---
title: זֶפֶת — pitch · The Tanakh dictionary
description: זֶפֶת (2203), a word of Biblical Hebrew, used 3 times: pitch. BDB 1906: n.f. pitch. With 2 verses in Hebrew, word for word and JPS 1917.
---

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# זֶפֶת

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«זֶפֶת» in the Tanakh dictionary: **pitch** — how often it is used, MACULA's glosses, its meanings in the printed dictionaries and why they were chosen, and 2 verses in layers.

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**Used:** 3 times · **Key:** 2203 · **BDB:** זֶ֫פֶת

### Glosses

pitch (3)

### Meaning (OSHB)

pitch [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1494/2203/#m1)

### Meaning (BDB 1906)

n.f. pitch [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1494/2203/#m2)

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**The whole BDB entry:** n.f. Is 34:9 pitch (cf. on format. Ol§ 164 c Sta§ 187a. Word is Armenian according to LagArm. Stud. 1351, BN 219; on Egyptian deriv. cf. CookSpeaker’s Comm. i. 484; Arabic زِفْتٌ according to Frä 151, if Shemit., is Aramaic loan-wd. v also Ethiopic ዝፍት Di 1068)—pitch:—וַתַּחְמְרָה בַחֵמָר וּבַזָּ֑פֶת Ex 2:3 of ark of bulrushes; Is 34:9a וְנֶהֶפְכוּ נְחָלֶיהָ לְזֶפֶת וַעֲפָרָהּ לְגָפְרִ֑ית, v 9b והיתה אַרְצָהּ לְזֶפֶת בֹּעֵרָֽה ׃.

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Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech agrees, 2 of its verses cited, 1 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (1 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech agrees, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 1 with the glosses (1 candidates)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every English meaning of «זֶפֶת» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1494/2203/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.

### In the verses

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[Isaiah 34:9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA.34.9/)

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וְנֶהֶפְכ֤וּ נְחָלֶ֙יהָ֙ לְזֶ֔פֶת וַעֲפָרָ֖הּ לְגָפְרִ֑ית וְהָיְתָ֣ה אַרְצָ֔הּ לְזֶ֖פֶת בֹּעֵרָֽה׃

*Word for word:* and they.will.be.changed torrents its into pitch and dust its into sulfur and it.will.become land its (into) pitch burning

*JPS 1917:* And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.

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[Exodus 2:3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.2.3/)

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וְלֹא־יָכְלָ֣ה עוֹד֮ הַצְּפִינוֹ֒ וַתִּֽקַּֽח־לוֹ֙ תֵּ֣בַת גֹּ֔מֶא וַתַּחְמְרָ֥ה בַחֵמָ֖ר וּבַזָּ֑פֶת וַתָּ֤שֶׂם בָּהּ֙ אֶת־הַיֶּ֔לֶד וַתָּ֥שֶׂם בַּסּ֖וּף עַל־שְׂפַ֥ת הַיְאֹֽר׃

*Word for word:* and not she.was.able still to hide.him and she.took for him a.basket of.papyrus and she sealed.it with (the) bitumen and with (the) pitch and she.put in it (et) the child and she.put.\[it\] among the rush\[es\] at the.bank of the.River

*JPS 1917:* And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch; and she put the child therein, and laid it in the flags by the river's brink.

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- ← previous: [זִפְרֹון](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/2202.md)
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