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H1508 · Hebrew · Old Testament
גִּזְרָה
gizrah
Noun, feminine
a cut, separate place, exclusion

Definition

Gizrah (גִּזְרָה) denotes a "cut off" or "separated" area — a place or state of exclusion. It derives from gazar (H1504, to cut, divide). The term appears in Ezekiel's temple vision to describe a restricted zone and in Lamentations to describe the isolation of the afflicted.

Usage & Theological Significance

Gizrah captures the theology of separation — the reality that sin creates distance, both spatial and relational. In Ezekiel's visionary temple (Ezek. 41-42), the gizrah is a strip of restricted space, underlining holiness's demand for boundary. In Lamentations 3:54, the poet cries "I have been cut off [gazar]!" — the existential anguish of God-forsakenness. Jesus on the cross cried "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" — entering the ultimate gizrah to end all exclusion.

Key Verses

Ezekiel 41:12 The building facing the temple courtyard on the west side was seventy cubits wide. The wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length was ninety cubits.
Lamentations 3:54 The waters closed over my head, and I thought, I am cut off [gazar].
Ezekiel 42:1 Then the man led me northward into the outer court and brought me to the rooms opposite the temple courtyard and opposite the outer wall.
Isaiah 53:8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away [gazar]. Yet who of his generation protested?
Psalm 88:5 I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care.

Word Study

Root: gazar (H1504) — to cut, to decide. The noun gizrah freezes that cutting into a state: the result of being severed. Isaiah 53:8 uses the verb for the Servant being "cut off" — the same word family applied to the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ. What was cut off from God so we might be joined.

Related Words

External Resources

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