# H6754 - tselem **Strong's:** [H6754](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h6754/) · BLB lookup **Pronunciation:** tseh'-lem **Part of speech:** masculine noun (probably from an unused root meaning "to shade / cast a shadow") **Frequency:** ~17 occurrences in the Hebrew Bible **LXX equivalent:** εἰκών ([G1504 - eikon](/codex/g1504-eikon/), "image") **Aramaic cognate:** צְלֵם (*tselem*, in the Aramaic of Daniel) ## Semantic range (Brown-Driver-Briggs) 1. **Image, likeness, statue**, a physical representation of something else, often an idol or a carved statue ([Numbers 33:52](/codex/numbers-33-52/); [1 Samuel 6:5](/codex/1-samuel-6-5/), [11](/codex/1-samuel-6-11/); [2 Kings 11:18](/codex/2-kings-11-18/); [Ezekiel 7:20](/codex/ezekiel-7-20/); 16:17; [Amos 5:26](/codex/amos-5-26/); [Daniel 2:31-35](/codex/daniel-2-31-35/); 3:1-18). 2. **Image (as a representational pattern)**, the constitutive sense in [Genesis 1.26-27](/codex/genesis-1-26-27/), [Genesis 5:3](/codex/genesis-5-3/), [Genesis 9.6](/codex/genesis-9-6/), humanity made *bə-tsalmēnu* ("in our image"); Seth begotten *bi-dmuto kə-tsalmo* ("in his likeness, after his image"). 3. **Phantom, shadow, illusion** (rare, derived from the etymological "shadow" sense), [Psalm 39:6](/codex/psalms-39-6/) (*ṣelem*, "a mere phantom"); [Psalm 73:20](/codex/psalms-73-20/). ## Theological force, imago Dei *Tselem* is the technical OT noun for the image of God in humanity, the load-bearing lexeme of the doctrine of the imago Dei. It appears five times in three Genesis texts, and in each place is paired with [H1823 - demuth](/codex/h1823-demuth/) (*demuth*, "likeness") so closely that the two words function as a single concept-cluster: - [Genesis 1.26](/codex/genesis-1-26/), "Let Us make man in Our *tselem*, according to Our *demuth*" - [Genesis 1.27](/codex/genesis-1-27/), *bə-tselem* used three times: "God created man in His own *tselem*, in the *tselem* of God He created him; male and female He created them" - [Genesis 5:1-3](/codex/genesis-5-1-3/), God made man *bi-dmuth* God; Seth was begotten *bi-dmuth kə-tsalmo*, humanity now reproduces *its own* image-bearing line - [Genesis 9.6](/codex/genesis-9-6/), the post-flood capital-punishment statute: "whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the *tselem* of God He made man" The doctrinal claims compressed into the lexeme: **1. Universality.** The imago is predicated of "*ha-adam*" (humanity / humankind), not of a sub-class. Male and female are both said in v. 27 to be created *bə-tselem*. This grounds equal human dignity across sex, race, age, and ability, a foundational point for Christian anthropology and ethics (cf. Christian Ethics). **2. Persistence after the Fall.** [Genesis 9.6](/codex/genesis-9-6/) is decisive: God commands capital punishment for murder *because* the victim still bears the *tselem*, *post-Eden*. The image is *marred* but not *erased* by the Fall. This is the OT warrant for the patristic distinction (Irenaeus) between image (constitutive, retained) and likeness (dynamic, lost and to-be-restored). **3. Reproductive transmission.** [Genesis 5:3](/codex/genesis-5-3/) states that Seth is begotten in Adam's likeness / image, humanity passes the imago down generationally. This is why the [Genesis 9](/codex/genesis-9/) statute applies *to all post-flood humans*, not only to the unfallen. **4. Ontological warrant for human dignity.** The imago is the *ground* of the prohibition of bloodshed ([Gen 9:6](/codex/genesis-9-6/)) and of the dignity of speech ([James 3:9](/codex/james-3-9/), "with [the tongue] we curse men, who have been made in the *demuth* of God"). The lexeme does ethical work: it is what makes murder a category-error against God, not merely against a fellow creature. **5. Christological convergence.** The NT carries the imago doctrine forward via [G1504 - eikon](/codex/g1504-eikon/): Christ *is* the image of the invisible God ([Colossians 1.15](/codex/colossians-1-15/); [2 Corinthians 4:4](/codex/2-corinthians-4-4/)); humans are *re-conformed* to that image in sanctification ([Romans 8:29](/codex/romans-8-29/); [2 Corinthians 3:18](/codex/2-corinthians-3-18/); [Colossians 3:10](/codex/colossians-3-10/)). Christ is both the *original* imago (eternal Son) and the *restored* imago (incarnate model). ## Idolatry, *tselem* as forbidden image The same lexeme that names humanity-as-divine-image is the standard OT word for **forbidden idolatrous images**, a pointed irony the prophets exploit. Humanity is the *only legitimate tselem* of God; carved *tselemim* of pagan deities are precisely the inversion of the imago calling. The polemical contrast: - [Numbers 33:52](/codex/numbers-33-52/), destroy the *tsalmōt* (carved images) of the Canaanites upon entering the land - [1 Samuel 6:5](/codex/1-samuel-6-5/), [11](/codex/1-samuel-6-11/), the Philistines fashion *tsalmē* of the tumors and mice as a guilt offering - [2 Kings 11:18](/codex/2-kings-11-18/), Athaliah's Baal *tsalmēhem* are smashed - [Ezekiel 7:20](/codex/ezekiel-7-20/); 16:17, Israel makes *tsalmē zakar* (male images) for prostitution - [Amos 5:26](/codex/amos-5-26/), "you carried *Sikkuth* your king and *Kiyyun* your *tsalmēkem*" - [Daniel 2:31-35](/codex/daniel-2-31-35/); 3:1-18, Nebuchadnezzar's vision-image and golden *tselem* (Aramaic), humanity setting up its own self-image as worship-object The prophet's logic: the only authorized *tselem* of God is the human being. To carve another is to claim divine-image-making prerogative for oneself, which is idolatry. (This is also part of the OT warrant for the Decalogue's second commandment.) ## Patristic / scholarly note The Septuagint renders *tselem* with **εἰκών** (*eikōn*) and *demuth* with **ὁμοίωσις** (*homoiōsis*) in [Genesis 1:26](/codex/genesis-1-26/), the LXX rendering that licenses the patristic image / likeness distinction. **Irenaeus** (*Against Heresies* IV.16.2; V.6.1, c. AD 180) treats *tselem* / *eikōn* as the constitutive endowment retained after the Fall and *demuth* / *homoiōsis* as the dynamic Spirit-conformity that was lost and is restored in Christ. **Athanasius** (*On the Incarnation* 11-13, c. AD 318) takes the marring of the imago as the rationale for the Incarnation: only the original Image, becoming flesh, can re-stamp the marred image-bearers. **Augustine** (*De Trinitate* 12-14, c. AD 410) locates the imago in the soul's threefold structure (memory, intellect, will), reading *bə-tsalmēnu* (with the plural pronoun) as a Trinitarian signature. Modern Hebrew scholarship (Westermann, *[Genesis 1](/codex/genesis-1/)-11*; Wenham, WBC *[Genesis 1](/codex/genesis-1/)-15*; Middleton, *The Liberating Image*) has emphasized the **royal-functional** dimension: in Ancient Near Eastern texts, kings erect *ṣalmu* (Akkadian cognate) of themselves in subdued provinces to assert presence and authority. Genesis polemically democratizes this royal-imagery onto *all* humanity: *every* human (not just kings) is YHWH's representative-image deployed in the earth-province. This functional reading reinforces rather than displaces the ontological reading: the imago entails both *constitution* (what the human is) and *vocation* (what the human is for, to represent God's rule, [Genesis 1:28](/codex/genesis-1-28/)). In contemporary apologetics and ethics, the *tselem* doctrine is the foundation of pro-life argumentation (the unborn bear the imago), anti-discrimination argumentation (no human group is sub-imago), and the case against materialist anthropologies that reduce humans to their genetic substrate (Hoekema, *Created in God's Image*, 1986; Anthony Bradley; Carl Henry). ## Verses in this codex _See Obsidian's backlinks pane for every verse page linking here._ Top-cited references using *tselem*: [Genesis 1.26](/codex/genesis-1-26/), [Genesis 1.27](/codex/genesis-1-27/), [Genesis 9.6](/codex/genesis-9-6/). ## See also - [H1823 - demuth](/codex/h1823-demuth/), *demuth* (likeness), the constant pairing in [Gen 1:26](/codex/genesis-1-26/) and 5:3 - [G1504 - eikon](/codex/g1504-eikon/), *eikōn* (image), the LXX / NT Greek equivalent - [H0120 - adam](/codex/h0120-adam/), *adam* (man / humanity), the bearer of the *tselem* - [H1254 - bara](/codex/h1254-bara/), *bara* (to create), the verb of [Gen 1:27](/codex/genesis-1-27/) paired with *tselem* - [Imago Dei](/codex/genesis-1-27/), the doctrine - [Genesis 1.26-27](/codex/genesis-1-26-27/), [Genesis 9.6](/codex/genesis-9-6/), locus classicus - [Colossians 1.15](/codex/colossians-1-15/), Christ as *eikōn* (NT extension)