1 Samuel 17:12:161 Sam.17.12.W16TAB
זָקֵ֖ן
zaken
“old”
- Transliteration
- za-KEN
- Extended
- zaa-KEEN
- IPA
- /zɔːˈqeːn/
Meaning by language
- English
- old
Hebrew · tap a syllable to hear it
Alphabet Analysis
| Zayin | z as in zero | |
| Qamets | long 'ah' | |
| Qof | q — deep k, uvular | |
| Tsere | long 'ey' as in they | |
| Nun Sofit | final form of Nun — at word end |
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The word
Word in context
- word
za-KEN
- clause
ve-ha-ISH bi-ME sha-UL za-KEN BA ba-a-na-SHIM
- sentence
ve-da-VID ben-ISH e-fra-TI ha-ZE mi-BET LE-khem ye-hu-DA u-she-MO yi-SHAI ve-LO she-mo-NA va-NIM ve-ha-ISH bi-ME sha-UL za-KEN BA ba-a-na-SHIM
Exegesis
The adjective zaken {זָקֵ֖ן | zāqēn} ‘old’ precedes the perfect ba {בָּ֥א | bāʾ}, with the locative ba’anashim {בַאֲנָשִֽׁים | ba-ʾănāšîm} ‘among the men’, forming an idiomatic verbless clause (‘the man was old’). This construction is rendered as ‘he was old’ in the formal reconstruction and ‘he was an elderly man’ in the dynamic reconstruction, preserving the sense of advanced age without adding action.
Root and etymology
Rootz-q-n
“to be old”
In context — 1 Samuel 17:12
Now David was the son of this Ephrathite man from Bethlehem of Judah, whose name was Jesse ; he had eight sons, and in the days of Saul he was old .
About this coordinate
1 Samuel 17:12:16 is a BCV:P reference — Book · Chapter · Verse · Word Position. It addresses word 16 of 1 Samuel 17:12, so the Hebrew word זָקֵ֖ן (zaken) can be cited, linked and studied at exactly this position rather than somewhere in the verse. In the Biblical Knowledge Coordinate System the same position is written 1 Sam.17.12.W16, which extends further down to each syllable (1 Sam.17.12.W16.S1) and character.