StrongerBible

zadon

זָדוֹן

HebrewH2087“pride, presumption, ...”

Appears 11 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Deu 17:12Deu 18:221Sa 17:28Pro 11:2Pro 13:10Pro 21:24Jer 49:16Jer 50:31Jer 50:32Ezk 7:10Oba 1:3
Root family
Word studyResearch-gradezah-DOHNnoun

What zadon means

arrogant presumption: a deliberate, defiant overstepping of a boundary set by God or rightful authority, done knowingly and with contempt

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

This word is not vanity or simply thinking too highly of oneself. It always points in a direction: outward, upward, past a line that has been drawn. Someone knows the command or the limit and crosses it anyway, and does so with contempt. Its truest opposite in the Bible is not humility but an honest mistake. The law sharply separates a wrong done unknowingly from a wrong done like this, with eyes open.

The same core plays out on three scales.

  • In the law codes it names a kind of act: the open, deliberate offense that the sacrifices were never meant to cover, because the person meant to do it.
  • In the Prophets it names the swagger of nations, the false confidence of Edom and Babylon that they can never be brought down, a security so sure of itself that it becomes defiance of God.
  • In Proverbs and the older stories it names a kind of person: the insolent one who will not take correction and leaves strife and disgrace behind.

What holds the three together is the one movement of willful overreaching, whether it shows up as a single deed, a nation's posture, or a settled streak in someone's character.

Nuances

1apresumptuous defiance: knowingly and openly breaking a command or overruling a rightful authority
Deu 17:12Deu 18:22
1bthe overconfident arrogance of a nation or power: a false sense of being untouchable that leads to its downfall
Jer 49:16Jer 50:31Jer 50:32Ezk 7:10Oba 1:3
Ezk 7:10

In Ezekiel 7:10 both the referent of the budding arrogance and the text itself are contested. The clause reads pārach hazzādôn, the arrogance has budded.

  • majorityRetain the Masoretic Text: the arrogance and the rod of judgment are pictured ripening together, the pride among God's people bringing on the coming punishment.; Moshe Greenberg, Ezekiel 1-20, AB 22; Walther Zimmerli, Ezekiel 1, Hermeneia; Daniel I. Block, The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 1-24, NICOT
  • minorityEmend the noun to muṭṭeh, injustice, giving a parallel with the violence named in the following verse.; Leslie C. Allen, Ezekiel 1-19, WBC 28
1cinsolence as a settled character trait: the contemptuous, unteachable arrogance that breeds strife and disgrace
1Sa 17:28Pro 11:2Pro 13:10Pro 21:24

What scholars say about zadon

The lexicons converge on "arrogance, insolence, presumption" for the noun זָדוֹן (BDB "insolence, presumptuousness"; HALOT and DCH "arrogance, insolence"), while differing over the root's history. Josef Scharbert (TDOT IV) defends "deliberate, willful transgression of divinely set boundaries" as the semantic center, stressing that the word functions as the technical antonym of בִּשְׁגָגָה, the sin sacrifice cannot expiate. G. Wehmeier (TLOT, under גאה) captures the family's distinctive edge: זָדוֹן names an active, verbal overreach (an event) rather than the stative self-regard of גַּאֲוָה (a state). In Priestly and Deuteronomic law the noun and its cognate verb mark the "high-handed" sin (Num 15:30 בְּיָד רָמָה), which Jacob Milgrom (Leviticus 1-16, AB; Numbers, JPS) identifies as brazen, contemptuous rebellion against YHWH; the extent to which such intentional sin could be downgraded by confession is debated between Milgrom and Roy Gane (Cult and Character) and Jay Sklar. In the Prophets the phrase זְדוֹן לֵב describes Edom's self-deceiving overconfidence (Raabe, Obadiah, AB), and Ezekiel 7:10 (פָּרַח הַזָּדוֹן) is a recognized crux over both referent and text (Greenberg, AB; Zimmerli, Hermeneia; Block, NICOT; Allen, WBC). In Wisdom the term hardens into a character type, the insolent scoffer (לֵץ) who refuses counsel (Waltke, Proverbs, NICOT; Fox, AYB). NIDOTTE and TWOT summarize the range.

Where scholars disagree about zadon

Whether the noun derives from a single root meaning "to boil, seethe" (so that arrogance is figured as a pot boiling over) or from a separate root meaning "to swell, exceed, overstep," with the "boil" sense being an unrelated homonym. This bears on how the word's imagery is understood, not on its agreed sense.

  • contestedOne polysemous root: the physical "boiling over" of Genesis 25:29 supplies the living image for uncontrolled self-assertion, and the "raging waters" of Psalm 124:5 bridge the physical and moral senses within Hebrew itself.; BDB, pp. 267-268; NIDOTTE, s.v. זוד/זיד
  • contestedTwo separate words that merely share a sound: the arrogance word goes back to a Proto-Semitic sense "swell, exceed, overstep" (supported by Arabic zada "increase, exceed" and the Aramaic cognates), while the "boil" sense is attested only marginally and does not underlie it.; HALOT, s.v. זוד I / II; DCH III, s.v. זוד
In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. זָדוֹן / זודlexicon
  • BDB, pp. 267-268 (זִיד/זוּד, זָדוֹן)lexicon
  • DCH III, s.v. זָדוֹןlexicon
  • Josef Scharbert, "zwd/zyd," TDOT IV:46-51dictionary
  • G. Wehmeier, "gaʾah," TLOT I:341-348dictionary
  • Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus 1-16, AB 3 (1991)commentary
  • Roy E. Gane, Cult and Character (2005)monograph
  • Bruce K. Waltke, The Book of Proverbs, Chapters 1-15, NICOT (2004)commentary
  • Paul R. Raabe, Obadiah, AB 24D (1996)commentary
  • NIDOTTE, s.v. זוד/זידdictionary

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of זָדוֹן

m s absolute

זָדוֹן, זָּדוֹן

Deu 17:12, Deu 18:22, Pro 11:2, Pro 13:10, Pro 21:24, Jer 50:31, Jer 50:32, Ezk 7:10

m s construct

זְדוֹן

Jer 49:16, Oba 1:3

m s construct

זְדֹנְךָ

1Sa 17:28