Hebrew verb · H6633
צָבָא
tsabatsaw-baw'
to serve
14 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key
Concordance spelling: tsâbâʼ
Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H6633is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.
- 7 of 39Old Testament books
- 11spellings
The definition in full
Strong's key (1890) · H6633
to mass (an army or servants)
The King James renders it: assemble, fight, perform, muster, wait upon, war.
James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.
Summary
tsaba is rendered "to serve". It stands 14 times in the Hebrew text, across seven books.
- Four of the uses stand in Numbers, more than in any other book.
- Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Exodus 38:8Next he made the bronze basin and its stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
- The Greek text spells it eleven different ways.
The first use
Next he made the bronze basin and its stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
Exodus 38:8הַצֹּ֣בְאֹ֔ת
The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.
Where the word stands
What the word means
Each meaning, and the words it is translated by
How the Greek text is glossed, word by word
- to serve2
- which wage war2
- who mustered2
- and they waged war1
- the serving1
- they have waged war1
- they served1
- to wage war1
- wage war against it1
- who had gone to war1
- who were serving1
The words built on the same word-part
Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.
Other numbers on this spelling
Strong gave these words the same spelling and different numbers, so the site counts and defines them apart.
The words it stands beside
All 14, in canonical order
Every use, in order
Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.
11 spellings and their grammar
STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.
How it is spelled
- הַמַּצְבִּ֖א2
- הַצֹּבְאִ֖ים2
- לִצְבֹ֣א2
- הַצֹּ֣בְא֔וֹת1
- הַצֹּבְאִֽים׃1
- הַצֹּ֣בְאֹ֔ת1
- וַֽיִּצְבְּאוּ֙1
- לִצְבֹּ֥א1
- צָֽבְא֔וּ1
- צָבְא֖וּ1
- צֹבֶ֙יהָ֙1
The grammar of each form
- preposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)3HR/Vqcc
- the definite article (“the”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine plural3HTd/Vqrmpa
- the definite article (“the”) + verb · causative (hiphil), participle · masculine singular2HTd/Vhrmsa
- the definite article (“the”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · feminine plural2HTd/Vqrfpa
- verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common plural2HVqp3cp
- Hc/Vqw3mp1Hc/Vqw3mp
- verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person feminine singular1HVqrmpc/Sp3fs
Exodus
two uses
Next he made the bronze basin and its stand from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
- הַצֹּ֣בְאֹ֔תhatzoeotthe definite article (“the”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · feminine pluraltagged: the serving
- צָֽבְא֔וּtzaveuverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common pluraltagged: they served
Numbers
four uses
from thirty to fifty years old, counting everyone who comes to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.
- לִצְבֹ֣אlitzvo'preposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to serve
“This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years of age or older shall enter to perform the service in the work at the Tent of Meeting.
- לִצְבֹ֣אlitzvo'preposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to serve
Then they waged war against Midian, as the LORD had commanded Moses, and they killed every male.
- וַֽיִּצְבְּאוּ֙vaiyitzbeuHc/Vqw3mptagged: and they waged war
From the Israelites’ half, which Moses had set apart from the men who had gone to war,
- הַצֹּבְאִֽים׃hatzoeimthe definite article (“the”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine pluraltagged: who had gone to war
1 Samuel
one use
Now Eli was very old, and he heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
- הַצֹּ֣בְא֔וֹתhatzoeotthe definite article (“the”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · feminine pluraltagged: who were serving
2 Kings
one use
Of those still in the city, he took a court official who had been appointed over the men of war, as well as five royal advisors. He also took the scribe of the captain of the army, who had enlisted the people of the land, and sixty men who were found in the city.
- הַמַּצְבִּ֖אhamatzbi'the definite article (“the”) + verb · causative (hiphil), participle · masculine singulartagged: who mustered
Isaiah
four uses
All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel—even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her—will be like a dream, like a vision in the night,
- הַצֹּבְאִ֖יםhatzoeimthe definite article (“the”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine pluraltagged: which wage war
- צֹבֶ֙יהָ֙tzoveihaverb · simple (qal), participle · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person feminine singulartagged: wage war against it
as when a hungry man dreams he is eating, then awakens still hungry; as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking, then awakens faint and parched. So will it be for all the many nations who go to battle against Mount Zion.
- הַצֹּבְאִ֖יםhatzoeimthe definite article (“the”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine pluraltagged: which wage war
For this is what the LORD has said to me: “Like a lion roaring or a young lion over its prey—and though a band of shepherds is called out against it, it is not terrified by their shouting or subdued by their clamor—so the LORD of Hosts will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and its heights.
- לִצְבֹּ֥אlitzbo'preposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to wage war
Jeremiah
one use
Of those still in the city, he took a court official who had been appointed over the men of war, as well as seven trusted royal advisers. He also took the scribe of the captain of the army, who had enlisted the people of the land, and sixty men who were found in the city.
- הַמַּצְבִּ֖אhamatzbi'the definite article (“the”) + verb · causative (hiphil), participle · masculine singulartagged: who mustered
Zechariah
one use
And this will be the plague with which the LORD strikes all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
- צָבְא֖וּtzaveuverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common pluraltagged: they have waged war
Where it leads
How the numbers are counted
Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.
Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.
The words it stands beside are the nouns, verbs and adjectives immediately before or after it, counted in every verse where the word stands. The article, the conjunctions and the prepositions are left out, because they stand beside every word.
The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.