Bible Word Study
זִיפָה
Zîyphâh · Ziphah, an Israelite
זִיפָה
Ziphah, an Israelite
Definition
Ziphah is a proper noun referring to an individual mentioned in the genealogical records of the tribe of Judah. She is identified as a daughter of Jehallelel in 1 Chronicles 4:16. The name is the feminine form of Ziph, which is also the name of a town in Judah. As a personal name, it serves primarily to identify a specific person within the biblical lineage, with no other narrative or descriptive details provided about her life or actions.
Biblical Usage
This word is used only once in the Old Testament, in 1 Chronicles 4:16, within a list of descendants from the tribe of Judah. It functions solely as a personal name in a genealogical context, with no other usage patterns or narrative appearances. The verse reads: 'And the sons of Jehallelel: Ziph, and Ziphah, Tiria, and Asareel.'
Etymology
Ziphah (זִיפָה) is the feminine form of the masculine proper noun Ziph (זִיף, H2128). The root זיף (zyph) carries the sense of 'flowing' or 'to flow,' possibly relating to a liquid or molten substance. As a place name, Ziph is associated with a town in the hill country of Judah, and the personal name likely derives from this geographic origin, indicating a person's connection to that location.
Semantic Range
In ancient Israelite culture, personal names were often significant, sometimes derived from places, characteristics, or circumstances. Ziphah's name, being the feminine form of a known Judahite town (Ziph), may indicate her family's origin or association with that region. This practice of using geographic names for people helped situate individuals within their tribal and territorial identity, which was crucial for lineage and inheritance records as seen in Chronicles. Ziph (Zîyph, H2128) — The masculine form and the name of a town in Judah, from which the feminine personal name is derived.
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]