Span
זֶ֫רֶתStrong’s H2239zeret (ze-ret)
Appears in 5 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Zeret is the Hebrew word usually translated “span”. It appears in 5 verses of the Old Testament.
“Foursquare it shall be being doubled; a span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof.”
Meaning
- Spana unit of measure, approx half-cubit, or the distance from the thumb to the little finger on an outstretched hand
How it's translated
- a span 3
- and a span 3
- with span 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Exodus 2
- 1 Samuel 1
- Isaiah 1
- Ezekiel 1
4 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Exodus 39:9It was foursquare; they made the breastplate double: a span was the length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof, being doubled.
- 1 Samuel 17:4And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
- Isaiah 40:12Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
- Ezekiel 43:13And these are the measures of the altar after the cubits: The cubit is a cubit and an hand breadth; even the bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border thereof by the edge thereof round about shall be a span: and this shall be the higher place of the altar.
Hebrew dictionary
זֶ֫רֶת zeret · span
1) span 1a) a unit of measure, approx half-cubit, or the distance from the thumb to the little finger on an outstretched hand
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “span” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
SPAN, noun
[This word is formed on the root of bend, Latin pando. The primary sense is to strain, stretch, extend, hence to join a team.]
- The space from the end of the thumb to the end of the little finger when extended; nine inches; the eighth of a fathom.
- A short space of time.
- A span of horses, consists of two of nearly the same color, and otherwise nearly alike, which are usually harness side by side.
- In seamen's language, a small line or cord, the middle of which is attached to a stay.
All definitions and other forms of “span”
SPAN, verb transitive
- To measure by the hand with the fingers extended, or with the fingers encompassing the object; as, to span a space or distance; to span a cylinder.
- To measure.
SPAN, verb intransitive
To agree in color, or in color and size; as, the horses span well. [New England.]
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.