זָקֵן
za.qen (H2205H)
old: elder
AI Word Study
# זָקֵן (zaqen): Old Age and Authority in Hebrew The Hebrew word *zaqen* appears 50 times throughout the Bible with a dual semantic range that encompasses both chronological age and social position. The term primarily denotes "old" in the literal sense of advanced years, but the lexical data indicates it simultaneously carries institutional weight, referring to "elder"—a designation that moves beyond mere age to include authority and leadership responsibility. This dual meaning reflects an important cultural reality in ancient Hebrew society: age and governance were interwoven concepts. The word does not appear to be simply a neutral descriptor of aging, but rather a term that embedded social function within biological fact. An individual designated as *zaqen* occupied a specific role within community structures, suggesting that the distinction between the descriptive ("old") and the functional ("elder") was not sharply drawn in Hebrew thought. The 50 biblical occurrences indicate this was a commonly referenced category across various narrative and legal contexts. The significance of *zaqen* lies in its revelation of how ancient Hebrew organized authority and decision-making around accumulated experience and longevity. By using a single term for both the condition of being aged and the status of being an elder, the language itself suggests that these were understood as naturally aligned concepts—that the passage of years legitimized participation in governance and communal judgment.
AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.
Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.
But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter.
Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please put your hand under my thigh.
Abraham gave up his spirit, and died at a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people.
Isaac gave up the spirit and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him.
He asked them of their welfare, and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he yet alive?”
We said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loves him.’
Moses said, “We will go with our young and with our old. We will go with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds; for we must hold a feast to Yahweh.”
“ ‘You shall rise up before the gray head and honor the face of the elderly; and you shall fear your God. I am Yahweh.
a nation of fierce facial expressions, that doesn’t respect the elderly, nor show favor to the young.
They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword.
Behold, an old man came from his work out of the field at evening. Now the man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he lived in Gibeah; but the men of the place were Benjamites.
He lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the street of the city; and the old man said, “Where are you going? Where did you come from?”
The old man said, “Peace be to you! Just let me supply all your needs, but don’t sleep in the street.”
As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain wicked fellows, surrounded the house, beating at the door; and they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we can have sex with him!”
Behold, the days come that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, that there will not be an old man in your house.
You will see the affliction of my habitation, in all the wealth which I will give Israel. There shall not be an old man in your house forever.
He said to her, “What does he look like?” She said, “An old man comes up. He is covered with a robe.” Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and showed respect.
King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, “What counsel do you give me to answer these people?”
But he abandoned the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him.
The king answered the people roughly, and abandoned the counsel of the old men which they had given him,
Now an old prophet lived in Bethel, and one of his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king.
Behold, men passed by, and saw the body thrown on the path, and the lion standing by the body; and they came and told it in the city where the old prophet lived.
The prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. He came to the city of the old prophet to mourn, and to bury him.
King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, “What counsel do you give me about how to answer these people?”
But he abandoned the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him.
The king answered them roughly; and king Rehoboam abandoned the counsel of the old men,
Therefore he brought on them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or gray-headed. He gave them all into his hand.
But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice. Many also shouted aloud for joy,
Letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to plunder their possessions.
Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were elder than he.
Children’s children are the crown of old men; the glory of children are their parents.
The glory of young men is their strength. The splendor of old men is their gray hair.
Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who doesn’t know how to receive admonition any more.
so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.
I was angry with my people. I profaned my inheritance and gave them into your hand. You showed them no mercy. You laid a very heavy yoke on the aged.
“No more will there be an infant who only lives a few days, nor an old man who has not filled his days; for the child will die one hundred years old, and the sinner being one hundred years old will be accursed.
Therefore I am full of Yahweh’s wrath. I am weary with holding it in. “Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the assembly of young men together; for even the husband with the wife will be taken, the aged with him who is full of days.
Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance; the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.
With you I will break in pieces the chariot and him who rides therein. With you I will break in pieces man and woman. With you I will break in pieces the old man and the youth. With you I will break in pieces the young man and the virgin.
“The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets. My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of your anger. You have slaughtered, and not pitied.
The elders have ceased from the gate, and the young men from their music.
Kill utterly the old man, the young man, the virgin, little children and women; but don’t come near any man on whom is the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” Then they began at the old men who were before the house.
“It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions.
Yahweh of Armies says: “Old men and old women will again dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age.