סֶלַע çelaʻ

Meaning

a craggy rock, literally or figuratively (a fortress)

In the King James Version: (ragged) rock, stone(-ny), strong hold.

Derivation: from an unused root meaning to be lofty;

Where it is used

• Numbers 20:8 “Take the staff and assemble the congregation. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will pour out its water. You will bring out water from the rock and provide drink for the congregation and their livestock.”
• Numbers 20:10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly in front of the rock, and Moses said to them, “Listen now, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?”
• Numbers 20:11 Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that a great amount of water gushed out, and the congregation and their livestock were able to drink.
• Numbers 24:21 Next he saw the Kenites and lifted up an oracle, saying: “Your dwelling place is secure, and your nest is set in a cliff.
• Deuteronomy 32:13 He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him the produce of the field. He nourished him with honey from the rock and oil from the flinty crag,
• Judges 6:20 And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so.
• Judges 15:8 And he struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter, and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.
• Judges 15:11 In response, three thousand men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, “Do you not realize that the Philistines rule over us? What have you done to us?” “I have done to them what they did to me,” he replied.
• Judges 15:13 “No,” they answered, “we will not kill you, but we will tie you up securely and hand you over to them.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock.
• Judges 20:45 Then the Benjamites turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and Israel cut down 5,000 men on the roads. And they overtook them at Gidom and struck down 2,000 more.
• Judges 20:47 But 600 men turned and fled into the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, where they stayed four months.
• Judges 21:13 Then the whole congregation sent a message of peace to the Benjamites who were at the rock of Rimmon.
• 1 Samuel 13:6 Seeing that they were in danger because their troops were hard-pressed, the men of Israel hid in caves and thickets, among the rocks, and in cellars and cisterns.
• 1 Samuel 14:4 Now there were cliffs on both sides of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost. One was named Bozez and the other Seneh.
• 1 Samuel 23:25 and Saul and his men went to seek him. When David was told about it, he went down to the rock and stayed in the Wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard of this, he pursued David there.
• 2 Samuel 22:2 He said: “The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.
• 1 Kings 19:11 Then the LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD. Behold, the LORD is about to pass by.” And a great and mighty wind tore into the mountains and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.
• 2 Chronicles 25:12 and the army of Judah also captured 10,000 men alive. They took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down so that all were dashed to pieces.
• Nehemiah 9:15 In their hunger You gave them bread from heaven; in their thirst You brought them water from the rock. You told them to go in and possess the land that You had sworn to give them.
• Job 39:1 “Do you know when mountain goats give birth? Have you watched the doe bear her fawn?
• Job 39:28 He dwells on a cliff and lodges there; his stronghold is on a rocky crag.
• Psalms 18:2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
• Psalms 31:3 For You are my rock and my fortress; lead me and guide me for the sake of Your name.
• Psalms 40:2 He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm.
• Psalms 42:9 I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?”
• Psalms 71:3 Be my rock of refuge, where I can always go. Give the command to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress.
• Psalms 78:16 He brought streams from the stone and made water flow down like rivers.
• Psalms 104:18 The high mountains are for the wild goats, the cliffs a refuge for the rock badgers.
• Psalms 137:9 Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
• Psalms 141:6 When their rulers are thrown down from the cliffs, the people will listen to my words, for they are pleasant.
• Proverbs 30:26 the rock badgers are creatures of little power, yet they make their homes in the rocks;
• Song of Solomon 2:14 O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the crevices of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your countenance is lovely.
• Isaiah 2:21 They will flee to caverns in the rocks and crevices in the cliffs, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.
• Isaiah 7:19 And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines and clefts of the rocks, in all the thornbushes and watering holes.
• Isaiah 22:16 What are you doing here, and who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here—to chisel your tomb in the height and cut your resting place in the rock?
• Isaiah 31:9 Their rock will pass away for fear, and their princes will panic at the sight of the battle standard,” declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
• Isaiah 32:2 Each will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry land, like the shadow of a great rock in an arid land.
• Isaiah 33:16 he will dwell on the heights; the mountain fortress will be his refuge; his food will be provided and his water assured.
• Isaiah 57:5 who burn with lust among the oaks, under every luxuriant tree, who slaughter your children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?
• Jeremiah 5:3 O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.
• Jeremiah 13:4 “Take the loincloth that you bought and are wearing, and go at once to Perath and hide it there in a crevice of the rocks.”
• Jeremiah 16:16 But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, even from the clefts of the rocks.
• Jeremiah 23:29 “Is not My word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that smashes a rock?”
• Jeremiah 48:28 Abandon the towns and settle among the rocks, O dwellers of Moab! Be like a dove that nests at the mouth of a cave.
• Jeremiah 49:16 The terror you cause and the pride of your heart have deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks, O occupiers of the mountain summit. Though you elevate your nest like the eagle, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.
• Jeremiah 51:25 “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who devastate the whole earth, declares the LORD. I will stretch out My hand against you; I will roll you over the cliffs and turn you into a charred mountain.
• Ezekiel 24:7 For the blood she shed is still within her; she poured it out on the bare rock; she did not pour it on the ground to cover it with dust.
• Ezekiel 24:8 In order to stir up wrath and take vengeance, I have placed her blood on the bare rock, so that it would not be covered.’
• Ezekiel 26:4 They will destroy the walls of Tyre and demolish her towers. I will scrape the soil from her and make her a bare rock.
• Ezekiel 26:14 I will make you a bare rock, and you will become a place to spread the fishing nets. You will never be rebuilt, for I, the LORD, have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.’
• Amos 6:12 “Do horses gallop on the cliffs? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—
• Obadiah 1:3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks whose habitation is the heights, who say in your heart, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’