Study
Word study

Word study

Hebrew

To command

צָוָהStrong’s H6680

tsavah (tsa-vah)

Appears in 475 verses of the Old Testament

In short

Tsavah is the Hebrew word usually translated “had commanded”, “commanded” and “commanding you”. It appears in 475 verses of the Old Testament.

“But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.”
Zechariah 1:6 KJV
Meaning
  1. To command, charge, give orders, lay charge, give charge to, order(Piel) · (Pual) to be commanded
How it's translated
  • he had commanded 107
  • he commanded 53
  • and he commanded 50
  • commanding you 28
  • he has commanded 25
  • i commanded 20
  • commanding 12
  • command 11

Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.

Where it's used most
  • Deuteronomy 86
  • Exodus 54
  • Numbers 45
  • Joshua 39
  • Jeremiah 37
  • Leviticus 34

27 books in all.

Related words
Explore in Scripture
All 475 verses, by book
Lamentations 4
1:101:172:173:37
Nahum 1
1:14
Zechariah 1
1:6
Malachi 1
4:4
Hebrew dictionary

צָוָה tsavah · to command

1) to command, charge, give orders, lay charge, give charge to, order 1a)(Piel) 1a1) to lay charge upon 1a2) to give charge to, give command to 1a3) to give charge unto 1a4) to give charge over, appoint 1a5) to give charge, command 1a6) to charge, command 1a7) to charge, commission 1a8) to command, appoint, ordain (of divine act) 1b) (Pual) to be commanded

From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

How the English word “command” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.

COMMAND, verb transitive

  1. To bid; to order; to direct; to charge; implying authority, and power to control, and to require obedience.“We will sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he shall command us” Exodus 8:27“I know that he [Abraham] will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord” Genesis 18:19
  2. To govern, lead or direct; to have or to exercise supreme authority over.
  3. To have in power; to be able to exercise power or authority over; as, a military post commands the surrounding country; a fort commands the harbor.
  4. To overlook, or have in the power of the eye, without obstruction.
All definitions and other forms of “command”
  1. To direct; to send.“The Lord shall command the blessing on thee” Deuteronomy 28:8
  2. To have or to exercise a controlling influence over.

COMMAND, verb intransitive

To have or to exercise supreme authority; to possess the chief power; to govern; as, the general commands with dignity and humanity. What general commands in Canada?

    COMMAND, noun

    1. The right or power of governing with chief or exclusive authority; supreme power; control; as, an officer has a brigade under his command; he takes command of the army in France; an appropriate military term.
    2. The power of controlling; governing influence; sway.
    3. Cogent or absolute authority.
    4. The act of commanding; the mandate uttered; order given.
    5. The power of overlooking, or surveying, without obstruction.
    6. The power of governing or controlling by force, or of defending and protecting.
    7. That which is commanded control; as a body of troop under command

    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.