A craggy rock , literally or figuratively (a fortress )
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H5553 is a Hebrew noun for a crag, cliff, rocky place, or stronghold and can function figuratively for reliable refuge. Second Samuel 22:2 names the LORD as David's rock, fortress, and deliverer after rescue from violent enemies.
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Full entry for סֶלַע (H5553) · Open the biblical lexicon
H5553 is a Hebrew noun for a crag, cliff, rocky place, or stronghold and can function figuratively for reliable refuge. Second Samuel 22:2 names the LORD as David's rock, fortress, and deliverer after rescue from violent enemies.
The BSB source-word alignment has 58 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include rock (7), of the rocks (6), the rock (6), . . . (4), the cliffs (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Numbers 20:8. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (9), Judges (8), Isaiah (7), Jeremiah (7).
H5553 is a Hebrew noun for a crag, cliff, rocky place, or stronghold and can function figuratively for reliable refuge. Second Samuel 22:2 names the Lord as David's rock, fortress, and deliverer after rescue from violent enemies. Numbers 20:8 commands Moses and Aaron to speak to the rock so that water will come for the congregation and livestock, joining hard terrain with God's provision.
Obadiah 1:3 warns Edom that secure habitation in rocky heights has nourished deceptive pride. Other passages describe caves, mountain animals, shelter, bare rock that exposes blood, cliffs used in killing, and inaccessible places thought safe. H5553 opens refuge, stability, provision, concealment, and false security. It corrects both spiritual claims that make God a rock while denying people concrete safety and triumphal claims that treat geography, wealth, institutions, or emotional hardness as an unassailable fortress.
H5553 names solid and often rugged rock: a crag, cliff, sheltering formation, exposed surface, or stronghold. Figurative uses draw on stability and refuge, while other contexts emphasize barrenness, danger, concealment, pride, or violent height.
He said: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.
David praises the Lord as rock, fortress, and deliverer after being rescued from violent enemies.
“Take the staff and assemble the congregation. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will pour out its water. You will bring out water from the rock and provide drink for the congregation and their livestock.”
God commands Moses and Aaron to speak to the rock so that water will be provided for the people and their livestock.
The pride of your heart has deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks whose habitation is the heights, who say in your heart, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’
Edom's high dwelling among rocky clefts feeds a proud belief that no one can bring the nation down.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Solid, towering rock used literally for refuge and figuratively for God as an unshakeable fortress
Solid, towering rock used literally for refuge and figuratively for God as an unshakeable fortress
a craggy rock, literally or figuratively (a fortress) BDB: crag Usage: (ragged) rock, stone(-ny), strong hold.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 59 lexical occurrence verses.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H5553 makes stability concrete without making every rock safe. David calls the Lord his rock because God delivered him from actual violence, not because David escaped every wound or hard decision. The wilderness rock becomes a place of provision when God gives water for people and animals, yet Moses' disobedience in that scene warns leaders not to make themselves the source of what God provides.
Rocky clefts shelter fugitives and small creatures, but high cliffs can also become sites of pride, hiding, exposure, or brutal death. Obadiah addresses a nation whose defensible geography has become a false theology of invulnerability. These contrasts matter for pastoral use. Trust in God should lead communities to build tangible forms of safety, share water and resources, and help people escape harm.
It should not pressure someone to remain in danger or claim that a ministry cannot fall. Strongholds need moral examination: whom do they protect, whom do they exclude, and what truth can enter? God is dependable refuge, while every human shelter remains limited, accountable, and in need of wise maintenance.
2Sam.22.2
H5553 is a concrete noun for rugged rock, cliff, or crag and can extend to a fortress or figurative refuge. Verbs and modifiers reveal whether the feature supplies shelter, height, hardness, barrenness, exposure, or danger.
The New Testament identifies Christ with wilderness provision and uses rock and foundation imagery for faithful hearing and confession. These connections do not erase the distinct Hebrew rock terms or turn every H5553 occurrence into a direct prediction of Christ.