StrongerBible

zer

זֵר

HebrewH2213“molding, crown, ...”

Appears 10 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Exo 25:11Exo 25:24Exo 25:25Exo 30:3Exo 30:4Exo 37:2Exo 37:11Exo 37:12Exo 37:26Exo 37:27
Root family
Word studyZAYRnoun

What zer means

a molding: the narrow raised band of gold running around the edge of a piece of tabernacle furniture

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong

This word turns up ten times in the Bible, all of them in Exodus, and every time in the same short phrase: a molding of gold, all around. It belongs to the account of the tabernacle, the portable sanctuary Israel carried through the wilderness, and it names a finishing detail on the furniture that stood inside it.

The same detail is specified for each of the holy objects, and each one is described twice, once when the instructions are given and again when the work is actually carried out:

  • the chest that held the covenant, overlaid with gold inside and out (Exodus 25:11; 37:2)
  • the table that carried the bread set out before God (Exodus 25:24; 37:11)
  • the frame (מִסְגֶּרֶת) that ran a handbreadth wide around that table (Exodus 25:25; 37:12)
  • the small altar where incense was burned (Exodus 30:3; 37:26)

Physically it is a thin raised band of gold running around the top edge of each piece. It finished the surface off and marked where it ended, and on the table it would also have kept what sat there from sliding away. The builders treated it as a fixed landmark as well: the rings that held the carrying poles of the incense altar were set just underneath its molding, on two opposite sides (Exodus 30:4; 37:27).

Notice what does not get one. The bronze altar out in the courtyard and the lampstand are both described in detail, and neither has a molding. The gold trim belongs only to the three objects that stood inside the tent, so this small piece of craftsmanship tracks the same rising scale of holiness that runs through the whole sanctuary, from bronze in the open courtyard to gold in the room only priests entered.

Exo 25:11Exo 25:24Exo 25:25Exo 30:3Exo 30:4Exo 37:2Exo 37:11Exo 37:12Exo 37:26Exo 37:27

What scholars say about zer

זֵר occurs 10 times in the Hebrew Bible, all of them in the tabernacle material of Exodus (25:11, 24, 25; 30:3, 4; 37:2, 11, 12, 26, 27), invariably in the collocation זֵר זָהָב סָבִיב, "a molding of gold all around," and twice with the pronominal suffix (לְזֵרוֹ, Exodus 30:4; 37:27). The lexica agree on the referent: BDB glosses "border, moulding," HALOT "moulding, rim," and DCH "rim, moulding, border"; they connect the noun with a root meaning to encircle or press round, though the derivation itself is not secure. The Septuagint renders it κυμάτια στρεπτά (Exodus 25:11), "twisted wave-mouldings," borrowing the technical vocabulary of Greek architecture for a profiled cornice, which indicates that the translators understood a decorative raised edging rather than a diadem. The Vulgate's coronam auream, "a golden crown," together with the Targumic tradition, stands behind the King James "crown," a rendering the modern versions have abandoned in favor of "molding" or "rim." Rabbinic tradition develops the "crown" sense in a different direction: b. Yoma 72b reads the three zerim of the ark, the table, and the incense altar as the crowns of Torah, priesthood, and kingship, a usage consistent with the later Hebrew value "wreath, crown" recorded by Jastrow. Discussion in the commentaries concerns emphasis rather than sense: whether the molding is primarily ornamental finishing in keeping with the sanctuary's gradation of metals, or also functional, a raised lip retaining the vessels and the bread of the Presence on the table and a fixed reference point for the placement of the carrying rings on the incense altar (Exodus 30:4; 37:27). See Cassuto, Durham, Houtman, and Propp in their comments on these chapters. Haran's study of the tabernacle appointments notes that the molding is restricted to the three gold objects standing within the tent and is absent from the bronze furnishings of the courtyard, so the detail participates in the graded holiness of the sanctuary.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. זֵרlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. זֵרlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. זֵרlexicon
  • TWOT, s.v. זֵרtheological-dictionary
  • Marcus Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, s.v. זֵרlexicon
  • Umberto Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Exoduscommentary
  • John I. Durham, Exodus (Word Biblical Commentary 3)commentary
  • Cornelis Houtman, Exodus, vol. 3 (Historical Commentary on the Old Testament)commentary
  • William H. C. Propp, Exodus 19-40 (Anchor Yale Bible 2A)commentary
  • Menahem Haran, Temples and Temple-Service in Ancient Israelmonograph

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

All attested forms of זֵר

m s construct

זֵר

Exo 25:11, Exo 25:24, Exo 25:25, Exo 30:3, Exo 37:2, Exo 37:11, Exo 37:12, Exo 37:26

m s construct

זֵרוֹ

Exo 30:4, Exo 37:27