The lip (as a natural boundary); by implication, language ; by analogy, a margin (of a vessel, water, cloth, etc.)
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H8193 begins with the lip as a bodily boundary and extends to speech, language, and physical edges such as a riverbank or a fabric border. Exodus 2:3 uses the word for the bank of the Nile, showing that the lexical range cannot be reduced to spoken words.
Reader summary
Full entry for שָׂפָה (H8193) · Open the biblical lexicon
H8193 begins with the lip as a bodily boundary and extends to speech, language, and physical edges such as a riverbank or a fabric border. Exodus 2:3 uses the word for the bank of the Nile, showing that the lexical range cannot be reduced to spoken words.
The BSB source-word alignment has 176 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include lips (22), my lips (11), His lips (7), the lips (7), your lips (7).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 11:1. Its strongest book concentrations include Proverbs (46), Psalms (28), Exodus (17), Isaiah (13).
H8193 begins with the lip as a bodily boundary and extends to speech, language, and physical edges such as a riverbank or a fabric border. Exodus 2:3 uses the word for the bank of the Nile, showing that the lexical range cannot be reduced to spoken words. Genesis 11:1 describes the world as having one language and common speech before Babel. Isaiah 6:5 uses unclean lips as a confession of moral impurity within a people whose speech also needs cleansing.
Zephaniah 3:9 looks toward purified lips among the peoples so they may call on the Lord and serve together. The noun itself does not declare every language difference sinful, make ritual cleansing a human technique, or equate articulate speech with holiness. H8193 helps readers distinguish body, boundary, language, confession, deception, praise, and restored communal worship.
H8193 links the concrete lip with the edge of an object, then extends to speech and shared language. Its passages move from material boundaries to prideful unity, unclean confession, truthful praise, and God-given restoration.
But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in the basket and set it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.
Moses' mother places the basket among reeds on the Nile's bank, providing a concrete edge sense that guards against reducing H8193 to speech alone.
Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech.
Genesis introduces Babel with one language and common speech, but the narrative condemns humanity's proud project rather than the mere fact of mutual intelligibility.
Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.”
Isaiah confesses unclean lips among an unclean people after seeing the Lord, locating speech impurity within a whole-person and communal encounter with divine holiness.
For then I will restore pure lips to the peoples, that all may call upon the name of the Lord and serve Him shoulder to shoulder.
God promises purified lips to the peoples so they may call on the Lord and serve together, joining restored speech to multinational worship and shared service.
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. Lip as boundary extends metaphorically to language and edges, treating speech as a defining perimeter of identity.
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 3 selected witnesses from 177 lexical occurrence verses.
The imagery emphasizes control over the act of speaking.Proverbs 10:19
The term highlights speech as the channel through which wisdom nourishes others.Proverbs 10:21
The lips represent the outward expression of inner wisdom.Proverbs 10:32
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H8193 shows how a concrete boundary word can carry several related senses without collapsing them. The riverbank in Exodus 2 is simply the Nile's edge, while Genesis 11 uses shared lip or language for a human community organizing a proud city and tower. The problem at Babel is not communication itself but coordinated self-exaltation and refusal of God's ordering.
Isaiah 6 turns to moral speech. The prophet's confession of unclean lips is neither cosmetic embarrassment nor a diagnosis of speech disability; it arises before the holy King and includes solidarity with an unclean people. Cleansing comes from God's provision, and Isaiah is then commissioned. Zephaniah 3 widens the horizon: purified lips enable peoples to call on the Lord and serve shoulder to shoulder.
The promise does not erase every human language or make one culture the measure of worship. Instead, God restores truthful allegiance and common service among peoples. Pastoral use should therefore honor multilingual churches, interpreters, signed languages, and varied communication. It should challenge lying, flattery, and hypocritical worship while refusing to shame bodies, accents, or limited fluency.
Clean lips are not achieved by religious polish but belong to a life brought into truthful relation with the holy and merciful God.
Isa.6.5
H8193 is a Hebrew noun for lip and, by spatial analogy, an edge, border, shore, or bank. It can also represent speech or language because lips participate in speaking. The immediate object and verbal setting identify the sense.
H8193 moves across physical margins, human languages, unclean confession, and promised worship. The New Testament's Pentecost scene does not simply reverse Babel into one language; the gospel is heard across languages, while apostolic teaching continues to join confession, truth, praise, and service.