H6842 — צָפִיר (ṣāp̄îr)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H6842
Original: צָפִיר
Transliteration: ṣāp̄îr (tsâphîyr)
Pronunciation: tsaw-feer'
Part of Speech: Masculine noun
Root: Generally connected to צָפַר (tsaphar, H6852 — "to skip about," "to depart early") — hence the Strong's gloss "as prancing." BDB groups it under the root for its late/biblical-Aramaic flavor (cf. Aramaic cognate H6841).
Occurrences: 8 tokens in 5 unique verses (OT only; late Hebrew usage)
First Occurrence: 2 Chronicles 29:21 — "and seven he goats (ṣəp̄îrê ʿizzîm), for a sin offering"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

Strong's: "A male goat (as prancing):— (he) goat." BDB: a he-goat, chiefly in post-exilic Hebrew. Aramaic cognate צְפִיר (H6841) appears once at Ezra 6:17 (plural construct "צְפִירֵי עִזִּין" — he-goats of the she-goats — for the sin offering at the dedication of the Second Temple). Note: the query's reference to Ezra 6:17 is the Aramaic form (H6841), not H6842. H6842 itself is confined to 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Daniel.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
he goat / he goats	3	60%
goat / the goat	2	40%
"rough goat" (Dan 8:21, with śāʿîr)	1	20%

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count (verses)	Per 100 Verses
Daniel	3	0.8
Ezra	1	0.4
2 Chronicles	1	0.1

Pattern: H6842 is a strictly post-exilic / late-Biblical Hebrew word. It occurs nowhere in the Torah, Former Prophets, or pre-exilic Writings. Torah sin-offering texts use H8163 (śāʿîr) or H5795 (ʿēz); the Chronicler and Ezra shift to ṣāp̄îr (matched by the Aramaic ṣəp̄îr in Ezra 6:17). Daniel uses it vision-symbolically. The word's narrow lexical footprint correlates with Second-Temple dating and with the same Aramaic-influenced register found in Daniel.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Sin-Offering Male Goat (Second-Temple Cult)¶

In all three non-Daniel verses the word appears in the construct chain ṣəp̄îrê ʿizzîm — "he-goats of the she-goats" — a fixed late-Hebrew formula for the male of the goat flock designated for sin offering (חַטָּאת).

2 Chr 29:21 — "seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he goats (ṣəp̄îrê ʿizzîm), for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah" — Hezekiah's Temple cleansing.
Ezra 8:35 — "twelve bullocks... ninety and six rams, seventy and seven lambs, twelve he goats (ṣəp̄îrê) for a sin offering" — Ezra's returning exiles' burnt offering.
Ezra 6:17 (Aramaic cognate H6841) — "twelve he goats (ṣəp̄îrê ʿizzîn), according to the number of the tribes of Israel" — dedication of the Second Temple.

2. Apocalyptic Symbol of a World Kingdom (Daniel 8)¶

In Daniel the word moves from cultic referent to visionary animal-symbol, identified explicitly within the text.

Dan 8:5 — "behold, an he goat (ṣəp̄îr hā-ʿizzîm) came from the west... and the goat (haṣ-ṣāp̄îr) had a notable horn between his eyes." Here the same construct idiom "ṣəp̄îr hā-ʿizzîm" of the cultic texts is repurposed as a vision-animal.
Dan 8:8 — "Therefore the he goat (ṣəp̄îr hā-ʿizzîm) waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken."
Dan 8:21 — "And the rough goat (haṣ-ṣāp̄îr haś-śāʿîr) is the king of Grecia (melek yāwān): and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king." This is the interpretive key: ṣāp̄îr qualified by śāʿîr "hairy/shaggy" = the kingdom of Greece.

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
עֵז (ʿēz, she-goat)	H5795	3× (60%)	Construct chain ṣəp̄îr hā-ʿizzîm "he-goat of the goats" — the standard cultic idiom, also used in Dan 8:5, 8
קֶרֶן (qeren, horn)	H7161	3× (60%)	Daniel 8 — the goat's "great horn" = first king of Greece
בּוֹא (bôʾ, come)	H935	3× (60%)	Ritual-bringing (2Ch/Ezra) and vision-entry (Dan 8:5 "came from the west")
שֶׁבַע / שְׁנֵים־עָשָׂר (seven / twelve)	H7651 / —	2×	Cultic numerical specification in Chronicler and Ezra
חַטָּאָה (ḥaṭṭāʾâ, sin / sin-offering)	H2403	2×	Designated purpose of the he-goat in post-exilic sacrifice
גָּדוֹל (gāḏôl, great)	H1419	2×	Dan 8:8, 21 — "the great horn" breaking off the goat
חָזוּת (ḥāzût, conspicuous/vision)	H2380	2×	Dan 8:5, 8 — distinctive horn, four conspicuous horns
אַיִל (ʾayil, ram)	H352	2×	Dan 8 — the ram that the goat strikes; also parallel cultic animal

Word Family / Cognates¶

H6841 צְפִיר (ṣəp̄îr) — Aramaic cognate: "he-goat"; only at Ezra 6:17 ("twelve he-goats... for a sin offering").
H6852 צָפַר (ṣāp̄ar) — verbal root: "to skip about, depart early"; Strong's links the noun to this root via the image of a "prancing" male goat.

Synonyms¶

No direct synonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for H6842.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for H6842.

Easily Confused Words (other Hebrew terms for "goat")¶

Word	Strong's	Gloss	Key Difference
עֵז (ʿēz)	H5795	she-goat (74×)	Generic / feminine goat; collective ("the goats" or "goats' hair"); used throughout Torah. H6842 regularly appears in construct with H5795 (ṣəp̄îr hā-ʿizzîm = "male-of-the-goats").
שָׂעִיר (śāʿîr)	H8163	hairy, he-goat (59×)	The standard Torah term for sin-offering he-goat (Lev 4, 9, 16; the Azazel goat of Yom Kippur). Literal sense "hairy, shaggy"; by analogy "satyr/demon." In Dan 8:21 śāʿîr is placed as an adjective on ṣāp̄îr — "the shaggy he-goat" — uniting the Torah-sacrificial term with the Second-Temple word.
עַתּוּד (ʿattûḏ)	H6260	he-goat, leader (29×)	"Prepared / ready" male goat; often figurative for chieftains (Isa 14:9; Zech 10:3). Shares the KJV gloss "he goats" with H6842.
תַּיִשׁ (tayiš)	H8495	he-goat (4×)	Butting he-goat; Gen 30:35, Prov 30:31. Rare; emphasizes aggressive male.
גְּדִי (gədî)	H1423	kid (young goat)	A young goat, not specifically male-adult; distinct developmental stage.

Notable Verbal Overlap¶

H6842 and H8163 share the KJV gloss "goat" but are etymologically unrelated: śāʿîr derives from "hair/shagginess," ṣāp̄îr from "prancing." Their juxtaposition in Dan 8:21 is therefore not tautological but deliberately lexically layered — the post-exilic/vision word qualified by the Torah-sacrificial word.

Semantic Domains¶

UBS / Relationship Domains¶

[001002006002] Domestic Animals — search_relationships.py places ṣāp̄îr in the domestic-animal field, which matches its narrow usage for the male goat in post-exilic sacrificial lists and in Daniel's goat imagery.

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occ	PMI	Notes
τράγος (trágos)	G5131	3	8.98	Primary LXX rendering — "he-goat"; also renders H8163, H6260, H8495
κέραs (kéras)	G2768	3	7.56	Collocation via the "horn" motif in Dan 8, not a direct translation of ṣāp̄îr itself

The LXX consistently uses τράγος for ṣāp̄îr where it is preserved (Daniel 8 LXX and Theodotion; 2 Chr 29:21; Ezra 8:35). Because τράγος is the generic LXX word for several Hebrew male-goat lexemes, the Greek loses the Hebrew lexical distinction between ṣāp̄îr and śāʿîr.

Morphological Notes¶

In all 8 tokens ṣāp̄îr is a masculine noun, singular or plural. - Singular absolute (haṣ-ṣāp̄îr): Dan 8:5b, 8:8a, 8:21a — "the he-goat" as the discourse-topical vision animal. - Singular construct (ṣəp̄îr hā-ʿizzîm): Dan 8:5a — formulaic "he-goat of the goats." - Plural construct (ṣəp̄îrê ʿizzîm / ṣəp̄îrê ḥaṭṭāʾt): 2 Chr 29:21, Ezra 8:35 — the post-exilic sin-offering formula.

Dan 8:21 is lexically the densest token: וְהַצָּפִיר הַשָּׂעִיר מֶלֶךְ יָוָן — "and the he-goat, the shaggy-one, is king of Greece." Both haṣ-ṣāp̄îr and haś-śāʿîr carry the definite article; haś-śāʿîr functions attributively.