Bible Word Study
יִזִּיָּה
Yizzîyâh · Jizzijah, an Israelite
יִזִּיָּה
Jizzijah, an Israelite
Definition
Yizzîyâh is a proper name meaning 'sprinkled of Yah' or 'Yahweh sprinkles.' It belongs to an Israelite man listed among those who had married foreign wives during the post-exilic period, as recorded in Ezra 10:25. The name is a compound of a form related to the verb 'to sprinkle' and the shortened form of the divine name Yahweh (Yah). In its single biblical occurrence, it serves purely as a personal identifier with no additional narrative or descriptive detail provided about the individual.
Biblical Usage
This name is used only once in the Old Testament, in Ezra 10:25. It appears in a specific historical and legal context: a list of men who were confronted for breaking the covenant by marrying foreign women after the return from the Babylonian exile. The usage is formulaic and administrative, part of a public registry documenting those who agreed to put away their foreign wives to restore communal purity.
Etymology
The name יִזִּיָּה (Yizzîyâh) derives from a root (זוה) meaning 'to sprinkle' or 'to issue,' combined with יָהּ (Yah), the abbreviated form of the divine name Yahweh. It is etymologically related to the name יְזַוְאֵל (Yezav'el, H3149), which shares the first root element. The construction signifies being sprinkled or purified by Yahweh, a concept with ritual connotations.
Semantic Range
While the name itself is not theologically loaded, its appearance in Ezra 10 connects it to the major post-exilic themes of covenant faithfulness, separation from pagan influences, and communal holiness. The meaning 'sprinkled of Yah' evokes imagery of ritual purification (e.g., Exodus 24:8, Leviticus 14:7), which aligns symbolically with the drastic action taken in Ezra to cleanse the community. Understanding the name's meaning enriches the reading of this difficult passage by highlighting the tension between personal identity (bearing a name about Yahweh's purification) and the recorded act of covenant violation. In ancient Israelite culture, names often carried significant meaning, reflecting hopes, divine attributes, or circumstances. A name meaning 'sprinkled of Yahweh' likely expressed a parental prayer for the child's consecration or purification by God. The act of listing names in Ezra 10 was a public, formal method of establishing accountability and recording a communal decision, reflecting the importance of genealogy and covenant identity in the restored community. Yezav'el (יְזַוְאֵל, H3149) — Shares the same initial root (זוה) but with a different theophoric ending ('El').
Word Details
How this works
Definitions are from the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon (BDB, 1906, public domain). Concordance and morphology data are from the OSHB (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible).
Full methodology & sources →References
- Abbott-Smith, G. (1921) A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Brown, F., Driver, S.R. and Briggs, C.A. (1906) A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. [Public Domain]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Tyndale Brief lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (TBESG). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Formatted full LSJ (TFLSJ). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Thayer, J.H. (1889) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. [Public Domain]
- Gesenius, W. (1846) Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament. [Public Domain]
- Dodson, J. (2010) Greek Lexicon. Biblical Humanities. [CC0]