To push forward, in various senses (literal or figurative, transitive or intransitive)
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H6743 describes forceful movement or effective advance and can refer to a journey succeeding, a task prospering, the Spirit rushing upon someone, or even destructive power advancing for a time. Success language is therefore descriptive before it is evaluative; the actor, goal, means, covenant setting, and final outcome determine whether an advance is faithful, temporary, corrupt, or judged.
Reader summary
Full entry for צָלַח (H6743) · Open the biblical lexicon
H6743 describes forceful movement or effective advance and can refer to a journey succeeding, a task prospering, the Spirit rushing upon someone, or even destructive power advancing for a time. Success language is therefore descriptive before it is evaluative; the actor, goal, means, covenant setting, and final outcome determine whether an advance is.
The BSB source-word alignment has 65 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include prosper (6), a success (4), and triumph (4), rushed (3), succeed (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 24:21. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Chronicles (10), Jeremiah (8), Genesis (7), 1 Samuel (5).
H6743 describes forceful movement or effective advance and can refer to a journey succeeding, a task prospering, the Spirit rushing upon someone, or even destructive power advancing for a time. Success language is therefore descriptive before it is evaluative; the actor, goal, means, covenant setting, and final outcome determine whether an advance is faithful, temporary, corrupt, or judged.
In Josh. 1. 8, joshua is told to meditate on the Book of the Law and carefully obey it, with success framed by the entrusted covenant mission. In Gen. 24. 21, abrahams servant watches Rebekah in silence to discern whether the Lord has made his journey successful. H6743 opens teaching on success that asks what is advancing, who defines the goal, which means are used, and whether apparent results align with the word and character of God.
It corrects prosperity formulas that equate wealth, scale, speed, influence, or visible results with divine favor and also corrects passivity that refuses planning, prayer, courage, and responsible work. H6743 makes prosperity accountable: Joshua is promised success in the setting of meditating on and obeying the Book of the Law, Abrahams servant watches to learn whether the Lord has made his covenant errand succeed, and Daniel describes a rebellious horn prospering while truth is thrown down, proving that effective advance can be real and still be evil and temporary.
For H6743, responsible teaching keeps lexical meaning, passage context, canonical synthesis, and present application distinguishable. The verb does not promise financial abundance, validate every expanding ministry or political project, or prove that hardship and slow progress reveal deficient faith.
H6743 appears across passages that develop advance, success, divine enablement, obedient work, prayerful dependence, temporary evil, judgment, and the limits of prosperity. For H6743, the immediate setting decides which part of the range is active, so the witnesses must remain distinct rather than being merged into one formula.
This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in all you do.
Joshua is told to meditate on the Book of the Law and carefully obey it, with success framed by the entrusted covenant mission.
Meanwhile, the man watched her silently to see whether or not the Lord had made his journey a success.
Abrahams servant watches Rebekah in silence to discern whether the Lord has made his journey successful.
And in the rebellion, the host and the daily sacrifice were given over to the horn, and it flung truth to the ground and prospered in whatever it did.
The rebellious horn throws truth to the ground and prospers in its activity before the visions announced judgment.
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. Prosper through forceful advance; theologically, God's enabling of success in covenant purposes and human endeavors alike.
Prosper through forceful advance; theologically, God's enabling of success in covenant purposes and human endeavors alike.
to push forward, in various senses (literal or figurative, transitive or intransitive) BDB: advance Usage: break out, come (mightily), go over, be good, be meet, be profitable, (cause to, effect, make to, send) prosper(-ity, -ous, -ously).
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 65 lexical occurrence verses.
צָלַח is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Biblical success is defined by alignment with God’s purposes and empowered by His hand, not by visible results alone.Nehemiah 2:1-10
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H6743 makes prosperity accountable: Joshua is promised success in the setting of meditating on and obeying the Book of the Law, Abrahams servant watches to learn whether the Lord has made his covenant errand succeed, and Daniel describes a rebellious horn prospering while truth is thrown down, proving that effective advance can be real and still be evil and temporary. H6743 describes forceful movement or effective advance and can refer to a journey succeeding, a task prospering, the Spirit rushing upon someone, or even destructive power advancing for a time.
The selected witnesses keep the teaching concrete: Josh. 1. 8 shows that joshua is told to meditate on the Book of the Law and carefully obey it, with success framed by the entrusted covenant mission. , while Gen. 24. 21 shows that abrahams servant watches Rebekah in silence to discern whether the Lord has made his journey successful.. Dan. 8. 12 adds that the rebellious horn throws truth to the ground and prospers in its activity before the visions announced judgment..
H6743 opens teaching on success that asks what is advancing, who defines the goal, which means are used, and whether apparent results align with the word and character of God. It corrects prosperity formulas that equate wealth, scale, speed, influence, or visible results with divine favor and also corrects passivity that refuses planning, prayer, courage, and responsible work.
A church teaching H6743 faithfully will name both the promise and the boundary carried by these contexts, attend to vulnerable hearers, and refuse to make the lexical item prove more than its passages support. The verb does not promise financial abundance, validate every expanding ministry or political project, or prove that hardship and slow progress reveal deficient faith.
Josh.1.8
H6743 is a Hebrew verb whose movement sense can be rendered advance, rush, break out, succeed, or prosper; grammatical subject and literary setting distinguish forceful arrival, Spirit empowerment, useful action, and achieved purpose.
The Old Testament joins faithful success to covenant obedience and divine presence while also portraying corrupt powers that prosper briefly. The New Testament measures fruitfulness through faithfulness to Christ, love, endurance, and resurrection hope rather than adopting H6743 as a guarantee of outward gain.