A mass of persons (or figuratively, things), especially reg. organized for war (an army ); by implication, a campaign , literally or figuratively (specifically, hardship , worship )
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צָבָא (ṣāḇā') denotes an organized host, army, company, or assigned service. Exodus 6:26 and 12:41 describe Israel leaving Egypt by its hosts, Numbers 1:3 counts those able to serve in Israel's army, and human commanders and forces appear throughout narratives.
Reader summary
Full entry for צָבָא (H6635) · Open the biblical lexicon
צָבָא (ṣāḇā') denotes an organized host, army, company, or assigned service. Exodus 6:26 and 12:41 describe Israel leaving Egypt by its hosts, Numbers 1:3 counts those able to serve in Israel's army, and human commanders and forces appear throughout narratives.
The BSB source-word alignment has 484 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include of Hosts (283), army (17), the host (16), . . . (15), in the army (15).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 2:1. Its strongest book concentrations include Jeremiah (87), Numbers (77), Isaiah (70), Zechariah (53).
צָבָא (ṣāḇā') denotes an organized host, army, company, or assigned service. Exodus 6:26 and 12:41 describe Israel leaving Egypt by its hosts, Numbers 1:3 counts those able to serve in Israel's army, and human commanders and forces appear throughout narratives. These military uses are descriptive and historically situated; the noun does not make every national campaign holy or authorize a modern state to claim Israel's covenant commission.
The word also covers ordered service beyond battle. Numbers 4:3 and 4:23 use it for Levitical work at the tent of meeting, Numbers 8:24 sets an age for entering service, and Job 7:1 compares human life to hard service. Calling can therefore involve disciplined duty, but sacred service does not excuse exploitation, unsafe labor, or treating people as expendable units.
Heavenly uses include the completed host of heaven in Genesis 2:1, heavenly bodies that Israel must not worship in Deuteronomy 4:19, the heavenly council in First Kings 22:19, and beings summoned to praise in Psalms 103 and 148. The title Lord of hosts proclaims God's sovereign command, as in Isaiah 6:3 and Psalm 24:10. It does not reduce God to a tribal war deity or identify any human army automatically with God's host.
Tsaba spans human armies, organized companies, Levitical service, hard duty, heavenly bodies or beings, and the divine title Lord of hosts. Across the range, ordered service or multitude is central, while the identity and purpose of the host vary.
Creation is completed with the heavens, earth, and all their host in ordered fullness.
The Lord's hosts depart Egypt at the end of the appointed period.
Military-age men are mustered by their organized divisions in the wilderness census.
Gershonite Levites are counted for assigned service at the tent of meeting.
Israel is warned not to worship the sun, moon, stars, and all the host of heaven.
Joshua encounters the commander of the Lord's host before Jericho.
Micaiah's vision places the heavenly host around the Lord's throne in a judgment scene.
The liturgy identifies the king of glory as the Lord of hosts.
Seraphim acclaim the Lord of hosts as holy while the earth is filled with divine glory.
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. Organized multitude—military, celestial, or cultic—emphasizing collective mobilization and service under authority.
Organized multitude—military, celestial, or cultic—emphasizing collective mobilization and service under authority.
a mass of persons (or figuratively, things), especially reg. organized for war (an army); by implication, a campaign, literally or figuratively (specifically, hardship, worship) BDB: army Usage: appointed time, ( ) army, ( ) battle, company, host, service, soldiers, waiting upon, war(-fare).
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 487 lexical occurrence verses.
צָבָא is built from this root:
Greek words that correspond to or develop the meaning of this Hebrew word in the New Testament.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Tsaba lets teachers address power, service, and divine sovereignty without baptizing militarism. Israel's hosts, ordinary armies, Levitical work, heavenly bodies, heavenly beings, and the Lord of hosts title share language of ordered company but not one purpose or moral status. Numbers dignifies structured service while also delimiting roles and seasons. Deuteronomy forbids worship of the heavenly host, and the prophets place all powers beneath God's holy rule.
First Samuel 17:45 directs confidence away from weaponry toward the name of the Lord of hosts, yet this does not authorize every claimant to identify a current war with David's commission. Application should honor service, scrutinize authority, lament casualties, protect conscience, and refuse propaganda that treats a people or military as automatically carrying God's endorsement.
Isa.6.3
H6635 can mean host, army, organized service, duty, or heavenly host and forms part of a frequent divine title. The referent must be established before military, angelic, astronomical, or vocational claims are made.
The New Testament speaks of heavenly armies, angelic hosts, spiritual conflict, church service, and Christ's sovereign victory. Those themes should be interpreted in their own settings and not used to map a modern military directly onto H6635.