Hebrew noun (masculine) · H6754
צֶלֶם
tselemtseh'-lem
image
17 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key
Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H6754is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.
- 8 of 39Old Testament books
- 16spellings
The definition in full
Strong's key (1890) · H6754
a phantom, i.e. (figuratively) illusion, resemblance; hence, a representative figure, especially an idol
The King James renders it: image, vain shew.
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
tselem is rendered "image". It stands 17 times in the Hebrew text, across eight books.
- Five of the uses stand in Genesis, more than in any other book.
- Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Genesis 1:26Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”
- The Greek text spells it sixteen different ways.
The first use
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”
Genesis 1:26בְּצַלְמֵ֖נוּ
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
- images of5
- and images of2
- images its2
- in image of2
- according to image his1
- image their1
- images your1
- in an image1
- in image our1
- in own image his1
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.
| Word | Written | Meaning | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| צֶלֶם | tselem | image | Uses17 |
Other numbers on this spelling
Strong gave these words the same spelling and different numbers, so the site counts and defines them apart.
All 17, in canonical order
Every use, in order
Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.
16 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
- צַלְמֵ֣י2
- בְּצֶ֥לֶם1
- בְּצֶ֣לֶם1
- בְּצֶ֤לֶם׀1
- בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ1
- בְּצַלְמֵ֖נוּ1
- וְצַלְמֵ֣י1
- וְצַלְמֵ֧י1
- כְּצַלְמ֑וֹ1
- צַלְמֵ֤י1
- צַלְמֵ֨י1
- צַלְמֵ֥י1
and 4 more spellings in the ledger below.
The grammar of each form
- noun · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”)5HNcmpc
- conjunction (“and”) + noun · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”)2HC/Ncmpc
- noun · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singular2HNcmpc/Sp3ms
- preposition + noun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”)2HR/Ncmsc
- preposition + noun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singular2HR/Ncmsc/Sp3ms
- noun · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 2nd person masculine plural1HNcmpc/Sp2mp
- noun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine plural1HNcmsc/Sp3mp
- preposition + noun · masculine singular1HR/Ncmsa
- preposition + noun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 1st person masculine or feminine plural1HR/Ncmsc/Sp1bp
Genesis
five uses
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”
- בְּצַלְמֵ֖נוּbetzalmenupreposition + noun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 1st person masculine or feminine pluraltagged: in image our
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
- בְּצַלְמ֔וֹbetzalmopreposition + noun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: in own image his
- בְּצֶ֥לֶםbetzelempreposition + noun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”)tagged: in image of
When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son in his own likeness, after his own image; and he named him Seth.
- כְּצַלְמ֑וֹketzalmopreposition + noun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: according to image his
Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.
- בְּצֶ֣לֶםbetzelempreposition + noun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”)tagged: in image of
Numbers
one use
you must drive out before you all the inhabitants of the land, destroy all their carved images and cast idols, and demolish all their high places.
- צַלְמֵ֤יtzalmeinoun · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”)tagged: images of
1 Samuel
three uses
Make images of your tumors and of the rats that are ravaging the land. Give glory to the God of Israel, and perhaps He will lift His hand from you and your gods and your land.
- צַלְמֵ֨יtzalmeinoun · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”)tagged: images of
- וְצַלְמֵ֣יvetzalmeiconjunction (“and”) + noun · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”)tagged: and images of
Then they put the ark of the LORD on the cart, along with the chest containing the gold rats and the images of the tumors.
- צַלְמֵ֥יtzalmeinoun · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”)tagged: images of
2 Kings
one use
So all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols to pieces, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars. And Jehoiada the priest posted guards for the house of the LORD.
- צְלָמָיו֙tzelamavnoun · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: images its
2 Chronicles
one use
So all the people went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols to pieces and killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars.
- צְלָמָ֖יוtzelamavnoun · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: images its
Psalms
two uses
Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.
- בְּצֶ֤לֶם׀betzelempreposition + noun · masculine singulartagged: in an image
Like one waking from a dream, so You, O Lord, awaken and despise their form.
- צַלְמָ֬םtzalmamnoun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine pluraltagged: image their
Ezekiel
three uses
His beautiful ornaments they transformed into pride and used them to fashion their vile images and detestable idols. Therefore I will make these into something unclean for them.
- וְצַלְמֵ֧יvetzalmeiconjunction (“and”) + noun · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”)tagged: and images of
You also took the fine jewelry of gold and silver I had given you, and you made male idols with which to prostitute yourself.
- צַלְמֵ֣יtzalmeinoun · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”)tagged: images of
But Oholibah carried her prostitution even further. She saw the men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans, engraved in vermilion,
- צַלְמֵ֣יtzalmeinoun · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”)tagged: images of
Amos
one use
You have taken along Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, the idols you made for yourselves.
- צַלְמֵיכֶ֑םtzalmeikhemnoun · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 2nd person masculine pluraltagged: images your
The letters
Gematria 160· 720 mispar gadol
Where it leads
Studies that open this word2
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.