HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H6880
צִרְעָה
tsir.ah — hornet
hornets
3 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →BIBLE DICTIONARY + WORD STUDY
Hornet
Original Hebrew / Aramaic / Greek connected to this term
How to read this: there is rarely one magic “true meaning” hidden behind an English word. A lexicon records a word’s semantic range. The intended meaning is narrowed by grammar, sentence, author, historical usage and context.
HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H6881
צׇרְעָה
tsor.ah — Zorah
§ Zareah or Zoreah or Zorah = "hornet" a town in Dan, residence of Manoah and the home town of Samson
10 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H6882
צׇרְעָתִי
tsor.i — Zorathite
Someone descended from Zorath(?), first mentioned at 1Ch.2.53; also called Zorite at 1Ch.2.54; § Zorites or Zorathites, of Zorah "hornet" the inhabitants of Zorah
3 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →Historical dictionary entry
Heb. tsir’ah, “stinging”, (Ex. 23:28; Deut. 7:20; Josh. 24:12). The word is used in these passages as referring to some means by which the Canaanites were to be driven out from before the Israelites. Some have supposed that the word is used in a metaphorical sense as the symbol of some panic which would seize the people as a “terror of God” (Gen. 35:5), the consternation with which God would inspire the Canaanites. In Palestine there are four species of hornets, differing from our hornets, being larger in size, and they are very abundant. They “attack human beings in a very furious manner.” “The furious attack of a swarm of hornets drives cattle and horses to madness, and has even caused the death of the animals.”
Scripture references
Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.