Word Study for H6740 (צָלָה) | Strong's Concordance

tsâlâh /tsaw-law'/ Ask about this word

Roota primitive root

Meaningto roast

KJV usageroast.

Word Study

In depth

A plain-language study of tsâlâh — the range of meaning it carries, how Scripture actually uses it, and where it points. Written for readers who don’t know the original language.

Core Meaning & Semantic Range

The Hebrew word tsâlâh, represented by H6740, is a primitive root that means to roast. It appears 3 times across 3 unique verses in the Bible. Its use is specific and literal, referring to the act of cooking meat over a fire.

Biblical Occurrences & Contextual Analysis

In the biblical narrative, H6740 is used to describe the preparation of food in contexts that highlight both everyday life and moral failings. In Isaiah, it is used twice to illustrate the folly of idolatry. A man takes a piece of wood and uses part of it as fuel, with which he "roasteth roast, and is satisfied" Isaiah 44:16. He later reflects on this act, stating, "I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination?" Isaiah 44:19. In 1 Samuel, the word appears in a scene depicting the corruption of the priesthood, where a servant demands meat "to roast for the priest" before the fat was properly burned as an offering to God 1 Samuel 2:15.

Related Words & Concepts

Several related words provide context for the act of cooking and consumption:

H6748 tsâlîy (roasted): This is the passive participle of H6740, meaning something that is roasted. It is used in combination with its root in Isaiah 44:16, where one "roasteth roast."
H644 ʼâphâh (to cook, especially to bake): This term for baking is used in parallel with roasting in Isaiah 44:19, where the same fire is used to have "baked bread" and "roasted flesh."
H8313 sâraph (to be... on fire; burn): This word describes the general act of burning wood for fuel, which enables the specific act of roasting. In Isaiah 44:16, a man "burneth part thereof in the fire" to cook his food.
H6999 qâṭar (to smoke, i.e. turn into fragrance by fire (especially as an act of worship)): This term for burning a sacrifice is contrasted with roasting for consumption in 1 Samuel 2:15, where the demand for roast meat comes "before they burnt the fat."

Theological Significance

The significance of H6740 is found not in a complex theological definition, but in the contexts where this simple act of roasting occurs.

The Folly of Idolatry: The act of roasting is used in Isaiah to expose the absurdity of idol worship. By using a piece of wood for the mundane task of cooking food to satisfy hunger, it becomes illogical to then worship the remaining part of the same common object Isaiah 44:19.
Contempt for Sacred Ritual: In 1 Samuel, the demand for meat to roast signifies a grave sin. It shows the priests' sons prioritizing their own desires over God's commands by taking their portion before the fat—the part belonging to the Lord—was burned on the altar 1 Samuel 2:15.
Physical Sustenance: At its core, to roast is to prepare food for life. The man in Isaiah's prophecy "roasteth roast, and is satisfied" Isaiah 44:16, grounding the passage's spiritual lesson in a fundamental human activity.

Summary

In summary, H6740 tsâlâh is a specific and concrete term for roasting food. Though rare, its occurrences are significant. It serves as a narrative device to frame powerful arguments, whether contrasting the sacred with the profane in the case of priestly duties or highlighting the irrationality of idolatry. The word demonstrates how a simple, everyday action can be imbued with profound moral and spiritual weight depending on its scriptural context.

How the KJV Renders It

Translation

Strong’s lists the renderings but not their weight. These are counted from the King James text of the tagged verses — the bar under each is how often the translators actually reached for it. Select one to filter the occurrences below.

Grammatical Forms

Morphology

In the Hebrew Old Testament, this word appears as a verb across 3 occurrences, inflected in 3 grammatical forms — each row is one form, and the bar is how often it is that form. Select any form to read what each part of its name means, and to filter the occurrence list to it.

אֶצְלֶה
יִצְלֶה
צְלוֹת

Theographic Context

Context

The people, places, and span of history the verses containing this word touch on — drawn from the theographic tagging of Scripture. Select any name to isolate its verses in the occurrence list.

Biblical Distribution

Distribution

Appears in 3 verses across 2 of the 39 books. Most frequent in Isaiah (2 verses); never once in the other 37.

1 Samuel

Isaiah

Every Occurrence

Concordance

Every verse where the word is tagged in the King James text. Filter by book, by the English word the translators chose, by grammatical form, or search within the verses.

Sources. Definition and numbering: James Strong, Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890). Morphology: STEPBible / Tyndale House (CC BY). Verse tagging: the King James text keyed to Strong’s numbers. Every count on this page is computed from the tagged corpus, not estimated.