A phantom , i.e. (figuratively) illusion , resemblance ; hence, a representative figure , especially an idol
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צֶלֶם (ṣelem) means image, likeness, representative figure, or, in some contexts, idol. Genesis 1:26-27 says humanity is created in God's image and explicitly names male and female within that declaration.
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Full entry for צֶלֶם (H6754) · Open the biblical lexicon
צֶלֶם (ṣelem) means image, likeness, representative figure, or, in some contexts, idol. Genesis 1:26-27 says humanity is created in God's image and explicitly names male and female within that declaration.
The BSB source-word alignment has 17 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include images (3), and idols (2), idols (2), . . . (1), after his own image (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 1:26. Its strongest book concentrations include Genesis (5), 1 Samuel (3), Ezekiel (3), Psalms (2).
This entry includes 3 verse guides that explain exact original-language forms in context.
צֶלֶם (ṣelem) means image, likeness, representative figure, or, in some contexts, idol. Genesis 1:26-27 says humanity is created in God's image and explicitly names male and female within that declaration. Genesis 9:6 appeals to the same image after the fall when grounding the gravity of violence against human life. The text confers dignity and responsibility on human beings without saying that God has a human body or that any sex, ethnicity, ability, age, class, or office bears the image more fully than another.
Genesis 5:3 uses image language for Seth's relation to Adam, showing that resemblance and representation can operate in a family setting. Other texts condemn images made for worship: Numbers 33:52 orders destruction of Canaanite images, Ezekiel describes idolatrous figures made from gifts or portrayed on walls, and Amos 5:26 speaks of images carried in apostate worship. The noun itself is not a universal ban on visual art; the condemned objects are defined by their cultic and covenant setting.
Psalms 39:6 and 73:20 use image language for fleeting or insubstantial human experience. That sense should not be imported into Genesis to make embodied humanity unreal, nor should the image-of-God passages be used to sanctify every human representation. Context moves from dignified human vocation to family resemblance, idolatrous figures, and transience. Each use needs its own claim boundary.
Tselem appears in creation anthropology, family resemblance, protection of human life, idolatrous representation, and poetic transience. The shared idea is image or representation, but the referent and evaluation vary sharply.
God creates humanity in the divine image and gives a shared vocation of responsible rule within creation.
Male and female are both included in the image declaration, ruling out a gender monopoly on human dignity or vocation.
Seth is described according to Adam's likeness and image, providing a human family-resemblance use.
The image of God grounds the seriousness of shedding human blood after the fall.
Israel is commanded to destroy cultic images in the land, a setting of rival worship rather than a statement about every artwork.
Jerusalem's gifts are turned into idolatrous images within the prophet's covenant-infidelity metaphor.
Painted figures on a wall become objects of corrupt desire in the chapter's extended indictment.
Human life passes like an image or shadow while people accumulate wealth without controlling its future owner.
The apparent security of the wicked is compared to an image dismissed on waking, emphasizing its fleeting character.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Hebrew word. Representation bearing resemblance or shadow of reality; from phantom to idol, denoting visible embodiment or false substitute.
Representation bearing resemblance or shadow of reality; from phantom to idol, denoting visible embodiment or false substitute.
a phantom, i.e. (figuratively) illusion, resemblance; hence, a representative figure, especially an idol BDB: image Usage: image, vain shew.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 17 lexical occurrence verses.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Tselem anchors human dignity in God's creative act rather than usefulness, power, intelligence, health, or social approval. Genesis names male and female together and appeals to the image again after human rebellion. That gives churches a strong basis for protecting life, resisting racism, sexism, ableism, exploitation, and dehumanizing speech. It also disciplines the language of representation: bearing God's image does not make a person divine, infallible, or entitled to dominate.
Leaders image God no more essentially than those they serve. Idol passages warn against giving created representations the trust and worship owed to God, but they do not authorize suspicion of all art or technology. Applications to media, branding, celebrity, or digital avatars are analogies and should be labeled as such.
Gen.1.27
H6754 is a noun for an image, likeness, or representative figure. English idol is appropriate only where worship context supplies that evaluation. Genesis image-of-God claims, cultic objects, and poetic images should not be flattened together.
The New Testament calls Christ the image of God and speaks of believers being renewed according to that image. Those teachings add christological and restorative dimensions without erasing the dignity Genesis attributes to humanity broadly.
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