צָפוֹן
north
‘north’ is one of 3 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
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).
Gender
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
Every verse where H6828 appears in the Book of Ezekiel — 38 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.
Ezekiel
- Ezekiel 1:4 הַ/צָּפ֗וֹן ptcl def.art + n c fs I looked, and, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, a great cloud, with flashing lightning, and a brightness round about it, and out of the midst of it as it were glowing metal, out of the midst of the fire.
- Ezekiel 8:3 צָפ֔וֹנָ/ה n c fs + sfx dem He put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and the sky, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner [court] that looks toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy.
- Ezekiel 8:5 צָפ֑וֹנָ/ה צָפ֔וֹנָ/ה מִ/צָּפוֹן֙ n c fs + sfx dem n c fs + sfx dem prep + n c fs Then said he to me, Son of man, lift up your eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north, and see, northward of the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.
- Ezekiel 8:14 הַ/צָּפ֑וֹנָ/ה ptcl def.art + n c fs + sfx dem Then he brought me to the door of the gate of Yahweh's house which was toward the north; and see, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz.
- Ezekiel 9:2 צָפ֗וֹנָ/ה n c fs + sfx dem Behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies toward the north, every man with his slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man in the midst of them clothed in linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side. They went in, and stood beside the brazen altar.
- Ezekiel 20:47 צָפֽוֹנָ/ה n c fs + sfx dem and tell the forest of the South, Hear the word of Yahweh: Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burnt thereby.
- Ezekiel 21:4 צָפֽוֹן n c fs Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north:
- Ezekiel 26:7 מִ/צָּפ֖וֹן prep + n c fs For thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will bring on Tyre Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and a company, and much people.
- Ezekiel 32:30 צָפ֛וֹן n c fs There are the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who are gone down with the slain; in the terror which they caused by their might they are put to shame; and they lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, and bear their shame with those who go down to the pit.
- Ezekiel 38:6 צָפ֖וֹן n c fs Gomer, and all his hordes; the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north, and all his hordes; even many peoples with you.
- Ezekiel 38:15 צָפ֔וֹן n c fs You shall come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you, and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army;
- Ezekiel 39:2 צָפ֑וֹן n c fs and I will turn you about, and will lead you on, and will cause you to come up from the uttermost parts of the north; and I will bring you on the mountains of Israel;
- Ezekiel 40:19 וְ/הַ/צָּפֽוֹן conj + ptcl def.art + n c fs Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate to the forefront of the inner court outside, one hundred cubits, [both] on the east and on the north.
- Ezekiel 40:20 הַ/צָּפ֔וֹן ptcl def.art + n c fs The gate of the outer court whose prospect is toward the north, he measured the length of it and the breadth of it.
- Ezekiel 40:23 לַ/צָּפ֖וֹן prep det + n c fs There was a gate to the inner court over against the [other] gate, [both] on the north and on the east; and he measured from gate to gate one hundred cubits.
- Ezekiel 40:35 הַ/צָּפ֑וֹן ptcl def.art + n c fs He brought me to the north gate: and he measured [it] according to these measures;
- Ezekiel 40:40 הַ/צָּפ֔וֹנָ/ה ptcl def.art + n c fs + sfx dem On the [one] side outside, as one goes up to the entry of the gate toward the north, were two tables; and on the other side, which belonged to the porch of the gate, were two tables.
- Ezekiel 40:44 הַ/צָּפ֔וֹן הַ/צָּפֹֽן ptcl def.art + n c fs ptcl def.art + n c fs Outside of the inner gate were chambers for the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate; and their prospect was toward the south; one at the side of the east gate having the prospect toward the north.
- Ezekiel 40:46 הַ/צָּפ֔וֹן ptcl def.art + n c fs and the chamber whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok, who from among the sons of Levi come near to Yahweh to minister to him.
- Ezekiel 41:11 הַ/צָּפ֔וֹן ptcl def.art + n c fs The doors of the side-chambers were toward [the place] that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south: and the breadth of the place that was left was five cubits round about.
- Ezekiel 42:1 הַ/צָּפ֑וֹן הַ/צָּפֽוֹן ptcl def.art + n c fs ptcl def.art + n c fs Then he brought me forth into the outer court, the way toward the north: and he brought me into the chamber that was over against the separate place, and which was over against the building toward the north.
- Ezekiel 42:2 הַ/צָּפ֑וֹן ptcl def.art + n c fs Before the length of one hundred cubits was the north door, and the breadth was fifty cubits.
- Ezekiel 42:4 לַ/צָּפֽוֹן prep det + n c fs Before the chambers was a walk of ten cubits' breadth inward, a way of one cubit; and their doors were toward the north.
- Ezekiel 42:11 הַ/צָּפ֔וֹן ptcl def.art + n c fs The way before them was like the appearance of [the way of] the chambers which were toward the north; according to their length so was their breadth: and all their exits were both according to their fashions, and according to their doors.
- Ezekiel 42:13 הַ/צָּפ֜וֹן ptcl def.art + n c fs Then said he to me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they are the holy chambers, where the priests who are near to Yahweh shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meal-offering, and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering; for the place is holy.
- Ezekiel 42:17 הַ/צָּפ֑וֹן ptcl def.art + n c fs He measured on the north side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about.
- Ezekiel 44:4 הַ/צָּפוֹן֮ ptcl def.art + n c fs Then he brought me by the way of the north gate before the house; and I looked, and, behold, the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh: and I fell on my face.
- Ezekiel 46:9 צָפ֜וֹן צָפ֑וֹנָ/ה n c fs n c fs + sfx dem But when the people of the land shall come before Yahweh in the appointed feasts, he who enters by the way of the north gate to worship shall go forth by the way of the south gate; and he who enters by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the way of the gate by which he came in, but shall go forth straight before him.
- Ezekiel 46:19 צָפ֑וֹנָ/ה n c fs + sfx dem Then he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers for the priests, which looked toward the north: and, behold, there was a place on the hinder part westward.
- Ezekiel 47:2 צָפוֹנָ/ה֒ n c fs + sfx dem Then he brought me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me round by the way outside to the outer gate, by the way of [the gate] that looks toward the east; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side.
- Ezekiel 47:15 צָפ֜וֹנָ/ה n c fs + sfx dem This shall be the border of the land: On the north side, from the great sea, by the way of Hethlon, to the entrance of Zedad;
- Ezekiel 47:17 וְ/צָפ֥וֹן צָפ֖וֹנָ/ה צָפֽוֹן conj + n c fs n c fs + sfx dem n c fs The border from the sea, shall be Hazar Enon at the border of Damascus; and on the north northward is the border of Hamath. This is the north side.
- Ezekiel 48:1 צָפ֡וֹנָ/ה צָפ֨וֹנָ/ה֙ n c fs + sfx dem n c fs + sfx dem Now these are the names of the tribes: From the north end, beside the way of Hethlon to the entrance of Hamath, Hazar Enan at the border of Damascus, northward beside Hamath, (and they shall have their sides east [and] west), Dan, one [portion].
- Ezekiel 48:10 צָפ֜וֹנָ/ה n c fs + sfx dem For these, even for the priests, shall be the holy offering: toward the north twenty-five thousand [in length], and toward the west ten thousand in breadth, and toward the east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south twenty-five thousand in length: and the sanctuary of Yahweh shall be in the midst of it.
- Ezekiel 48:16 צָפ֗וֹן n c fs These shall be the measures of it: the north side four thousand and five hundred, and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and on the east side four thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand and five hundred.
- Ezekiel 48:17 צָפ֨וֹנָ/ה֙ n c fs + sfx dem The city shall have suburbs: toward the north two hundred fifty, and toward the south two hundred fifty, and toward the east two hundred fifty, and toward the west two hundred fifty.
- Ezekiel 48:30 צָפ֔וֹן n c fs These are the exits of the city: On the north side four thousand and five hundred [reeds] by measure;
- Ezekiel 48:31 צָפ֑וֹנָ/ה n c fs + sfx dem and the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel, three gates northward: the gate of Reuben, one; the gate of Judah, one; the gate of Levi, one.
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.
At its core, צפון (tsâphôwn) means “north.” Scripture first uses it in Genesis 13:14. It turns up in 141 verses across 24 books, a common footprint. The word gravitates to Ezekiel (27%), then Jeremiah and Joshua. Catalogued under 3 senses, its meaning is not single-sense. Each statement above links to its evidence; the full detail follows below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H6828 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 →
- 141
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 141 distinct verses.
- 24 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 24 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #294
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 294 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 141 occurrences in the concordance →
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 141 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 103 verses · 73%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 22 verses · 16%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 16 verses · 11%
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).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 2 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: North 82×, Northward 21×, Toward the north 16×
- American Standard Version†: North 82×, Northward 21×, Toward the north 15×
- Berean Standard Bible†: North 121×, Northern 12×, North side 6×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: North 87×, Northward 21×, Northern 7×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H6828 across 153† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 26 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 H6828 across 153† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 27 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 H6828 across 153† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 9 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H6828 across 146† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 22 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in BDB
The 3 senses BDB distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
- north (of direction), northward
- north
- northward
Word origin
I. n.f. Is 43:6 north (as the hidden, dark; cf. Thes LewyFremdw. 188 f.; perhaps Ph. צפל north);—abs. צ׳ Je 25:26 +, צָפֹ֫נָה northward Gn 13:14 +, oftener צָפ֫וֹנָה Je 3:12 +, also צָפ֫וֹנָה = צָפוֹן Je 1:13 + (after preps. and st. cstr.; cf. Ges§ 90 e); cstr. מִצְּפוֹן לְ Jos 8:11 +, also מִצְּפוֹן 19:14 Gi (cf. Benn; van d. H. Baer מִצָּ׳), מִצְּפ֫וֹנָה לְ Ju 21:19; (צ׳ occurs oftenest in Ez [46 times], Jos [25 times], Je [25 times], Dn [9 times]);—north (opp. S., E., W.) Gn 13:14; 28:14 (both J), Ex 27:11 (P), +; פְּאַת צ׳ north side Ex 26:20 Jos 15:5 + (v. פֵּאָה); so צֶלַע צ׳ Ex 26:35, רוּחַ הַצּ׳ Ez 42:17, cf. עַל־יֶרֶךְ הַמִּזְבֵּחַ צָפ֫וֹנָה 2 K 16:14; גְּבוּל צ׳ Nu 34:7, 9 north boundary; יַרְכְּתֵי צ׳ remote parts of north Is 14:13 (as divine abode), Ez 38:6, 15 + (v. [יַרְכָה]); שַׁעַר הַצּ׳ Ez 40:35 +, פֶּתַח צ׳ 42:2; רוּחַ צ׳ Pr 25:23 north wind, and so צ׳ alone Ct 4:16; toward the north is צָפ֫וֹנָה Jos 13:3 + (v. also supr.), and אֶל־צָפוֹן Ec 1:6, אֶל־הַצּ׳ Ez 42:1, אֶל־הַצָּפ֫וֹנָה 8:14, לַצָּפוֹן 40:23, דֶּרֶךְ הַצָּפוֹן v 20, ד׳ צָפ֫וֹנָה 8:5(×2) +, etc.; especially (in Je Ez etc.) of quarter whence invaders were to come, e.g. Assyrian Is 14:31, cf. Zp 2:13, Babylonians Je 6:1, 22; 15:12; 46:20, 24 (עַם־צ׳), 47:2, Ez 26:7, Cyrus against Bab. Is 41:25, cf. Je 50:3, 9, 41; 51:48; more vaguely, Je 1:14, 15 (מַמְלְכוֹת צ׳), 4:6; 10:22; 13:20; 25:9, 26 (מַלְכֵי הַצּ׳); of Gog’s host Ez 38:6, 15; 39:2; נְסִיכֵי צ׳ 32:30 (appar. of nearer [Aramæan?] princes); אֶרֶץ צ׳ Je 31:8 is region of Carchemish, but Zc 2:10; 6:6, 8(×2) of Babylon; מֵאֶרֶץ צ׳ (sometimes + other countries) the exiles and dispersed are to return Je 3:18; 16:15 = 23:8; 31:8, cf. Is 43:6; 49:12; מֶלֶךְ הַצּ׳ Dn 11:6, 7, 8, 11, 13, 15, 40 denotes successive Seleucidae.
II. n.pr.loc. on E. bank of Jordan, in tribe of Gad, צ׳ Jos 13:27 (Σαφαν[ων]), צָפ֫וֹנָה Ju 12:1 (βοῤῥᾶν, 𝔊L Σεφηνα); according to Talm. = mod. Amateh, N. of Jabbok, GFM BuhlGeogr. 259 (who doubts); Ṣapuna appears TelAm WklNo. 174.
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from צפן (tsâphan) (H6845) — to hide.
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.
צָפוֹן I
- (adapt. of sapo, as if fr. צוּף; v. Sm. Ant. Engl. ed.3, s. vv. Sapo a. Fullo) [foam,] soap, detergent. Nidd. 62ᵃ העביר עליו צ׳ ועבר (Ar. ספון) if he rubbed soap over the suspected blood-stain, and it disappeared. Ib. צ׳ צבע נמי מעבר but will not soap also remove red dye? B. Kam. 93ᵇ הואיל ויכול להעבירו ע"י צ׳ because he can remove it with soap. Ib. 101ᵃ במאי שקיל להו בצ׳ צ׳ וכ׳ Ms. R. (v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note 300) wherewith shall he take the dye off? With soap? Soap will remove the dye, but will not restore the natural color. Tosef. Nidd. VIII, 11 שאילו העביר עליו צ׳ וכ׳ ed. Zuck. (Var. סָאפוֹן, סאפן) if he had rubbed soap over it at the start, it might have passed away.—Denom. הִצְפִּין to soap. Ib. הצפינן ועבר עליו ed. Zuck. (read הִצְפִּינוֹ, and strike out עליו) if he soaped the stain, and it passed away (oth. ed. סאפון ועבר, sub. העביר עליו, v. supra).
צָפוֹן II
- (b. h.) [brightness, cmp. אִסְתָּן,] north. Erub. 38ᵃ, sq. Gen. R. s. 1, beg. צְפוֹנוֹ (של רקיע) the northern portion of the sky; a. v. fr.—Denom. צְפוֹנִי; f. צְפוֹנִית. Y. Peah III, 17ᵈ חצייה צ׳ its northern half. Zeb. V, 3; 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 62 distinct written forms H6828 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’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; 2 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H6828, 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.
Derives from
Shares the same root
Derived from this word
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 7 — not the complete family. 2 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 133 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 141 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 13:14
- Exodus 26:20
- Leviticus 1:11
- Numbers 2:25
- Deuteronomy 2:3
- Joshua 8:11
- Judges 2:9
- 1 Samuel 14:5
- 1 Kings 7:25
- 2 Kings 16:14
- 1 Chronicles 9:24
- 2 Chronicles 4:4
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.
