שָׁחֹר šāḥōr – black
Semantic Fields:
Colours
Author(s):
John E. Hartley
First published: 2026-05-20
Citation: John E. Hartley, שָׁחֹר šāḥōr – black,
Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2026
Introduction
Grammatical type: adjective.
Occurrences: 6x HB (2/2/2); 0x Sir; 2x Qum; 0x Inscr. (Total: 8x).
- Torah: Lev 13:31, 37;
- Nebiim: Zech 6:2, 6;
- Ketubim: Cant 1:5; 5:11;
- Qumran: 3Q15 12.2 (with rabbinic spelling); 4Q186 2.1.
A.1 The collocation כשׁחר פרשׂ על ההרים in Joel 2:2 stands in a context that describes darkness descending over the earth as a metaphor for a large army’s advancing against a city. Since four words for darkness, ערפל ,ענן ,אפלה ,חשׁך, stand in this verse, the presence of ‘dawn’ seems out of place, leading some interpreters as Sellin and Robinson to change the pointing of the MT כְּשַׁחַר to כִּשְׁחֹר ‘as darkness’ (so NRSV, REB; ‘soot’ JPSTT; Sellin 1922:158; Robinson 1954:60). Brenner accepts this emendation (Brenner 1982:95). However, the versions and most contemporary commentators like Wolff follow the MT (so NAB, JB, NIV; Wolff 1969:52). Dillard (1992:271) also rejects this emendation, pointing out that darkness attends God’s presence with his army. In support of the MT Wolff notes that the imagery of light, which is associated with the Day of Yahweh in other passages, continues in v. 3.
A.2 In his first vision Zechariah saw riders mounted on horses ordered into three groups, each group being identified by a distinct colour: אדמים שׂרקים ולבנים, ‘chestnut, bay, and white’. In the eighth vision (Zech 6:1-8) the prophet saw four chariots, each one drawn by a team of horses also identified by a different colour, לבנים ,אדמים ,שׁחרים, and ברדים, ‘chestnut, black, white, piebald’ (vss. 2-3). Some exegetes in the mid-twentieth century as Hertzberg and Chary add שׁחרים to the group of horses in Zech 1:8, arguing that this lexeme had fallen out as a result of an error of haplography due to the similarity in the endings of שׁחרים and שׁרקים (Hertzberg 1953:178-79; Chary 1969:59). Support for this addition is gained from the presence of four colour lexemes in the LXX. Where MT has שׂרקים, LXX reads ψαροὶ καὶ ποικίλοι. If ποικίλοι translates שׂרקים, ψαροί is left unrepresented in the MT. However, given that ψαρός references ‘dapple grey’ and that the usual gloss in the LXX for שׁחר is μέλας (cf. Zech 6:2, 6), the LXX does not support the addition of שׁחרים in Zech 1:8. Additional support for the MT comes from the fact that some LXX mss have only three colour terms (C538, 239). According to Rudolph, the presence of four colour lexemes for horses in the LXX may be explained as the work of an editor who sought to bring Zech 1:8 into agreement with Zech 6:2-3, rather than the editor’s having a Heb. text with four colour terms (Rudolph 1976:75; also Hanhart 1998:55). MT’s reading three colour terms in Zech 1:8 gains additional support from the literary pattern of sevens present in Zechariah’s eight visions. The first (1:8-17) and the last visions (6:1-8), in which there are horses of different colours, form an inclusio for the vision reports. In the first vision there are three groups of horsemen; each group of horses is identified by a different colour, and in the last vision four chariots are drawn by teams of horses, each team having a differing colour. In addition ארץ, ‘land’, occurs three times in the first vision and four times in the eighth vision (Myers and Myers 1987:323-34). Since emending Zech 1:8 MT in order to have four groups of horses of differing colours in the first vision would disrupt this pattern, the MT is accepted as having both strong textual and literary support.
A.3 A. Wolters transcribes 3Q15 10.9 as אבן שהזֹדֹוגא מעות שתין, ‘a stone which has attached to itself two ma’â coins’ (Wolters 1996:50-51; similarly Allegro 1968:211 has the translation: ‘[du côté ouest] se trouve une pierre joint à deux crampons’). However, García Martínez and Tigchelaar give the reading אבן שחורא אמות שתין, ‘there is a black stone, two cubits’ (García Martínez and Tigchelaar 1997-98:236). The former reading is preferred, being closer to the photos published in DJD III (M. Baillet, J.T. Milik, and R. de Vaux 1962, pt. 2, plate 67). Recently Lefkovits has undertaken a thorough study of 3Q15. Recognizing that there are many alternative readings of many lines due to the orthography of the scribe and the condition of the scroll, he lists many possible readings for 3Q15 10.9, pointing out that the second word is very difficult to read (Lefkovits 2000:341-45). He gives as the best reading: הו הפתח10 שתין אבן שחוריא אמות “‘(there is) a black stone, (at a distance of) two cubits 10it is the entrance’, i.e., two cubits from the black stone is the entrance located” (Lefkovits 2000:345). Lefkovits’ study increases the likelihood that this text offers another attestation of the lexeme שׁחור, but given the uncertainty in reading the letters of this word, it is best to place this reading under ‘B’.
7. Conclusion
A.1 שָׁחֹר represents dark colours, from ‘dark reddish brown’ to ‘black’. It modifies skin as being very ‘dark brown’ or ‘copper’, as a result of long exposure to the sun. It describes shiny black hair, comparable to a raven. It also modifies horses.
For this entry, see further John E. Hartley, The Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Colour Lexemes (2010), 73-78 (Printed publications).
Bibliography
For the abbreviations see the List of Abbreviations.
Athalya Brenner, Colour Terms in the Old Testament (JSOTSup, 21), Sheffield: JSOT Press.