Strong’s H5553 · Hebrew

סֶלַע
çelaʻ
seh'-lah

Definition

a craggy rock, literally or figuratively (a fortress)

Etymology

from an unused root meaning to be lofty;

Where the KJV renders it

  • (ragged) rock
  • stone(-ny)
  • strong hold

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.