בָּשָׂר
flesh
‘flesh’ is one of 10 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Absolute-state word in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
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).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Every verse where H1320 appears in the Book of Genesis — 31 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.
Genesis
- Genesis 2:21 בָּשָׂ֖ר n c ms Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall on the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.
- Genesis 2:23 וּ/בָשָׂ֖ר מִ/בְּשָׂרִ֑/י conj + n c ms prep + n c ms cs + sfx pers 1cs The man said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."
- Genesis 2:24 לְ/בָשָׂ֥ר prep + n c ms Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.
- Genesis 6:3 בָשָׂ֑ר n c ms Yahweh said, "My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; yet will his days be one hundred twenty years."
- Genesis 6:12 בָּשָׂ֛ר n c ms God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
- Genesis 6:13 בָּשָׂר֙ n c ms God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
- Genesis 6:17 בָּשָׂ֗ר n c ms I, even, I do bring the flood of waters on this earth, to destroy all flesh having the breath of life from under the sky. Everything that is in the earth will die.
- Genesis 6:19 בָּשָׂ֞ר n c ms Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.
- Genesis 7:15 הַ/בָּשָׂ֔ר ptcl def.art + n c ms They went to Noah into the ark, by pairs of all flesh with the breath of life in them.
- Genesis 7:16 בָּשָׂר֙ n c ms Those who went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him; and Yahweh shut him in.
- Genesis 7:21 בָּשָׂ֣ר n c ms All flesh died that moved on the earth, including birds, cattle, animals, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man.
- Genesis 8:17 בָּשָׂ֗ר n c ms Bring forth with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh, including birds, cattle, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply on the earth."
- Genesis 9:4 בָּשָׂ֕ר n c ms But flesh with the life of it, the blood of it, you shall not eat.
- Genesis 9:11 בָּשָׂ֛ר n c ms I will establish my covenant with you; neither will all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of the flood; neither will there any more be a flood to destroy the earth."
- Genesis 9:15 בָּשָׂ֑ר בָּשָֽׂר n c ms n c ms and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters will no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
- Genesis 9:16 בָּשָׂ֖ר n c ms The rainbow will be in the cloud. I will look at it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."
- Genesis 9:17 בָּשָׂ֖ר n c ms God said to Noah, "This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."
- Genesis 17:11 בְּשַׂ֣ר n c ms cs You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin. It will be a token of a covenant between me and you.
- Genesis 17:13 בִּ/בְשַׂרְ/כֶ֖ם prep + n c ms cs + sfx pers 2mp He who is born in your house, and he who is bought with your money, must be circumcised. My covenant will be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
- Genesis 17:14 בְּשַׂ֣ר n c ms cs The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant."
- Genesis 17:23 בְּשַׂ֣ר n c ms cs Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house, and all who were bought with his money; every male among the men of Abraham's house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the same day, as God had said to him.
- Genesis 17:24 בְּשַׂ֥ר n c ms cs Abraham was ninety-nine years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
- Genesis 17:25 בְּשַׂ֥ר n c ms cs Ishmael, his son, was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
- Genesis 29:14 וּ/בְשָׂרִ֖/י conj + n c ms cs + sfx pers 1cs Laban said to him, Surely you are my bone and my flesh. He lived with him for a month.
- Genesis 37:27 בְשָׂרֵ֖/נוּ n c ms cs + sfx pers 1cp Come, and let's sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh." His brothers listened to him.
- Genesis 40:19 בְּשָׂרְ/ךָ֖ n c ms cs + sfx pers 2ms Within three more days, Pharaoh will lift up your head from off you, and will hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from off you."
- Genesis 41:2 בָּשָׂ֑ר n c ms Behold, there came up out of the river seven cattle, well-favored and fat-fleshed, and they fed in the reed-grass.
- Genesis 41:3 בָּשָׂ֑ר n c ms Behold, seven other cattle came up after them out of the river, ill-favored and lean-fleshed, and stood by the other cattle on the brink of the river.
- Genesis 41:4 הַ/בָּשָׂ֔ר ptcl def.art + n c ms The ill-favored and lean-fleshed cattle ate up the seven well-favored and fat cattle. So Pharaoh awoke.
- Genesis 41:18 בָּשָׂ֖ר n c ms and, behold, there came up out of the river seven cattle, fat-fleshed and well-favored. They fed in the reed-grass,
- Genesis 41:19 בָּשָׂ֑ר n c ms and, behold, seven other cattle came up after them, poor and very ill-favored and lean-fleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for ugliness.
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.
בשר (bâsâr) is a Hebrew noun most often rendered “flesh.” Not a single-sense word: explore its full sense range. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 241 verses — common. It first appears in Genesis 2:21. Sharing its root, it stands alongside בשר, בשורה and בשר. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H1320 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 →
- 241
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 241 distinct verses.
- 27 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 27 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #184
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 184 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 241 occurrences in the concordance →
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 241 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 120 verses · 50%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 72 verses · 30%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 49 verses · 20%
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: Flesh 181×, All flesh 29×, All his flesh 3×
- American Standard Version: Flesh 159×, All flesh 28×, 's flesh 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Flesh 80×, Meat 52×, Body 20×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Flesh 174×, Meat 36×, Flesh of 26×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H1320 across 263 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 40 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 6 further occurrences.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H1320 across 264 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 65 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 H1320 across 231 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 32 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 38 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H1320 across 279 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 25 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
11 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB
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 11 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.
- 1. of the body:
- a. of animals Gn 41:2–19; Ex 21:28; 22:30; Nu 12:12 (E) Nu 11:4–33 (JE) Gn 9:4 + (P 30 times) Dt 12:15 + (D 9 times) Ju 6:19–21; 1 S 2:13, 15; 1 K 17:6; 19:21; Jb 31:31; 41:15 ψ 50:13; Pr 23:20; Is 22:13; 44:16, 19; 65:4; 66:17; Je 7:21; 11:15; Ez 4:14 + 6 times Dn 10:3; Ho 8:13 Mi 3:3; Hg 2:12; Zc 11:9, 16. e.g. Genesis 41:2
- b. of men Gn 40:19 (E) 2:21; Ex 4:7 (J) Lv 12:3; 13:2 + 16 times 26:29 (P) Dt 28:53, 55; 32:42; Ju 8:7; 1 S 17:44; 2 K 4:34; 5:10, 14; 6:30; 9:36; Jb 2:5; 4:15; 6:12; 7:5; 10:11; 13:14; 19:20, 22; 21:6; 33:21, 25 ψ 27:2; 38:4, 8; 79:2; 102:6; 109:24; Pr 4:22; 5:11 Is 9:19; 17:4; 49:26; Je 19:9; La 3:4; Ez 32:5; 37:6, 8; 39:17, 18 Dn 1:15; Zc 14:12. The flesh of the body is contrasted with stone Ez 11:19; 36:26. e.g. Genesis 40:19
- 2. flesh for the body itself (especially in P): על בשׂר אדם לא ייסך upon the body of man it shall not be poured Ex 30:32 (P); מכנסי בד ילבשׁ על בשׂרו linen drawers shall he put on his body Lv 6:3; 16:4 (P); וישׂם שׂק על בשׂרו 1 K 21:27; ורחץ את בשׂרו and he shall bathe his body Lv 14:9; 15:13, 16; 16:24, 26, 28; 17:16; 22:6; Nu 19:7, 8 (P); שׂרט לנפשׁ לא תתנו בכשׂרכם ye shall not put any cutting for any one in your body Lv 19:28; cf. Lv 21:5 (P); והעבירו תער על כל בשׂרם and they shall pass a razor over all their body Nu 8:7 (P). Ec. uses בשׂר only in this sense 2:3; 4:5; 5:5; 11:10; 12:12; elsewhere this usage only in poetry; the body antith. to נפשׁ Jb 14:22; Is 10:18 ψ 63:2; לב ψ 16:9; 84:3; Pr 14:30 (only here emphatic pl. = entire body Bö§ 695, Leiblichkeit De); מִבְּשָׂרִי apart from my body, in disembodied state Jb 19:26; סמר מפחדך בשׂרי my body trembleth for fear of thee ψ 119:120. e.g. Exodus 30:32
- 3. male organ of generation (euphemism): בְּשַׂר עָרְלַתְכֶם Gn 17:11, 14, 23, 24, 25 (P); בשׂר ערוה Ex 28:42 (P), but בשׂר Gn 17:14; Lv 15:2–19 (P); Ez 16:26; 23:20; 44:7, 9. e.g. Genesis 17:11
- 4. flesh for kindred, blood-relations: עצם מעצמי ובשׂר מבשׂרי bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh Gn 2:23 (J); והיו לבשׂר אחד and they shall become one flesh Gn 2:24 (J); עצמי ובשׂרי Gn 29:14 (J); Ju 9:2; 2 S 5:1 = 1 Ch 11:1; 19:13, 14; בשׂר with sf. in same sense Gn 37:27 (J); Ne 5:5; Is 58:7, for which שְׁאֵר בשׂרו near of kin, man or woman Lv 18:6; 25:49 (both H; 25:49 ‖ מִשְׁפָּחָה, cf. RSK 149). e.g. Genesis 2:23
- 5. man over against God as frail or erring Gn 6:3 (J) ψ 56:5; 78:39; eyes of flesh Jb 10:4; arm of flesh 2 Ch 32:8; Je 17:5; horses are flesh not spirit Is 31:3. e.g. Genesis 6:3
- 6. the phrase כָּל־בָּשָׂר:
- a. all living beings Gn 6:17, 19; 7:21; 9:11, 15, 16, 17 Lv 17:14(×3); Nu 18:15 (P); Jb 34:15 ψ 136:25. e.g. Genesis 6:17
- b. animals Gn 7:15, 16; 8:17 (P). e.g. Genesis 7:15
- c. mankind Gn 6:12, 13; Nu 16:22; 27:16 (P); Dt 5:23 ψ 65:3; 145:21; Is 40:5, 6; 49:26; 66:16, 23, 24; Je 12:12; 25:31; 32:27; 45:5; Ez 21:4, 9, 10; Jo 3:1; Zc 2:17; cf. כל בשׂר אישׁ Jb 12:10. e.g. Genesis 6:12
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
n.m. flesh (cf. Arabic بَشَرٌ skin, Syriac ܒܶܣܪܳܐ, Assyrian bišru, blood-relation, Dl Assyrian Stud. i. 143, cf. Pr 170, Sab. בשר תורם flesh of bulls)—Gn 2:21 + 126 times; cstr. בְּשַׂר Gn 17:11 + 40 times; sf. בְּשָׂרִי etc. ψ 16:9 + 96 times; pl. בְּשָׂרִים Pr 14:30;—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from בשר (bâsar) (H1319) — to preach.
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.
בָּשַׂר
- (v. בָּסַר II a. בָּסַם)to be sweet, pleasant.
- to gladden, to bring good tidings to; in gen. to announce. Ḥull. 87ᵃ מְבַשֵּׂר טובות וכ׳ I am bringing good news. Sabb. 63ᵃ, v. בְּשׂוֹרָה; a. fr.—Part. pass. מְבוּשָּׂר informed of good news, assured. Y. Kil. IX, 32ᵇ top יהא מב׳ מחיי העו"הב he shall receive a message from the life in the world to come, i.e. he may be assured of salvation; Y. Keth. XII, 35ᵃ מכושר לחיי וכ׳ … (corr. acc.); Y. Shek. III, end, 47ᶜ יהא מב׳ שבן עו"הב הוא. Ex. R. s. 46 אתה מב׳ שמחלתי וכ׳ thou art informed that I have forgiven thee &c. Y. Ber. V, end, 9ᵈ; a. e.
- to be gladdened, to receive good tidings. Pesik. R. s. 42 נ׳ בבנים he was assured that he would have children. Gen. R. s. 47; s. 53 נתבשרה בחלב she was assured that she would nurse her child. [V. בָּסַר II.]
בְּשַׂר
- 1. to be glad;—
- *2. = Pa. Targ. Y. Gen. XXI, 7. Targ. Y. II ib. XLIX, 21 למִיבְשַׂר.
- as preced. Pi. Targ. Y. I Gen. XLIX, 21. Targ. Jer. XX, 15; a. fr. [Targ. Y. II, Deut. IV, 34, v. בַּשְׁקַר.]
- as preced. Nithpa. Targ. Ruth I, 6; a. e.
בְּשַׂר ²
- , v. בִּשְׂרָא
בָּשָׂר
- v. preced.) [ripe, warm, sweet, well-looking; v. Freitag Arab. Dict. s. v. bšr, a. cmp. לֶחֶם] body (b. h.); flesh, meat. Ḥull. VIII, 1 כל הב׳ any kind of meat. Ib. 16ᵇ בְּשַׂר תאוה meat eaten for satisfying the appetite, i.e. secular meal of meat, opp. to sacrificial meals (v. Deut. XII, 20). Ib. 17ᵃ, v. נְחִירָה; a. fr.—ב׳ ודם (abbr. ב"וד) flesh and blood, i.e. mortal man. Ber. 33ᵃ; a. v. fr. e.g. Deuteronomy 12:20
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 125 distinct written forms H1320 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’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; 65 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H1320, 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.
Derives from
Shares the same root
Derived from this word
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 5 — not the complete family. 1 of the same-root words is a proper name (a person or place). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 228 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 241 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 2:21
- Exodus 4:7
- Leviticus 4:11
- Numbers 8:7
- Deuteronomy 5:26
- Judges 6:19
- 1 Samuel 2:13
- 2 Samuel 5:1
- 1 Kings 17:6
- 2 Kings 4:34
- 1 Chronicles 11:1
- 2 Chronicles 32:8
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.
