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לִפְנַי

𐤋𐤐𐤍𐤉

liphnay

H3942 noun

SILEX Entry

Root פנה to face, turn toward, be present

Definition

Prepositional phrase meaning 'before', 'in the presence of', 'in front of (spatially or metaphorically)', or 'prior to (temporally)'. Used to denote location (spatial orientation), priority in time, or presence before a person, deity, or place. Often serves to locate an event, object, or person with respect to another, either in physical space, chronological sequence, or social hierarchy.

Semantic Range

before (spatial), in front of, in the presence of, prior to (temporal), before the authority of, in the sight of, at the face of (figurative or cultic)

Root / Etymology

Derived from the preposition לְ (le-, 'to, for') prefixed to the construct form of פָּנִים (panim, 'face, presence'), yielding לִפְנֵי (liphnê) — 'to the face of', i.e., 'before'. The addition of לְ to a noun is a common Hebrew construction for creating certain prepositional ideas.

Historical & Contextual Notes

In ancient Israelite texts, לִפְנֵי is frequently used for both spatial and figurative senses: physically 'before' (as in standing before a king or an altar), temporally 'before' (as in prior to an event), or in the sense of social hierarchy (in the presence of someone important). In legal and narrative texts (especially the Pentateuch and Former Prophets), it commonly marks actions taking place 'before' YHWH (in the sanctuary/cultic context) or 'before' authorities. The English phrase 'in the presence of' captures some, but not all, of the semantic nuance. The word does not necessarily imply direct vision or face-to-face relations, and in some contexts can refer to doing something under the authority or awareness of the referenced person. While later English translations sometimes render it as 'before', 'in front of', or 'in the sight of', these may miss distinctions in usage — particularly where issues of divine presence, legal testimony, or cultic ritual are concerned. Use and nuances are stable throughout biblical Hebrew, but the term is especially common in legal, cultic, and narrative settings. The related פָּנִים ('face, presence') is much broader in its semantic field, but לִפְנֵי develops a specialized prepositional function.

Original Strong's Gloss (1890)

from the prepositional prefix (to or for) and פָּנִים; anterior; before.

Bantu Hebrew

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Root Family

פנה (p-n-h) — face, turn toward, presence

Strong's Lemma SIBI-P1
H3312 יְפֻנֶּה He will be turned
H6434 פֵּן the corners
H6435 פֵּן lest
H6437 פָּנָה in their turning
H6438 פִּנָּה structural corner

Word Forms

1 distinct form

SIDANCE Surface Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1 Occurrences
H3942-01 לִ/פְנָֽ/י lifenay HR/Ncmpc/Sp1cs before-it before me 1

Occurrences in Scripture

1 total occurrence

SIDANCE Reference Word Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1
H3942-01 1 Kings 6:17 לִ/פְנָֽ/י lifenay HR/Ncmpc/Sp1cs before-it before me
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