The meaning of צלמות has been disputed among scholars, with some arguing for ‘shadow of death’ and others contending for ‘darkness’. Those who favor the former option analyze the word as a combination of צל, meaning ‘shadow’, and מות, meaning ‘death’. Those who prefer the latter derive the word from the Semitic root ṣlm, which carries the meaning of ‘be dark’.
The word occurs 18 times in the Old Testament, all of them found within its poetic portion. Ancient translations including the Septuagint tend to translate צלמות consistently as “shadow of death”. However, modern translations are divided between “shadow of death” and “darkness”, reflecting ongoing scholarly disagreement about its precise meaning. Some of the versions are consistent in choosing one translation term, but others select one or the other option depending on the context in which the word appears.
Grammarians and commentators still do not agree on the etymology and meaning of the word. However, we conclude that the word can better be analyzed as a compound derived from צל and מות. The careful examination of the passages in which צלמות is used reveals that it is adequate to see the meaning of ‘darkness’ in most cases. The word does not refer to ‘death (shadow)’ in a straightforward sense, though it may carry a metaphoric sense of ‘death’ in contexts where the concept of death predominates.
We look into other terms that occur alongside צלמות, such as חשך and אפל. These terms of ‘darkness’ show that they can also be associated with ‘death’ depending on the context in which they appear. This shows that the overtone of ‘death’ is not exclusive to צלמות but is imposed upon the word only when the context requires it, a pattern observable in related vocabulary as well.
Our research demonstrates that we need to differentiate carefully between the etymology of a word and the meaning given by its contextual information. According to etymological analysis, צלמות must have some relation with ‘death (shadow)’. But in its actual context, the word primarily refers to darkness, while it can be associated with death where context requires it, as other terms of darkness can. This distinction between etymological origin and contextual meaning is essential for a proper interpretation of the word.
Although צלמות is etymologically associated with ‘shadow’ and ‘death’, translations aiming for lexical consistency can best always render the term as ‘darkness’, following the precedent of the New Revised Standard Version, the Lutherbibel (2017), and the New Korean Translation.