Words · Hebrew Words · Lesson 5, word 4 of 5
צֶלֶםtselem
An image or likeness, what humans are, of God.
Why this word is here. 'In the image of God' (Genesis 1:27) is the Bible's charter for human dignity; the same word elsewhere means statues, which makes the claim sharper.
What it means
The lexicon range: image; images (of tumours, of mice, of heathen gods); image or likeness of resemblance; a mere, empty image or semblance. Tselem most often names a physical representation: a carved or molten image. Genesis 1 uses it of human beings made as God's representation in his world.
The paired word in Genesis 1:26 is demut, likeness. Together they say humans resemble God and represent him, as an image represents a king, without being gods themselves.
Where you meet it
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”
Genesis 1:26 (BSB)
'Let Us make man in Our image (tselem), after Our likeness.' The image is announced before it is explained, which is why theologians argue about it.
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Genesis 1:27 (BSB)
Anchor verse 'God created man in His own image (tselem); in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.' The image belongs to both sexes equally, as a creation gift, not an achievement.
Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.
Genesis 9:6 (BSB)
After the flood: 'Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image (tselem) of God He made man.' The image survives the fall and grounds the protection of human life.
Why it matters
Tselem is the ground of human worth in the Bible: every person, believer or not, bears God's image, and James can still rebuke cursing people 'made in God's likeness' (James 3:9). It also frames the fall and restoration: images can be marred, and renewal is described as being remade in the image of the Creator (Colossians 3:10).
Watch out
The over-claim is to announce that the image of God 'is' one specific faculty: reason, or morality, or relationality, or immortality. The lexicon entry will not carry any of those definitions; tselem means an image, a representation, and the same word is used of golden tumours and idols (1 Samuel 6; Ezekiel). Theologians argue the implications from the whole canon; the word itself says representation and resemblance, and honest preaching says where the lexicon stops.
In this lesson
- yirah (יִרְאָה): Fear of God: awe, reverence and real trembling together.
- amen (אָמֵן): 'Truly, so be it', the word that stakes you to a statement.
- shabbat (שַׁבָּת): The Sabbath: the seventh day, blessed and made holy.
- hineni (הִנְנִי (from הִנֵּה, hinneh)): 'Here I am', full availability to the one who calls.
Sources
- Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon (BDB, 1906)
- Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible / STEP Hebrew data
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