בָּנָה
to build
also: rebuild, establish, cause to continue fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Qal verb in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”). Here: ‘sq.’
- Niphal
- Usually the simple passive or reflexive of the Qal (“he was written”). Here: ‘be built’
Form
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
- Cohortative
- A first-person volitional form expressing wish or resolve (“let me / let us write”).
- Jussive
- A third- or second-person volitional form expressing wish or command (“let him write”).
- Participle Passive
- A verbal adjective expressing action received (“written”).
- Infinitive Absolute
- An unbound verbal noun, often intensifying or standing in for a finite verb.
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Person
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Every verse where H1129 appears in the Book of 1 Kings — 53 distinct verses. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
1 Kings
- 1 Kings 2:36 בְּֽנֵה Qal impv 2ms The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and don't go forth from there any where.
- 1 Kings 3:1 לִ/בְנ֤וֹת prep + Qal inf.cs Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of Yahweh, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.
- 1 Kings 3:2 נִבְנָ֥ה Niphal pf 3ms Only the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was no house built for the name of Yahweh until those days.
- 1 Kings 5:3 לִ/בְנ֣וֹת prep + Qal inf.cs You know how that David my father could not build a house for the name of Yahweh his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until Yahweh put them under the soles of his feet.
- 1 Kings 5:5 לִ/בְנ֣וֹת יִבְנֶ֥ה prep + Qal inf.cs Qal impf 3ms Behold, I purpose to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, as Yahweh spoke to David my father, saying, Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your room, he shall build the house for my name.
- 1 Kings 5:18 בֹּנֵ֧י וּ/בֹנֵ֥י לִ/בְנ֥וֹת Qal ptcp.act mp cs conj + Qal ptcp.act mp cs prep + Qal inf.cs Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the Gebalites did fashion them, and prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.
- 1 Kings 6:1 וַ/יִּ֥בֶן conj + Qal wimpf 3ms It happened in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of Yahweh.
- 1 Kings 6:2 בָּנָ֜ה Qal pf 3ms The house which king Solomon built for Yahweh, the length of it was sixty cubits, and the breadth of it twenty [cubits], and the height of it thirty cubits.
- 1 Kings 6:5 וַ/יִּבֶן֩ conj + Qal wimpf 3ms Against the wall of the house he built stories round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle; and he made side-chambers round about.
- 1 Kings 6:7 בְּ/הִבָּ֣נֹת֔/וֹ נִבְנָ֑ה בְּ/הִבָּנֹתֽ/וֹ prep + Niphal inf.cs + sfx pers 3ms Niphal pf 3ms prep + Niphal inf.cs + sfx pers 3ms The house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready at the quarry; and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.
- 1 Kings 6:9 וַ/יִּ֥בֶן conj + Qal wimpf 3ms So he built the house, and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar.
- 1 Kings 6:10 וַ/יִּ֤בֶן conj + Qal wimpf 3ms He built the stories against all the house, each five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.
- 1 Kings 6:12 בֹנֶ֗ה Qal ptcp.act ms Concerning this house which you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, and execute my ordinances, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father.
- 1 Kings 6:14 וַ/יִּ֧בֶן conj + Qal wimpf 3ms So Solomon built the house, and finished it.
- 1 Kings 6:15 וַ/יִּבֶן֩ conj + Qal wimpf 3ms He built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar: from the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the house with boards of fir.
- 1 Kings 6:16 וַ/יִּבֶן֩ וַ/יִּ֤בֶן conj + Qal wimpf 3ms conj + Qal wimpf 3ms He built twenty cubits on the hinder part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls [of the ceiling]: he built [them] for it within, for an oracle, even for the most holy place.
- 1 Kings 6:36 וַ/יִּ֨בֶן֙ conj + Qal wimpf 3ms He built the inner court with three courses of hewn stone, and a course of cedar beams.
- 1 Kings 6:38 וַ/יִּבְנֵ֖/הוּ conj + Qal wimpf 3ms + sfx pers 3ms In the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts of it, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it.
- 1 Kings 7:1 בָּנָ֣ה Qal pf 3ms Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.
- 1 Kings 7:2 וַ/יִּ֜בֶן conj + Qal wimpf 3ms For he built the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length of it was one hundred cubits, and the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars.
- 1 Kings 8:13 בָּנֹ֥ה בָנִ֛יתִי Qal inf.abs Qal pf 1cs I have surely built you a house of habitation, a place for you to dwell in forever.
- 1 Kings 8:16 לִ/בְנ֣וֹת prep + Qal inf.cs Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.
- 1 Kings 8:17 לִ/בְנ֣וֹת prep + Qal inf.cs Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
- 1 Kings 8:18 לִ/בְנ֥וֹת prep + Qal inf.cs But Yahweh said to David my father, Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart:
- 1 Kings 8:19 תִבְנֶ֖ה יִבְנֶ֥ה Qal impf 2ms Qal impf 3ms nevertheless you shall not build the house; but your son who shall come forth out of your loins, he shall build the house for my name.
- 1 Kings 8:20 וָ/אֶבְנֶ֣ה conj + Qal wimpf 1cs Yahweh has established his word that he spoke; for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh promised, and have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.
- 1 Kings 8:27 בָּנִֽיתִי Qal pf 1cs But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can't contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
- 1 Kings 8:43 בָּנִֽיתִי Qal pf 1cs hear in heaven, your dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, to fear you, as does your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by my name.
- 1 Kings 8:44 בָּנִ֥תִי Qal pf 1cs If your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to Yahweh toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for your name;
- 1 Kings 8:48 בנית בָּנִ֥יתִי Qal pf 2ms Qal pf 1cs if they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name:
- 1 Kings 9:1 לִ/בְנ֥וֹת prep + Qal inf.cs It happened, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of Yahweh, and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do,
- 1 Kings 9:3 בָּנִ֔תָה Qal pf 2ms Yahweh said to him, I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me: I have made this house holy, which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.
- 1 Kings 9:10 בָּנָ֥ה Qal pf 3ms It happened at the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of Yahweh and the king's house
- 1 Kings 9:15 לִ/בְנוֹת֩ prep + Qal inf.cs This is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised, to build the house of Yahweh, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.
- 1 Kings 9:17 וַ/יִּ֤בֶן conj + Qal wimpf 3ms Solomon built Gezer, and Beth Horon the lower,
- 1 Kings 9:19 לִ/בְנ֤וֹת prep + Qal inf.cs and all the store-cities that Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
- 1 Kings 9:24 בָּֽנָה בָּנָ֥ה Qal pf 3ms Qal pf 3ms But Pharaoh's daughter came up out of the city of David to her house which [Solomon] had built for her: then did he build Millo.
- 1 Kings 9:25 בָּנָ֣ה Qal pf 3ms Three times a year did Solomon offer burnt offerings and peace-offerings on the altar which he built to Yahweh, burning incense therewith, [on the altar] that was before Yahweh. So he finished the house.
- 1 Kings 10:4 בָּנָֽה Qal pf 3ms When the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built,
- 1 Kings 11:7 יִבְנֶ֨ה Qal impf 3ms Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the mountain that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the children of Ammon.
- 1 Kings 11:27 בָּנָ֣ה Qal pf 3ms This was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon built Millo, and repaired the breach of the city of David his father.
- 1 Kings 11:38 וּ/בָנִ֨יתִי בָּנִ֣יתִי conj + Qal wpf 1cs Qal pf 1cs It shall be, if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do that which is right in my eyes, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did; that I will be with you, and will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you.
- 1 Kings 12:25 וַ/יִּ֨בֶן וַ/יִּ֖בֶן conj + Qal wimpf 3ms conj + Qal wimpf 3ms Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and lived therein; and he went out from there, and built Penuel.
- 1 Kings 14:23 וַ/יִּבְנ֨וּ conj + Qal wimpf 3mp For they also built them high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every green tree;
- 1 Kings 15:17 וַ/יִּ֖בֶן conj + Qal wimpf 3ms Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not allow anyone to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
- 1 Kings 15:21 מִ/בְּנ֖וֹת prep + Qal inf.cs It happened, when Baasha heard of it, that he left off building Ramah, and lived in Tirzah.
- 1 Kings 15:22 בָּנָ֖ה וַ/יִּ֤בֶן Qal pf 3ms conj + Qal wimpf 3ms Then king Asa made a proclamation to all Judah; none was exempted: and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber of it, with which Baasha had built; and king Asa built therewith Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.
- 1 Kings 15:23 בָּנָ֔ה Qal pf 3ms Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.
- 1 Kings 16:24 וַ/יִּ֨בֶן֙ בָּנָ֔ה conj + Qal wimpf 3ms Qal pf 3ms He bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver; and he built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill, Samaria.
- 1 Kings 16:32 בָּנָ֖ה Qal pf 3ms He reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.
- 1 Kings 16:34 בָּנָ֥ה Qal pf 3ms In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation of it with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates of it with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.
- 1 Kings 18:32 וַ/יִּבְנֶ֧ה conj + Qal wimpf 3ms With the stones he built an altar in the name of Yahweh; and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.
- 1 Kings 22:39 בָּנָ֔ה בָּנָ֑ה Qal pf 3ms Qal pf 3ms Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he built, and all the cities that he built, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
At its core, בנה (bânâh) means “to build.” Scripture first uses it in Genesis 2:22. It appears 345 verses across 33 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its common vocabulary. As a verb its force shifts by stem, across 2 stems (Qal, Niphal, and more). It clusters with אבן, בית and בן under a shared root. Dig into 345-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H1129 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 345
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 345 distinct verses.
- 33 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 33 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #133
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 133 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 345 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- 2 Chronicles 54 verses 16%
- 1 Kings 53 verses 15%
- 1 Chronicles 27 verses 8%
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 345 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 164 verses · 48%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 140 verses · 41%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 41 verses · 12%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Build 58×, He built 41×, Built 39×
- American Standard Version: Build 51×, He built 45×, Built 35×
- Berean Standard Bible: Build 54×, Built 46×, He built 23×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Build 69×, He built 62×, Built 48×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H1129 across 376 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 91 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H1129 across 376 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 99 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H1129 across 366 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 77 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 9 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H1129 across 414 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 57 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
19 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB
Hebrew verbs can shift meaning by stem (binyan): Qal is the basic action, Niphal is often passive or reflexive, Piel often intensifies or makes it factitive, and Hiphil is typically causative. The senses below are grouped under the stem BDB assigns to each.
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 19 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
Qal
- Pf. ב׳ Dt 20:5 +, בָּֽנְתָה Pr 9:1; 14:1, בָּנִיתָ Dt 6:10, בָּנִתָה 1 K 9:3; וּבָנִ֫יתָ consec. Dt 20:20 +; בָּנִיתְ Ez 16:25; בָּנִיתִי 1 K 8:13 +; pl. בָּנוּ Gn 11:5 +, etc.; Impf. יִבְנֶה Dt 25:9 +; juss. וְיִבֶן Ezr 1:3 וַיִּבְנֶה Jos 19:50 + 2 times וַיִּ֫בֶן Gn 2:22 +; sf. יִבְנֵ֫הוּ Jb 20:19; 3 fs. וַתִּ֫בֶן 1 Ch 7:24 Zc 9:3; אֶבְנֶה 2 S 7:27 +; pl. יִבְנוּ Is 65:22 +, etc.; Imv. בְּנֵה Nu 23:1 +; pl. בְּנוּ Nu 32:24 +; Inf. abs. בָּנֹה 1 K 8:13; cstr. בְּנוֹת 1 Ch 6:17 +, etc.; Pt. act. בֹּנֶה (בּוֹנֶה) Gn 4:17 +; cstr. בֹּנֵה ψ 147:2; pl. בּוֹנִים (בֹּנִים) Ezr 4:1 +; cstr. בֹּנֵי 1 K 5:32(×2), etc.; pass. בָּנוּי Ct 4:4 Ju 6:28; f. בְּנוּיָה ψ 122:3; pl. בְּנוּיִם Ne 7:4;—build, e.g. Deuteronomy 20:5
- a. c. acc. (α) of city (Hex only JE) Gn 4:17; 10:11; 11:4, 5 (+ tower) v 8 (all J & his sources); Ex 1:11 Nu 32:24 Jos 24:13 (all E) Ju 1:26; 18:28 + 22 times K Ch + Je 32:31 ψ 122:3 (pt. pass.) cf. Hb 2:12; of village (חָצֵר) Ne 12:29; v. also sub rebuild, i. infr.; (β) house Gn 33:17 (J), elsewhere in Hex only Dt 6:10; 8:12; 20:20; 28:30; also 2 S 5:11 1 K 22:39 1 Ch 14:1 2 Ch 2:2 Pr 24:27 Am 5:11 Zp 1:13 Is 65:21 Je 35:7, 9 cf. Zc 5:11; as sign of security Ez 28:26 cf. 11:3; of luxury Ec 2:4 cf. Je 22:14; of permanent residence 1 K 2:36 Je 29:5, 28; especially of temple 1 K 3:1; 5:32; 6:2 + often S K Chr; fig. of wisdom’s house Pr 9:1; especially build temple ליהוה etc. 2 S 7:5, 7 1 K 6:1 (= began to build) + 13 times Chr + Is 66:1; לְשֵׁם י׳ etc. 2 S 7:13 1 K 5:17 + 8 times K, 13 times Ch; לְךָ לְשִׁמְךָ 2 Ch 20:8; לִהְיוֹת שְׁמִי שָׁם 1 K 8:16 2 Ch 6:5; לָשׂוּם שְׁמִי שָׁם 1 K 9:3; obj. chambers, or stories 1 K 6:5, 10, court 6:36 Ho 8:14 perhaps of idolt-temples; cf. 1 K 16:32; ψ 78:69 of Yahweh’s building his sanctuary, 147:2 Jerusalem, ψ 127:1 a house; also Am 9:6 his chambers in the heavens; of Sol.’s palace 1 K 7:1, 2; 9:1, 10 +; (γ) of a fortress 2 Ch 17:12 27:4 cf. of Tyre Zc 9:3 (מָצוֹר); (δ) of wall 1 K 3:1 Is 60:10 Ez 13:10 2 Ch 33:14 (cf. 27:3) Ne 4:4; 6:1 +; (ε) gate 2 K 15:35 = 2 Ch 27:3; (ζ) tower Is 5:2 2 Ch 26:9, 10; 27:4 cf. fig. Ct 8:9 & pt. pass. Ct 4:4 (in sim.); † (η) siege-works against (עַל־) a city Dt 20:20 (מָצוֹר), Ec 9:14 (מְצוֹרִים), 2 K 25:1 = Je 52:4 Ez 4:2 (all דָּיֵק), & so (without עַל־) Ez 17:17; 21:27; cf. בנה עָלַי, abs. La 3:5 (in fig.); (θ) altar Gn 22:9; 35:7 Ex 17:15; 20:25; 24:4 Nu 23:1, 14, 29 (all E), Gn 26:25 Ex 32:5 (both J), Jos 22:11 + 6 times Jos 22 (all P) Ju 6:28 (pt. pass.) 21:4 + 6 times K Ch; often sq. ליהוה etc. Gn 8:20; 12:7, 8; 13:18 (all J), Dt 27:5, 6 Jos 8:30 (E) Ju 6:24, 26 + 8 times S K Ch; †(ι) high places (בָּמָה) 1 K 11:7; 14:23 2 K 17:9; 21:3; 23:13 2 Ch 33:3, 19 Je 7:31; 19:5; 32:35; cf. גַּב Ez 16:24, 31 (both ‖ רָמָה) & רָמָה v 25; †(κ) צִיּוּן Ez 39:15; also †(λ) גִּדְרֹת צֹאן Nu 32:16 (E); †(μ) מיּ֯סַךְ הַשַּׁבָּת 2 K 16:18. e.g. Genesis 4:17
- b. c. acc. of material Ex 20:25 (E) 1 K 6:36; 18:32; 15:22 = 2 Ch 16:6 Ez 27:5; c. בְּ of material 1 K 6:15, 16; 15:17 2 Ch 16:6; cf. e.g. Exodus 20:22
- c. וַיִּבֶן אֶת־הַצֵּלָע לְאִשָּׁה Gn 2:22 and he (Yahweh) fashioned the rib into a woman. e.g. Genesis 2:22
- d. abs. 2 S 5:9 1 K 6:16 Is 9:9 Je 1:10; 18:9; 22:13; 31:28 Is 65:22 + 12 times Chr + Mal 1:4 Ec 3:3 (opp. פרץ); also e.g. 2 Samuel 5:9
- e. Pt. act. = builder 1 K 5:32(×2) + 6 times Chr + Ez 27:4 ψ 118:22; 127:1. e.g. 1 Kings 5:32
- f. cf. indef. obj. 1 K 9:19 = 2 Ch 8:6. e.g. 1 Kings 9:19
- g. וַיִּבֶן אֶת־הָהָר = and he built on the hill 1 K 16:24. e.g. 1 Kings 16:24
- h. sq. בְּ build at Zc 6:15 Ne 4:11 (cf. בְּ i 2 b, p. 88). e.g. Zechariah 6:15
- i. = rebuild Jos 6:26 1 K 16:34 Am 9:14 Is 45:13 ψ 69:36 Ne 2:5 Dn 9:25 all of city; cf. phrase בנה חָרְבוֹת עוֹלָם Is 58:12; 61:4 & Ez 36:36 Mal 1:4 Jb 3:14; of walls Mi 7:11 2 Ch 32:5 Ne 2:17; 3:33, 35, 38; 6:6 ψ 51:20 (act. of י׳); of gate Ne 3:1, 13, 14, 15; temple Zc 6:12, 13 Ezr 1:3; alter 2 Ch 33:16 (Qr וַיִּבֶן so Bö ויכן, from כון, so Öt), Ezr 3:2; high places 2 K 21:3 = 2 Ch 33:3; in some of these apparently an idea of merely repairing; so, sometimes with added notion of enlarging etc., city Nu 32:34, 37, 38 (E) Jos 19:50 (P) Ju 21:23 2 K 14:22 = 2 Ch 26:2, 1 Ch 11:8 2 Ch 8:2; 11:6 cf. Mi 3:10; Millo 1 K 9:24; 11:27; cf. house Jb 20:19. e.g. Joshua 6:26
- 2. fig.
- a. build a house (בית) = perpetuate and establish a family; subj. Leah & Rachel Ru 4:11; subj. a brother Dt 25:9; subj. י׳ (promise to David) 1 S 2:35 2 S 7:27 1 K 11:38 1 Ch 17:10 and 17:25; (to Solomon) 1 K 11:38; cf. further סֻכַּת דָּוִד Am 9:11 (rebuild, restore); = cause a household to flourish Pr 14:1 cf. opp. 27:18; also of establishing David’s throne ψ 89:5. e.g. Ruth 4:11
- b. build up Israel (after exile) subj. י׳ Je 24:6; 31:4; 33:7; 42:10 cf. 45:4 & ψ 28:5; obj. Zion ψ 102:17. e.g. Jeremiah 24:6
Niphal
- Pf. נִבְנָה 1 K 3:2; 6:7, נִבְנְתָה Nu 13:22 Ne 7:1, וְנִבְנְתָה consec. Je 30:18 + 2 times; 2 fs. וְנִבְנֵית consec. Je 31:4; 3 pl. נִבְנוּ Mal 3:15; וְנִבְנוּ consec. Je 12:16 Ez 36:33; Impf. יִבָּנֶה Jb 12:14 + 4 times; 3 fs. תִּבָּנֶה Nu 21:27 + 3 times; 2 ms. תִּבָּנֶה Jb 22:23, אִבָּנֶה Gn 16:2, וְאִבָּנֶה Gn 30:3; 3 fpl. תִּבָּנֶינָה Ez 36:10; 2 fpl. תִּבָּנֶינָה Is 44:26; Inf. לְהִבָּנוֹת Hg 1:2 Zc 8:9, בְּהִבָּנֹתוֹ 1 K 6:7(×2); Pt. נִבְנֶה 1 Ch 22:19;— e.g. 1 Kings 3:2
- 1.
- a. be built, (lit.) of city Nu 13:22; of temple 1 K 3:2 (לְשֵׁם י׳) 1 K 6:7(×3) (c. acc. mater.); Pt. = to be built (gerundive) 1 Ch 22:19. e.g. Numbers 13:22
- b. be rebuilt: of city of Sihon Nu 21:27 cf. Is 25:2; 44:26, of wall of Jerusalem Ne 7:1, of Jerusalem Je 30:18; 31:4, 38 Is 44:28 cf. Dn 9:25 תָּשׁוּב וְנִבְנְתָה, & Ez 26:14 (c. עוֹד), of ruinous places (הֶחֳרָבוֹת) Ez 36:10, 33, of a devoted city Dt 13:17 (c. עוֹד), of temple Hg 1:2 Zc 1:16; 8:9, indef. subj. Jb 12:14. e.g. Numbers 21:27
- 2.
- a. (fig.) of restored exiles, = established Je 12:16, of prosperous wicked Mal 3:15, of repentant offender Jb 22:23. e.g. Jeremiah 12:16
- b. established, made permanent, subj. חֶסֶד ψ 89:3 (c. עוֹלָם), subj. בַּיִת Pr 24:3 (by wisdom). e.g. Psalms 89:3
- c. of childless wife, by means of concubine אִבָּנֶה מִמֶּנָּה Gn 16:2; 30:3 I shall be built up, i.e. become the mother of a family, from or through her; cf. >Qal 2 a. e.g. Genesis 16:2
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
vb. build (MI, Nab. Eut No. 1 בנה, Ph. בן, Arabic بَنَا Assyrian banû COTGloss. cf. BaZMG 1887, 640, Sab. בני CIS iv. 1, No. 56, Aramaic בְּנָא, ܒܢܳܐ Palm. בנא VogNo. 31)—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: a primitive root
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
בני
- [to combine,] to build. Sabb. XII, 1 הַבּוֹנֶה he who builds (on the Sabbath). Ib.] 102ᵇ משום בונה (isguilty) because it is one of the labors classified under ‘building’; a. fr.—Metaph. to educate, train. Ber. 64ᵃ (ref. to Is. LIV, 93) א"ת בָּנַיִךְ אלא בוֹנַיִּךְ read not banayikh (thy children), but bonayikh (thy builders, trainers); v. בַּנָּאִים.—Ex. R. s. 23 (play on b’noth, Cant. I, 5) בּוֹנוֹת וכ׳ the authorities directing the building of Jerusalem; v. Pi.—Ḥull. 78ᵇ זה בנה אב, v. אָב, a. בִּנְיָן. [Tosef. Par. VII (VI), 4 בְּנָאוֹ ed. Zuck., v. כָּנַן.] e.g. Isaiah 54:93
- 1. to be built up. Y. B. Bath. III, 14ᵇ, a. fr. לְהִיבָּנוֹת, לִיבָּנוֹת.
- 2. (denom. of בֵּן) to get children. Gen. R. s. 71.
- (denom. of בֵּן) to be adopted, naturalized. Pesik. R. s. 43 נִתְבַּנּוּ בישראל they became full Israelitish citizens.
- to lay out, plan a city, determine its limits. Ex. R. l. c. the Great Sanedrin held sessions ומְבַנָּים אותה (not אותם) and determined the limits of Jerusalem; v. Snh. I, 5.—Part. Pu. מְבוּנֶּה cultivated; built (of human stature), well-proportioned. Keth. 112ᵃ; Sot. 34ᵇ היתה מְבוּנָּה על וכ׳ it (Hebron, in spite of the rocky nature of its soil) was seven times better cultivated than Zoan (one measure of its land yielding as much as did seven measures of the soil of Zoan). Ib. 42ᵇ (play on benayim, I Sam. XVII, 4) מב׳ מכל מום his build was without blemish. e.g. 1 Samuel 17:4
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 204 distinct written forms H1129 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 144 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H1129, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derived from this word
- אבן ʼeben H68 stone
- בית bayith H1004 house
- בן bên H1121 son
- בנא bᵉnâʼ H1124 to build
- בניה binyâh H1140 building
- בנין binyân H1146 building
- בת bath H1323 daughter
- מבנה mibneh H4011 building
- תבן teben H8401 stubble
- תבנית tabnîyth H8403 pattern
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
- בנוי Binnûwy H1131 Binnui
- בני Bânîy H1137 Bani
- בני Bunnîy H1138 Bunni
- בניה Bᵉnâyâh H1141 Benaiah
- יבנאל Yabnᵉʼêl H2995 Jabneel
- יבנה Yabneh H2996 Jabneh
- יבניה Yibnᵉyâh H2997 Ibneiah
- יבניה Yibnîyâh H2998 Ibnijah
- מבני Mᵉbunnay H4012 Mebunnai
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 20 — not the complete family. 9 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 306 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 345 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 2:22
- Exodus 1:11
- Numbers 13:22
- Deuteronomy 6:10
- Joshua 6:26
- Judges 1:26
- Ruth 4:11
- 1 Samuel 2:35
- 2 Samuel 5:9
- 1 Kings 2:36
- 2 Kings 12:11
- 1 Chronicles 6:10
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
