Zoan

City of Egypt in the eastern Nile delta, mentioned in the hebrew bible

Zoan (Biblical Hebrew: צֹועַן Ṣōʿan) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a city of Egypt in the eastern Nile delta. Book of Numbers 13:22 says that it was built seven years after Hebron was built. Psalm 78:12,43 identifies the "field of Zoan" as the location where Moses performed miracles before a biblical Pharaoh to persuade him to release the Israelites from his service.^[1] The city is also mentioned in Book of Isaiah 19:11, 13, Isaiah 30:4 and Book of Ezekiel 30:14.

The Greek Septuagint in all of these verses uses the Greek name Tánis (Greek: Τάνις). Both Tanis and Tso'an are ultimately derived from the Ancient Egyptian name for Tanis, ḏꜥn.t (Bohairic Coptic ϫⲁⲛⲓ; Sahidic Coptic ϫⲁⲁⲛⲉ; Modern Arabic صان Ṣan).^[2]

References

^ Brugsch, Heinrich Karl (2015) [1879]. A history of Egypt under the pharaohs, derived entirely from the monuments : to which is added a memoir on the Exodus of the Israelites and the Egyptian monuments. Cambridge University Press. p. 394. ISBN 978-1108084734.
^ Simkins, Ronald A. (2000). "Zoan". In Freedman, David Noel; Myers, Allen C. (eds.). Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Amsterdam University Press. p. 1423. ISBN 978-90-5356-503-2.