5544. sillon or sallon

Lexical Summary

sillon or sallon: Exaltation, elevation, or a high place.

Original Word: סִלּוֹן
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: cillown
Pronunciation: sil-lone' or sal-lone'
Phonetic Spelling: (sil-lone')
KJV: brier, thorn
NASB: brier, thorns
Word Origin: [from H5541 (סָלָה - Roast)]

1. a prickle (as if pendulous)

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance

brier, thorn

Or callown {sal-one'}; from calah; a prickle (as if pendulous); brier, thorn.

see HEBREW calah

NAS Exhaustive Concordance

Word Origin
of uncertain derivation
Definition
a briar
NASB Translation
brier (1), thorns (1).

Brown-Driver-Briggs

[סַלּוֺן], סִלּוֺן noun masculine brier (√ unknown): — סִלּוֺן מַמְאִיר Ezekiel 28:24 a pricking brier (figurative of national distress; "" קוֺץ מַכְאִב); plural סַלּוֺנִים Ezekiel 2:6 ( + סָרָבִים; Co [after Vrss] Berthol [not Toy] read (אותך) סֹרְבִים וְסֹלִים resisting and despising thee; ׳סִל is then Participle from I. סלה).

Topical Lexicon

𝗢𝗰𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝘇𝗲𝗸𝗶𝗲𝗹
• Ezekiel 2:6: “And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Though briers and thorns surround you and you dwell among scorpions, do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, for they are a rebellious house.”
• Ezekiel 28:24: “The house of Israel will no longer be wounded by briers or torn by thorns from all the neighbors who scorned them. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.”

In both texts, סִלּוֹן depicts menacing thorns that pierce, scratch, and hinder, functioning as a vivid emblem of painful opposition—first from Israel’s own rebellion (chapter 2) and later from hostile nations (chapter 28).

𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁

1. Ezekiel’s Call (Ezekiel 2): The prophet is commissioned in Babylonian exile (circa 593 BC). Thorns foreshadow the verbal and societal hostility he will face while speaking God’s word to a hardened people.
2. Oracles Against the Nations (Ezekiel 25–32): Chapter 28 addresses Tyre and Sidon. Their scornful pressure upon Israel is labeled a “painful thorn,” but the coming restoration will pull out that barb once Israel is regathered.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝘆𝗺𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺
• Curse imagery: Genesis 3:18 introduces “thorns and thistles” as hallmarks of the ground’s curse. Ezekiel re-uses the motif, linking sin’s rebellion to painful consequences.
• Moral obstinacy: The thorn’s unyielding prick reflects Israel’s stiff-necked refusal to hear (Ezekiel 3:7).
• External persecution: In chapter 28 the symbol shifts to foreign hostility, showing that thorny affliction can spring from both within and without God’s covenant people.
• Sanctifying pressure: Just as thorns drive a shepherd’s flock back onto the safe path, these adversities urge repentance and reliance on the Lord.

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗵𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗛𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗨𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴

Ezekiel 28:24 anticipates a day when Israel’s enemies will no longer jab at her. The promise previews the new-covenant restoration portrayed in chapters 34–39. Ultimately, Isaiah 55:13 foresees a creation where “Instead of the thornbush the juniper will grow,” and Revelation 22:3 declares “No longer will there be any curse.” The removal of סִלּוֹן heralds the complete reversal of Eden’s thorn-ridden ground.

𝗖𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀-𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲
• Numbers 33:55; Judges 2:3: Unexpelled Canaanites are “thorns in your sides,” paralleling Ezekiel’s imagery.
• Hosea 9:6; Micah 7:4: Prophets equate sinners with thorns, bolstering Ezekiel 2:6.
• 2 Corinthians 12:7: Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” echoes the same metaphor for persistent adversity pressing believers into dependence on grace.
• Matthew 27:29: The crown of thorns placed on Christ’s head represents the curse He bore, ensuring the future from which Ezekiel’s thorn is ultimately removed.

𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

1. Courage in proclamation: Like Ezekiel, pastors and evangelists must herald truth undeterred by prickly responses (Galatians 1:10).
2. Expectation of opposition: Congregations should be prepared for both internal rebellion and external hostility, seeing them as thorns God uses for refining (1 Peter 4:12–14).
3. Hope of deliverance: Believers can anchor their endurance in God’s pledge to remove every thorn, ultimately fulfilled in the kingdom of Christ.
4. Intercession for Israel: Ezekiel’s vision invites ongoing prayer for the national and spiritual restoration when “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26), and the thorny hostility of the nations will cease.

Thus, סִלּוֹן stands as a small yet potent symbol in Scripture—painful to encounter, purposeful in God’s discipline, and destined to disappear in the triumph of redemptive history.

Forms and Transliterations

וְסַלּוֹנִים֙ וסלונים סִלּ֤וֹן סלון sil·lō·wn silLon sillōwn vesalloNim wə·sal·lō·w·nîm wəsallōwnîm

Englishman's Concordance

Ezekiel 2:6
HEB: כִּ֣י סָרָבִ֤ים וְסַלּוֹנִים֙ אוֹתָ֔ךְ וְאֶל־
NAS: thistles and thorns are with you and you sit
KJV: though briers and thorns [be] with thee, and thou dost dwell
INT: though thistles and thorns for on

Ezekiel 28:24
HEB: לְבֵ֣ית יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל סִלּ֤וֹן מַמְאִיר֙ וְק֣וֹץ
NAS: a prickling brier or a painful
KJV: And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house
INT: the house of Israel brier A prickling thorn

2 Occurrences

Strong's Hebrew 5544
2 Occurrences

sil·lō·wn — 1 Occ.
wə·sal·lō·w·nîm — 1 Occ.