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Help[Facts] Re: Sela / Zelah
in reply to a message by Summer
There is indeed some confusion with these names, and this is due to different transcriptions in various languages and Bible translations. So we will have to look at the Hebrew to tidy up this mess a little bit. There is:
ZELA (Tsadik – Lamed – Ayin)
It is mentioned in Joshua 18:28 and also in 2 Sam 21:14, here as Saul’s burial place.
”The Hebrew noun “tsela” means “rib, side” (e.g. of Adam, the Temple, the ark), but also “ridge, slope” (of a hill), and this makes sense for a place name.
The Hebrew verb “tsala” (with the same consonants) means “to limp” (Jacob, gen 32:31/32). It is also found as “stumbling” in Jer 20:10
Its location has not been identified, but probably in the hill country north or west of Jerusalem. Khirbet Salah, between Jerusalem and Gibeon, is a possible identification of the site.
SELA (Samekh – Lamed – Ayin)
This is a place name mentioned as haSela (with the definite article “ha”). It means “rock, cliff.”
1. A fortress city of Edom (2 Kings 14:7), probably to be identified with Umm el-Bayyarah, the great acropolis which dominates the basin in which the Nabatean city of Petra (“rock”!) was built.
2. A place on the border of the Amorites in the time of the judges (Ju 1:36). It was apparently in Judah, but its site is unknown.
3. A place in Moab, mentioned in a prophesy of destruction (Isa 16:1). Its site has not been identified.
SHELAH 1 (Shin – Lamed – He)
This is the son of Judah mentioned in Genesis 38 etc. His name has been interpreted as “quiet, peaceful” or else “request” (probably in the sense of “asked for”).
SHELAH 2 (Shin – Lamed – Khet)
The Pool of Shelah in Jerusalem is mentioned in Nehemia 3:15. The New Testament, following the Septuagint, refers to it as S(e)iloam or Siloa. This is the name of the aqueduct, meaning “sender” (i.e. of Water). Another Hebrew form is Shiloakh.
SELAH (Samekh – Lamed – He)
This is the musical sign that appears mainly in the book of psalms. It probably marks the end of a paragraph, but its original meaning is not clear. One interpretation derives it from a word meaning "lift up"n (Hebrew salal, Samekh – Lamed – Lamed); this could refer either to the voices of the singers or else to their eyes. In the latter case it may ask the person or persons praying to lift up their eyes and repeat the last verses.
According to another interpretation, SELAH is derived from a word for "bow" or "pray." so maybe you were supposed to bow down in prayer at the end of the paragraph.
Sources:
The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Doubleday, NY 1992
The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Abingdon Press, 1962
The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, Hendrickson 1906/1999
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 1966/77/83
Encyclopedia Judaica, CD-Rom Edition
ZELA (Tsadik – Lamed – Ayin)
It is mentioned in Joshua 18:28 and also in 2 Sam 21:14, here as Saul’s burial place.
”The Hebrew noun “tsela” means “rib, side” (e.g. of Adam, the Temple, the ark), but also “ridge, slope” (of a hill), and this makes sense for a place name.
The Hebrew verb “tsala” (with the same consonants) means “to limp” (Jacob, gen 32:31/32). It is also found as “stumbling” in Jer 20:10
Its location has not been identified, but probably in the hill country north or west of Jerusalem. Khirbet Salah, between Jerusalem and Gibeon, is a possible identification of the site.
SELA (Samekh – Lamed – Ayin)
This is a place name mentioned as haSela (with the definite article “ha”). It means “rock, cliff.”
1. A fortress city of Edom (2 Kings 14:7), probably to be identified with Umm el-Bayyarah, the great acropolis which dominates the basin in which the Nabatean city of Petra (“rock”!) was built.
2. A place on the border of the Amorites in the time of the judges (Ju 1:36). It was apparently in Judah, but its site is unknown.
3. A place in Moab, mentioned in a prophesy of destruction (Isa 16:1). Its site has not been identified.
SHELAH 1 (Shin – Lamed – He)
This is the son of Judah mentioned in Genesis 38 etc. His name has been interpreted as “quiet, peaceful” or else “request” (probably in the sense of “asked for”).
SHELAH 2 (Shin – Lamed – Khet)
The Pool of Shelah in Jerusalem is mentioned in Nehemia 3:15. The New Testament, following the Septuagint, refers to it as S(e)iloam or Siloa. This is the name of the aqueduct, meaning “sender” (i.e. of Water). Another Hebrew form is Shiloakh.
SELAH (Samekh – Lamed – He)
This is the musical sign that appears mainly in the book of psalms. It probably marks the end of a paragraph, but its original meaning is not clear. One interpretation derives it from a word meaning "lift up"n (Hebrew salal, Samekh – Lamed – Lamed); this could refer either to the voices of the singers or else to their eyes. In the latter case it may ask the person or persons praying to lift up their eyes and repeat the last verses.
According to another interpretation, SELAH is derived from a word for "bow" or "pray." so maybe you were supposed to bow down in prayer at the end of the paragraph.
Sources:
The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Doubleday, NY 1992
The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Abingdon Press, 1962
The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, Hendrickson 1906/1999
Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 1966/77/83
Encyclopedia Judaica, CD-Rom Edition
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