3:37. e.g. Genesis 50:16
- 3. charge, command, acc. pers. in phr. כַּאֲשֶׁר צ׳ Ex 23:15 (E) Gn 7:9 (P) +; ככל אשׁר צ׳ Gn 7:5 (J) Ex 29:35 (P) +; כאשׁר צ׳ י׳ משֶׁה Ex 12:28, 50; 39:1, 5 + 37 times P; ככל אשׁר צ׳ י׳ משׁה 39:32, 42 + 5 times P; †לכל אשׁר צ׳ Jos 1:18; 22:2 Je 35:8; acc. pers. om. כאשׁר צ׳ Ex 7:10 Nu 32:25 (P) +; ככל אשׁר צ׳ 2 K 11:9 = 2 Ch 23:8 +; †לכל אשׁר צ׳ Ex 36:1 (P). e.g. Exodus 23:15
- 4. charge, with command to others, commission,
- a. acc. pers. + אֶל pers. (sometimes + acc. rei) Ex 6:13; 25:22; Lv 27:34 (P) Dt 1:3; Je 27:4 Est 4:10; acc. pers. om. Gn 50:16 (E) Est 3:12; 8:9. e.g. Exodus 6:13
- b. בְּיַד of agent, + אֶל, Nu 15:23; 36:13 (P); אֶל om. Lv 8:36 (P), Ezr 9:11; Ne 8:14. e.g. Numbers 15:23
- c. acc. pers. + עַל for אֶל Ezr 8:17; 1 Ch 22:13; Mal 3:22; Est 4:5. e.g. Ezra 8:17
- d. c. acc. rei, וצ׳ בִּרְכָתִי לְ Lv 25:21 (P) and I will command my blessing to you, c. אִתְּךָ Dt 28:8, cf. ψ 133:3; צ׳ חסדוֹ 42:9, בֹּקֶר Jb 38:12, נָחָשׁ, חֶרֶב Am 9:3, 4. e.g. Leviticus 25:21
- 5. command, appoint, ordain, of divine act: in creation Is 45:12 ψ 33:9; 148:5, providence 2 S 17:14; Am 6:11; 9:9; Jb 37:12 ψ 78:23; Is 34:16, redemption ψ 7:7; 44:5; 68:29; 71:3; so of idol Is 48:5 (‖ עשׂה). e.g. Isaiah 45:12
Pual
- Pf. 3 ms. צֻוָּה Nu 3:16; 36:2; 2 ms. צֻוֵּיתָה Gn 45:19, etc.; Impf. 3 ms. יְצֻוֶּה Ex 34:34;—be commanded, i.e. receive command, subj. pers., Gn 45:19 (E), c. בְּ by whom Nu 36:2 (P); אשׁר צ׳ Ex 34:34 (P), כִּי־כֵן צ׳ Lv 8:35; 10:13 (P), כאשׁר צ׳ Nu 3:16 (P) Ez 12:7; 24:18; 37:7. e.g. Numbers 3:16
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
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.
צָוָה
- , v. צוי
צְוֵי II
- (v. S. Sm. 3370) [to contract,] to be hot, dry up, wither. Pes. 56ᵃ צָאוֵי לאלתר ed. (Ar. צָוֵוי) it will at once dry up. Ib. 110ᵇ פקע וצווא דיקלא Ar. (ed. צווח דיקלא ופקע הוא, Ms. M. צְוָה) the bark burst, and the palm dried up. Ib. 111ᵃ וצְווּ כרעיה his legs shrivelled.
- to burn, desiccate. B. Bath. 24ᵇ bot. דאזיל … ומְצַוֵּי ליה the dust penetrates its heart and desiccates it (the plant).
צוי
- 1. to join, attend. Ber. 6ᵇ; Sabb. 30ᵇ לִצְווֹת לזה ed. (perh. fr. צָוַת, v. צוּת; Ar. לצבות), v. צָבַת.—[
- 2. to arrange, pile; denom. צִיּוּן.]
- (b. h.) to order, command; to appoint. Men. 44ᵃ מצוה אחת צִיוָּנוּ וכ׳ the Lord gave us one command, its name is Tsitsith. Ib. צַוֵּה עלי ויעשוני וכ׳ give orders about me, that they make me a proselyte. Sabb. 23ᵃ, a. e. אשר קדשנו … וצִוָּנוּ וכ׳ (abbrev. אקב"ו who has sanctified us through his commandments, and commanded us to &c.; והיכן צִוָּנוּ and where did he command us (where in the Torah is it intimated)? B. Bath. 151ᵇ מְצַוֶּה מחמת מיתה one who disposes of his property, because he expects to die. Sifra Tsav, end כדי המְצַוֶּה למי שנצטוה the commander was worthy of him who was commanded; a. fr.—Part. pass. מְצוּוֶּה. Kidd. 31ᵃ גדול מצ׳ ועושה וכ׳ he who is commanded, and does (a good deed, because it is God’s will) stands higher than he that is not commanded and does (a good deed); a. e.
- to be ordered, commanded. Ib. 38ᵃ שלש מצות נִצְטַוּוּ וכ׳ three commands were given to the lsraelites on their entering the land. Ib. 38ᵇ כל מצוה שנצטוו וכ׳ whatever command was enjoined upon the Israelites before they entered the land. Y. Meg. I, 70ᵈ bot. אלו המצות שנִצְטַוִּינוּ וכ׳ these are the commandments which were given us through the mouth of Moses; a. fr.
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 183 distinct written forms H6680 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; 123 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H6680, 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
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 446 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 475 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 2:16
- Exodus 1:22
- Leviticus 6:9
- Numbers 1:19
- Deuteronomy 1:3
- Joshua 1:7
- Judges 2:20
- Ruth 2:9
- 1 Samuel 2:29
- 2 Samuel 4:12
- 1 Kings 1:35
- 2 Kings 11:5
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.
