זֶ֫בַח
sacrifice
‘sacrifice’ is one of 8 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Construct-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
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
28 verses where H2077 appears in the Construct state in the Book of Leviticus. Filtered view — show all forms. 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.
Leviticus
- Leviticus 3:1 זֶ֥בַח n c ms cs "'If his offering is a sacrifice of peace offerings; if he offers it from the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before Yahweh.
- Leviticus 3:3 מִ/זֶּ֣בַח prep + n c ms cs He shall offer of the sacrifice of peace offerings an offering made by fire to Yahweh; the fat that covers the innards, and all the fat that is on the innards,
- Leviticus 3:6 לְ/זֶ֥בַח prep + n c ms cs "'If his offering for a sacrifice of peace offerings to Yahweh is from the flock; male or female, he shall offer it without blemish.
- Leviticus 3:9 מִ/זֶּ֣בַח prep + n c ms cs He shall offer from the sacrifice of peace offerings an offering made by fire to Yahweh; its fat, the entire tail fat, he shall take away close to the backbone; and the fat that covers the inwards, and all the fat that is on the inwards,
- Leviticus 4:10 זֶ֣בַח n c ms cs as it is taken off of the ox of the sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest shall burn them on the altar of burnt offering.
- Leviticus 4:26 זֶ֣בַח n c ms cs All its fat he shall burn on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin, and he will be forgiven.
- Leviticus 4:31 זֶ֣בַח n c ms cs All its fat he shall take away, like the fat is taken away from off of the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a sweet savor to Yahweh; and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven.
- Leviticus 4:35 מִ/זֶּ֣בַח prep + n c ms cs All its fat he shall take away, like the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall burn them on the altar, on the offerings of Yahweh made by fire; and the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin that he has sinned, and he will be forgiven.
- Leviticus 7:11 זֶ֣בַח n c ms cs "'This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which one shall offer to Yahweh.
- Leviticus 7:12 זֶ֣בַח n c ms cs If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mixed with oil.
- Leviticus 7:15 זֶ֚בַח n c ms cs The flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his offering. He shall not leave any of it until the morning.
- Leviticus 7:16 זֶ֚בַח זִבְח֖/וֹ n c ms cs n c ms cs + sfx pers 3ms "'But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow, or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice; and on the next day what remains of it shall be eaten:
- Leviticus 7:18 זֶ֨בַח n c ms cs If any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings is eaten on the third day, it will not be accepted, neither shall it be imputed to him who offers it. It will be an abomination, and the soul who eats any of it will bear his iniquity.
- Leviticus 7:20 מִ/זֶּ֤בַח prep + n c ms cs but the soul who eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, that belongs to Yahweh, having his uncleanness on him, that soul shall be cut off from his people.
- Leviticus 7:21 זֶ֥בַח n c ms cs When anyone touches any unclean thing, the uncleanness of man, or an unclean animal, or any unclean abomination, and eats some of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which belong to Yahweh, that soul shall be cut off from his people.'"
- Leviticus 7:29 זֶ֤בַח מִ/זֶּ֥בַח n c ms cs prep + n c ms cs "Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'He who offers the sacrifice of his peace offerings to Yahweh shall bring his offering to Yahweh out of the sacrifice of his peace offerings.
- Leviticus 7:32 מִ/זִּבְחֵ֖י prep + n c mp cs The right thigh you shall give to the priest for a heave offering out of the sacrifices of your peace offerings.
- Leviticus 7:34 מִ/זִּבְחֵ֖י prep + n c mp cs For the waved breast and the heaved thigh I have taken from the children of Israel out of the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons as their portion forever from the children of Israel.'"
- Leviticus 7:37 וּ/לְ/זֶ֖בַח conj + prep + n c ms cs This is the law of the burnt offering, of the meal offering, and of the sin offering, and of the trespass offering, and of the consecration, and of the sacrifice of peace offerings;
- Leviticus 9:18 זֶ֥בַח n c ms cs He also killed the ox and the ram, the sacrifice of peace offerings, which was for the people: and Aaron's sons delivered to him the blood, which he sprinkled on the altar round about,
- Leviticus 10:14 מִ/זִּבְחֵ֥י prep + n c mp cs The waved breast and the heaved thigh you shall eat in a clean place, you, and your sons, and your daughters with you: for they are given as your portion, and your sons' portion, out of the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the children of Israel.
- Leviticus 17:5 זִבְחֵי/הֶם֮ זִבְחֵ֧י n c mp cs + sfx pers 3mp n c mp cs This is to the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they sacrifice in the open field, that they may bring them to Yahweh, to the door of the Tent of Meeting, to the priest, and sacrifice them for sacrifices of peace offerings to Yahweh.
- Leviticus 17:7 זִבְחֵי/הֶ֔ם n c mp cs + sfx pers 3mp They shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat idols, after which they play the prostitute. This shall be a statute forever to them throughout their generations.'
- Leviticus 19:5 זֶ֥בַח n c ms cs "'When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to Yahweh, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted.
- Leviticus 19:6 זִבְחֲ/כֶ֛ם n c ms cs + sfx pers 2mp It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and on the next day: and if anything remains until the third day, it shall be burned with fire.
- Leviticus 22:21 זֶֽבַח n c ms cs Whoever offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to Yahweh to accomplish a vow, or for a freewill offering, of the herd or of the flock, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein.
- Leviticus 22:29 זֶֽבַח n c ms cs "When you sacrifice a sacrifice of thanksgiving to Yahweh, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted.
- Leviticus 23:19 לְ/זֶ֥בַח prep + n c ms cs You shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
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.
זבח (zebach) is a Hebrew noun most often rendered “sacrifice.” Not a single-sense word: explore its full sense range. With 153 verses in 25 books, it is a common word in the Hebrew Bible. It first appears in Genesis 31:54. It clusters with זבח, דבח and מזבח under a shared root. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H2077 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 →
- 153
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 153 distinct verses.
- 25 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 25 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #283
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 283 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 153 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 153 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 68 verses · 44%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 58 verses · 38%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 27 verses · 18%
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).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 2 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: Sacrifice 83×, Sacrifices 48×, Offerings 6×
- American Standard Version†: Sacrifice 76×, Sacrifices 43×, Peace-offerings 11×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Sacrifices 52×, Sacrifice 42×, Offerings 6×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Sacrifice 47×, Sacrifice of 46×, Sacrifices 40×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H2077 across 162† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 18 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 H2077 across 169† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 35 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 H2077 across 121† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 11 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 18 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H2077 across 166† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 12 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.
זבח I
- I. general name for all sacrifices eaten at feasts:* Ph. זבח of an offering of bread and oil CIS i. 165. 12; 167. 8, cf. RSSem 205 (2nd ed. 222)—
- 1. of the God of Israel Gn 46:1 Ex 10:25; 18:12 (E) Ho 3:4; 6:6; 9:4 Am 5:25 Is 1:11; 19:21 Dt 12:27; 18:3 1 S 2:13, 29; 3:14; 6:15; 9:12, 13; 15:22(×2); 16:3, 5(×2) 2 S 15:12 1 K 8:62; 12:27 2 K 5:17; 16:15 ψ 40:7; 50:8; 51:18, 19 Pr 15:8; 21:3, 27 Is 43:23, 24; 56:7 Je 6:20; 7:21, 22; 17:26; 33:18 Ez 40:42; 44:11 1 Ch 29:21, 21 2 Ch 7:1, 4, 5, 12 Ne 12:43 Dn 9:27 Ec 4:17. They should be זִבְחֵי צֶדֶק sacrifices of righteousness (offered in righteousness by the righteous) Dt 33:19 ψ 4:6; 51:21; זִבְחֵי הַבְהָבַי sacrifices of gifts to me (י׳) Ho 8:13; the temple is בֵּית זָ֑בַח 2 Ch 7:12; they should not be ז׳ רִיב sacrifices of strife, where strife prevails Pr 17:1. e.g. Genesis 46:1
- 2. of other deities Ex 34:15 Nu 25:2 Dt 32:38 (JE) Ju 16:23 2 K 10:19, 24 Ho 4:19 Is 57:7 Ez 20:28; these are זִבְחֵי מֵתִים sacrifices to dead things (lifeless gods, opp. to י׳ as living) ψ 106:28. e.g. Exodus 34:15
- II. there are several kinds of זְבָחִים which are gradually distinguished:
- 1. the covenant sacrifice, between Jacob and Laban Gn 31:54 (E), with God ψ 50:5 (cf. Ex 24:5 1 S 11:5). e.g. Genesis 31:54
- 2. the passover זֶבַח חַג הַפֶּסַח Ex 34:25 (JE), זבח פסח Ex 12:27 (J); and prob. also זבחי Ex 23:18 (JE) = 34:25 (id.) e.g. Exodus 34:25
- 3. annual sacrifice זֶבַח הַיָּמִים 1 S 1:21; 2:19; 20:6, cf. ז׳ מִשְׁפָּחָה sacrifice of the clan 1 S 20:29. e.g. 1 Samuel 1:21
- 4. thank offering ז׳ (הַ)תּוֹדָה Lv 7:12; 22:29 ψ 107:22; 116:17, which is given as ז׳ קָרְבָּנוֹ, זִבְחוֹ, הַזָּבַח Lv 7:16, 17; and as a variety of שְׁלָמִים Lv 7:13, 15; it is implied in זִבְחֵי תְרוּעָה ψ 27:6; yet זֶבַח is generic with תּוֹדָה 2 Ch 29:31(×2). e.g. Leviticus 7:12
- 5. in ritual of H & P זבחים are defined by שׁלמים (q.v.) Lv 3:1 + 39 times Lv Nu, 1 S 10:8 1 K 8:63 2 Ch 30:22; 33:16 Pr 7:14, but sometimes (rarely) ז׳ alone is used in this sense, with or without suffix, where the meaning is plain from the context: Lv 17:5, 7, 8; 19:6; 23:37 (H) Nu 15:3, 5, 8 Jos 22:26, 29 (all P). These ritual offerings are of three varieties תּוֹדָה, נֶדֶר and נְדָבָה Lv 7:12, 16 (P); in the several lists זבחים are distinguished from תודות Am 4:4f. 2 Ch 29:31, from נדרים Nu 15:8 (P) Dt 12:6, 11 Jon 1:16, from נדבות Am 4:4 f. Dt 12:6 and from the more comprehensive שׁלמים Nu 15:8 Jos 22:27 (P). So also the sacrifice at the institution of the covenant at Horeb Ex 24:5 (JE) and the sacrifice at the installation of Saul 1 S 11:15 are defined as †זבחים שׁלמים. Thus ז׳ seems not only to be used for all these special forms but also to include other festal sacrifices not defined in the codes of law. The ritual was the same for the entire class. They were all sacrifices for feasts in which the flesh of the victim was eaten by the offerers, except so far as the officiating priests had certain choice pieces and the blood and fat pieces went to the altar for God. The sacrifice at the institution of the covenant at Horeb, the Passover victim, and the ram of consecration, were special, in that there was an application of a portion of the blood to the persons and things which were to be consecrated, Ex 12:22; 24:8 Lv 8:23. e.g. Leviticus 3:1
- 6. the slaughter of hostile nations is also a זֶבַח offered by God Himself, in which the vultures devour the flesh of the victims Is 34:6 Je 46:10 Ez 39:17(×2), 19 Zp 1:7, 8. e.g. Isaiah 34:6
- 7. the verb used with זֶבַח is ordinarily זָבַח but others also are found e.g. †עָשָׂה Nu 6:17; 15:3, 5, 8 Jos 22:23 (P) 1 K 12:27; 2 K 5:17; 10:24 Je 33:18 (cf. Sab. עסי דֿבח Hal 148 DHMZMG 1888, 374); †הֵבִיא Am 4:4 Dt 12:6, 11 Je 17:26, †הִגִּישׁ Am 5:25, †הִקְרִיב Lv 7:11, 16; 22:21 (all P), †עָבַד Is 19:21, †נָתַן Ec 4:17, יַעֲלָה עֹלָה אוֹ זֶבַח Lv 17:8 (H), בִּשֵּׁל ז׳ Ez 46:24, שָׁחַט אֶת־הָעוֹלָה וְהַזָּ֑בַח Ez 40:42 cf. 44:11. e.g. Numbers 6:17
זבח II m. a Midianite king Ju 8
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
I. n.m. Ju 16:23 sacrifice, ז׳ abs. Gn 31:54 +; cstr. Ex 34:25 +; זָ֑בַח Lv 17:8 + 16 times; sf. זִבְחוֹ Lv 7:16 Ez 34:15, זִבְחֲכֶם Lv 19:6; pl. זְבָחִים Gn 46:1 +; cstr. זִבְחֵי Lv 17:5 +; sf. 3 mpl. זִבְחֵיהֶם Lv 17:5, זְבָחֵימוֹ Dt 32:38, זִבְחוֹתָם †Ho 4:19 etc.;—the common and most ancient sacrifice, whose essential rite was eating the flesh of the victim at a feast in which the god of the clan shared by receiving the blood and fat pieces. In the older literature it is distinguished from מִנְחָה and עֹלָה, in the later literature from חַטָּאת and אָשָׁם.
II. n.pr.m. a Midianite king Ju 8:5, 6, 7, 10, 12(×2), 15(×2), 18, 21(×2) ψ 83:12, 𝔊 Ζεβεε.
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from זבח (zâbach) (H2076) — to sacrifice.
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.
זָבַח
- [to give a feast,] to slaughter, sacrifice. Ḥull. II, 3 (ref. to Deut. XXVII, 7) מה שאתה זוֹבֵחַ וכ׳ thou mayest eat what thou (a human hand) cuttest. Snh. 60ᵇ בזובח לעכו"ם of one sacrificing to an idol; a. fr.—Part. pass. זָבוּחַ. Lev. R. s. 10 (play on מזבח, Ex. XXXII, 5) מֵהַזָּ׳ לפניו וכ׳ he was afraid on account of him who lay killed before him (Hur); a. fr. e.g. Deuteronomy 27:7
- same. Snh. 62ᵃ ז׳ וקיטר וכ׳ if he slaughtered a sacrifice, and burnt &c. (to an idol). Ib. VII, 6 (60ᵇ) המְזַבֵּחַ Talm. ed. (Mish. הזובח) he who offers an animal (to an idol), a. fr.—V. זָבַל
- to be sacrificed, to be slaughtered; to die as a martyr. Zeb. I, 1 שנִזְבְּחוּ שלא לשמן which were offered not for the purpose for which they were dedicated. Y. Snh. X, 29ᶜ top (play on עלי זבח, Ps. L, 5) שעילו אותי ונזבחו על שמי who raised me and sacrificed themselves for my name’s sake; a. fr. e.g. Psalms 50:5
זֶבַח
- preced.) a slaughtering, sacrifice, esp. (festive) peace-offering (חֲגִיגָה). Pes. X, 9. Tosef. ib. X, 14. Tosef. Ber. V, 22; a. fr.—Pl. זְבָחִים, constr. זִבְחֵי. Ib. Zeb. I, 1 כל הז׳ all animalic offerings; a. fr.—Z’baḥim, name of a treatise of the Mishnah, Tosefta and Talmud Babli (also called שְׁחִיטַת קָדֳשִׁים).
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 86 distinct written forms H2077 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; 26 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H2077, 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
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 146 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 153 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 31:54
- Exodus 10:25
- Leviticus 3:1
- Numbers 6:17
- Deuteronomy 12:6
- Joshua 22:23
- Judges 16:23
- 1 Samuel 1:21
- 2 Samuel 15:12
- 1 Kings 8:62
- 2 Kings 5:17
- 1 Chronicles 29:21
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.
