H6091 — עָצָב (ʻâtsâb)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H6091
Original: עָצָב
Transliteration: ʻâtsâb
Pronunciation: aw-tsawb
Part of Speech: Masculine noun
Occurrences: 17 unique verses (17 tokens) across 10 books
First Occurrence: 1Sa 31:9 — "to publish it in the house of their idols"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

search_strongs.py --lexicon gives the core definition: "an (idolatrous) image: idol, image."

Across the 17 attested verses, the noun consistently denotes a cult image or idol-object rather than a neutral artistic image. It is used for idols housed in temples, made from precious metals, served in apostasy, and destroyed in judgment.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
idols	4	23.5%
their idols	2	11.8%
idol(s) in possessive or prepositional phrases	10	58.8%
their images	1	5.9%

The KJV renders H6091 with explicit "idol(s)" language in 16 of 17 verses. The single "images" rendering is 2Sa 5:21.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Hosea	4	2.0
Micah	1	1.0
Zechariah	1	0.5
Psalms	4	0.2
Isaiah	2	0.2
1 Samuel	1	0.1
2 Samuel	1	0.1
1 Chronicles	1	0.1
2 Chronicles	1	0.1
Jeremiah	1	0.1

The word is concentrated in prophetic anti-idol contexts, especially Hosea. Psalms preserves the same polemic in liturgical form, while the Samuel/Chronicles occurrences show idols as physical cult objects in Philistine settings.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Idols as cult objects in temples and national shrines¶

1Sa 31:9 — Saul's death is announced "in the house of their idols."
1Ch 10:9 — the Chronicler repeats the same Philistine idol-house setting.
Isa 46:1 — Bel and Nebo's idols are loaded onto beasts as burdens.
Jer 50:2 — Babylon's idols are confounded when the city falls.

2. Handmade objects of silver, gold, and workmanship¶

Psa 115:4 — "Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands."
Psa 135:15 — "The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands."
Hos 8:4 — "of their silver and their gold have they made them idols."
Hos 13:2 — idols are "the work of the craftsmen."

3. Objects of service, attachment, and sacrifice in covenant breach¶

2Ch 24:18 — Judah "served groves and idols."
Psa 106:36 — "they served their idols: which were a snare unto them."
Psa 106:38 — they "sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan."
Hos 4:17 — "Ephraim is joined to idols."

4. Objects removed, burned, shattered, or renounced¶

2Sa 5:21 — David and his men burned the abandoned images.
Mic 1:7 — Samaria's idols are laid desolate.
Zec 13:2 — the LORD will "cut off the names of the idols out of the land."
Hos 14:8 — Ephraim asks, "What have I to do any more with idols?"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
כֶּסֶף	H3701	4x	idols made from silver
זָהָב	H2091	3x	silver-and-gold idol formula
מַעֲשֶׂה	H4639	3x	idols as the "work" of hands or craftsmen
עָשָׂה	H6213	3x	human manufacture: idols are made
כָּרַת	H3772	3x	idols cut off or removed in judgment
זָבַח	H2076	2x	sacrifice directed toward idols
בֵּל	H1078	2x	Babylonian idol context (Bel/Nebo)

The collocation profile is narrow and concrete: making, material, sacrifice, and destruction dominate.

Word Family / Cognates¶

The available tool output did not surface a stable root-number note for H6091. Its clearest lexical relationships come through the neighboring idol-image terms returned by search_relationships.py.

Synonyms / Nearby Terms¶

H457 אֱלִיל — idol term stressing worthlessness or emptiness.
H842 אֲשֵׁרָה — Asherah cult object / pole term within the same idol field.
H1544 גִּלּוּל — contemptuous term for idols, especially in prophetic denunciation.
H4541 מַסֵּכָה — molten image; emphasizes casting/fabrication.
H6456 פְסִיל — carved image; emphasizes the shaped object.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for H6091.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
εἴδωλον	G1497	idols / idol	Standard Greek umbrella term and the dominant LXX bridge for several Hebrew idol words, not just H6091
אֱלִיל	H457	idols	Stresses the idol's worthlessness or nothingness more than its physical form
גִּלּוּל	H1544	idols / their idols	More contemptuous and defiling in tone, especially in prophetic usage

Semantic Domains¶

search_relationships.py places H6091 in the idol-image field under two closely related domains:

[001002008001010] Images — the carved/cast image vocabulary cluster.
[001002008001006] Cult Objects — the worship-object cluster.

The neighboring words named by the tool include H457, H842, H1544, and H4541, which confirms that H6091 belongs to the core Hebrew idol-image lexicon rather than a broader art or likeness vocabulary.

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occ	PMI	Score	Notes
εἴδωλον	G1497	12	8.01	20.55	Primary lexical bridge; standard Greek idol term
ἀργύριον	G694	4	4.30	6.93	Silver in idol-manufacture contexts
χρυσίον	G5553	3	4.23	5.86	Gold in the same manufacture contexts
ἔργον	G2041	3	3.38	4.69	Work/workmanship language surrounding the idols

Inference from the mapping distribution: only G1497 εἴδωλον behaves like a stable one-to-one lexical bridge. The remaining Greek items reflect the recurring "silver, gold, work" context that often surrounds H6091 in the small verse set.