H6674 — צוֹא (tsow)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H6674
Original: צוֹא
Transliteration: tsow
Pronunciation: tso
Part of Speech: Adjective / masculine noun
Root: Unused root meaning "to issue" (i.e., to excrete)
Occurrences: 2 tokens in 2 unique verses (1 book)
First Occurrence: Zec 3:3 — "Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel."
Hapax Legomenon: Near-hapax — appears only in Zec 3:3 and 3:4, both within the same pericope (Joshua's investiture vision). Functionally treated as hapax-level rarity since both occurrences describe the identical garments in consecutive verses.

Lexicon Definition¶

Or צֹא; from an unused root meaning to issue; soiled (as if excrementitious): — filthy.

The definition explicitly ties the word to excremental soiling. This is not generic dirtiness or ritual impurity but filth associated with bodily waste — a visceral, physically repulsive defilement.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
filthy	2	100%

The KJV renders this word identically in both occurrences. No alternative translations exist.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Zechariah	2	0.9

Confined entirely to a single prophetic vision in Zechariah. The word does not appear in the Torah, wisdom literature, historical books, or any other prophetic book. Its absence from Levitical purity legislation (which uses tame H2930/H2931 and tum'ah H2932 extensively) is notable — this is a different vocabulary register from the standard ceremonial-uncleanness system.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Excremental Defilement of Priestly Garments¶

Zec 3:3 — "Now Joshua was clothed with filthy (tsow) garments, and stood before the angel."
Zec 3:4 — "And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy (tsow) garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment."

Both occurrences describe the high priest Joshua standing in the divine court wearing garments soiled with excremental filth. The removal of these garments is explicitly equated with the removal of iniquity (avon H5771) in verse 4.

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
יְהוֹשׁוּעַ (Yehowshua)	H3091	1x	Joshua is the one wearing the tsow garments
עָוֺן (avon)	H5771	1x	Removal of tsow garments = removal of iniquity
סוּר (sur)	H5493	1x	"Take away" (hasiru) the filthy garments — Hiphil imperative
מַחֲלָצָה (machalatsah)	H4254	1x	"Change of raiment" — the clean replacement garments
מֲלְאָךְ (mal'ak)	H4397	1x	Angel commands the garment exchange
עָבַר (avar)	H5674	1x	"I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee"
רָאָה (ra'ah)	H7200	1x	Observing the filthy state

With only 2 verses, all collocations are at 1x. The theologically significant pairings are tsow + avon (filth = iniquity) and tsow + sur/machalatsah (removal of filth = investiture with clean garments).

Semantic Domain: Unclean¶

From SDBH domain [002001001062] "Unclean":

Word	Strong's	Verses	Gloss
גָּאַל (ga'al)	H1351	11v	defile, pollute, stain
חָנֵף (chaneph)	H2610	11v	soil morally, corrupt, pollute
טָמֵא (tame)	H2930	161v	be foul, defile — ceremonial/moral contamination
טָמֵא (tame)	H2931	87v	defiled, unclean (adjective)
טֻמְאָה (tum'ah)	H2932	37v	religious impurity, filthiness, uncleanness

Tsow (H6674) stands apart from this domain cluster in register: the tame/tum'ah family describes ritual and moral impurity within the Levitical system (161v + 87v + 37v = pervasive), while tsow describes visceral, physical excremental soiling and appears only twice. The choice of tsow over tame in Zech 3 intensifies the image beyond standard ritual-impurity language.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
עֵד (ed)	H5708	"filthy" (Isa 64:6)	Menstrual flux / periodic soiling — a different bodily-waste metaphor; H5708 appears only once (hapax), in "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags"
αἰσχρός (aischros)	G150	"filthy" (NT)	Greek adjective meaning "shameful, base" — moral/social disgrace rather than physical soiling

The three "filthy" words in the KJV represent three distinct types of defilement: tsow = excremental, ed = menstrual, aischros = shameful/disgraceful. None are interchangeable.

LXX Mapping¶

No LXX alignment data available for H6674. The Septuagint renders Zech 3:3 with ῥυπαρά (rhypara, "dirty/filthy"), a common Greek adjective for soiled clothing, which does not capture the excremental specificity of the Hebrew.