To whisper
צָפַףStrong’s H6850tsaphaph (tsa-phaph)
Appears in 4 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Tsaphaph is the Hebrew word usually translated “who whisper”, “chirping” and “it will whisper”. It appears in 4 verses of the Old Testament.
“And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?”
Meaning
- (Pilpel) to chirp, peepof birds · of ghosts
How it's translated
- who whisper 1
- and chirping 1
- it will whisper 1
- i chirp 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Isaiah 4
1 book in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Isaiah 10:14And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.
- Isaiah 29:4And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.
- Isaiah 38:14Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me.
Hebrew dictionary
צָפַף tsaphaph · to whisper
1) (Pilpel) to chirp, peep 1a) of birds 1b) of ghosts
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “whisper” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
WHISPER, verb intransitive
[Latin The word seems by its sound to be an onomatopy, as it expresses a sibilant sound or breathing.]
- To speak with a low hissing or sibilant voice.
- To speak with suspicion or timorous caution.
- To plot secretly; to devise in mischief.“All that hate me whisper together against me” Psalms 41:7
All definitions and other forms of “whisper”
WHISPER, verb transitive
- To address in a low voice.
- To utter in a low sibilant voice.
- To prompt secretly; as, the came to whisper Woolsey.
WHISPER, noun
- A low soft sibilant voice; or words uttered with such a voice.
- A cautious or timorous speech.
- A hissing or buzzing sound.
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.