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זָקֵן

to be old

‘to be old’ is one of 3 main senses fuller range ↓

H2204 Strong's Hebrew
zâqên Transliteration
/zaw-kane'/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 27 appearances

Compare with another word →

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.

זקן — transliterated zâqên — is a Hebrew verb carrying the sense “to be old.” The King James Version usually renders it “was old,” while modern versions prefer “old” (Berean Standard Bible) and “had aged” (unfoldingWord Literal Text) — see the renderings breakdown. Spanning 26 verses in 12 books, it ranks among the moderately common words of the Hebrew Bible. Debuting at Genesis 18:12, it then recurs through the corpus. The verb spans 2 stems, from Qal to Hiphil. See the sense tree, 26-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
aged man
Modern gloss
to be old
Strong's 1890 sometimes compressed multiple senses — or homonymous roots — under one number, and used 19th-century English phrasing that no longer carries the same connotation. The modern gloss reflects current BDB scholarship; open the Lexicon Entry tab for the full sense breakdown. Download share card

About this word

Strong's H2204 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 →

26
distinct verses
The word appears in 26 distinct verses.
12 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 12 of 39 Old Testament books.
Genesis 18:12
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Genesis 18:12.
Proverbs 23:22
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Proverbs 23:22.
#1,226
by frequency
Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 1,226 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 26 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 6 · 23%
  • Historical 16 · 62%
  • Wisdom 4 · 15%
  • Prophets 0 · 0%

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 26 distinct verses.

  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 13 verses · 50%
  • Writings (Ketuvim) 7 verses · 27%
  • Torah (Pentateuch) 6 verses · 23%

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: Was old 6×, Is old 2×, Old 2×
  • American Standard Version: Was old 6×, Him 2×, Is old 2×
  • Berean Standard Bible: Old 7×, Was old 6×, Am old 3×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: Had aged 7×, Have aged 4×, Is old 4×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H2204 across 27 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Was old” 6×
  • “Is old” 2×
  • “Old” 2×
  • “Waxed old” 2×

Plus 15 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 H2204 across 27 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Was old” 6×
  • “Him” 2×
  • “Is old” 2×
  • “Old” 2×

Plus 15 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 H2204 across 27 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Old” 7×
  • “Was old” 6×
  • “Am old” 3×
  • “Is old” 3×
  • “Are old” 2×

Plus 6 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.

unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Renders H2204 across 32 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Had aged” 7×
  • “Have aged” 4×
  • “Is old” 4×
  • “Was old” 4×
  • “I am old” 2×

Plus 11 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.


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 6 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.

זקן I be or become old (cf., according to Thes, Arabic ذَقُونٌa she-camal that lets her lower lip hang down, 3, v. Lane 968

Qal

  • Pf. 3 ms. זָקֵן Gn 18:12 + 14 times (often hard to disting. from pred. adj. זָקֵן q.v.); 3 fs. זָֽקְנָה Pr 23:22; 2 ms. זָקַנְתָּ 1 S 8:5; זָקַ֫נְתָּה Jos 13:1; 1 s. זָקַנְתִּי Jos 23:2 + 3 times; זָקַ֑נְתִּי Gn 18:13; 27:2; Impf. וַיִּזְקַן 2 Ch 24:15;—be (or become) old Gn 18:12, 13; 19:31; 27:1, 2 (all J), 1 S 2:22; 4:18; 8:1, 5; 12:2; 17:12 2 S 19:33 1 K 1:1, 15 2 K 4:14; also Gn 24:1 (‖ בא בימים), so Jos 13:1(×2); 23:1, 2 (‖ here בָּאתִי בימים), 1 Ch 23:1 (‖ שָׂבַע ימים), 2 Ch 24:15 (‖ id.); Pr 23:22 ψ 37:25 (opp. היה נער); note especially זָקַנְתִּי מִהְיוֹת לאישׁ Ru 1:12 I am too old to belong to a man (husband). e.g. Genesis 18:12

Hiphil

  • only Impf. 3 ms. יַזְקִין inchoat. shew age, grow old = senescere Ew.§ 122c, cf. Di; of youth Pr 22:6; of tree-root Jb 14:8. e.g. Proverbs 22:6

זקן II old, abs. ז׳ Gn 19

  • 1. old, of human beings, as adj. pred. Gn 18:11 (J), Jb 32:4 (ז׳ מִמֶּנּוּ לְיָמִים, in compar.), or attrib. אָב זָקֵן Gn 44:20 (J), אִישׁ ז׳ Ju 19:16, 17, 20, 22, נָבִיא ז׳ 1 K 13:11, 25, 29, מֶלֶךְ ז׳ Ec 4:13; prob. also ז׳ וּשְׂבַע ימים Gn 35:29 (P), Jb 42:17 and Gn 25:8 (P) according to 𝔊 Sam Di; cf. also Ezr 3:12. e.g. Genesis 18:11
  • 2. usually as subst.: a. old man (or woman), b. elder;
    • a. old man Gn 43:27 (J), Lv 19:32 (H), Dt 28:50; 32:7 (‖ אָב), 1 S 2:31, 32; 28:14 Is 47:6 Jb 12:20; 32:9 Pr 17:6; 20:29 ψ 119:100 Jo 1:2; old men and old women Zc 8:4(×2); cf. זְקַן בֵּיתוֹ Gn 24:2 (J), זִקְנֵי בֵיתוֹ 2 S 12:17; especially opp. נַעַר Ex 10:9 (E), Is 3:5; 20:4 Je 51:22 La 2:21 ψ 148:12, and in phr. מִנַּעַר וְעַד זָקֵן Gn 19:4 (J), Jos 6:21 (JE), Est 3:13; opp. ילדים 1 K 12:6, 8, 13 = 2 Ch 10:6, 8, 13; opp. בַּחוּרִים Je 31:13 Ez 9:6 Jo 3:1, cf. 2 Ch 36:17 (+ יָשֵׁשׁ) and Je 6:11 (+ מְלֵא ימים); opp. עוּל ימים Is 65:20; opp. יונקי שׁדים and עוללים Jo 2:16. e.g. Genesis 43:27
    • b. usually pl. elders, as having authority, term techn. (100 times +); elders of a people, especially Israel Ex 3:16, 18; 12:21 (all J), 17:5, 6; 18:12; 19:7; 24:1, 9, 14 Jos 24:1 (all E), Nu 11:16(×2) (שֹׁטְרָיו), v 24, 25, 30; 16:25 Jos 7:6; 8:10; 9:11 (all JE), Dt 5:20 (‖ רָאשֵׁי שִׁבְטֵיכֶם), 27:1; 29:9 (‖ ראשׁי שׁבטיכם, שֹׁטְרֵיכֶם), 31:9, 28 Jos 8:33 (‖ שֹׁטְרִים וְשֹׁפְטָיו), 23:2 (‖ רָאשׁיו, שֹׁפְטָיו, שֹׁטְרָיו); cf. also prob. Jos 24:31 = Ju 2:7 (all D); Lv 9:1, cf. זִקְנֵי הָעֵדָה Lv 4:15 (†both P), Ju 21:16; see also 1 S 4:3; 8:4; 15:30 2 S 3:17; 5:3 = 1 Ch 11:3, 2 S 17:4, 15 1 K 8:1, 3 = 2 Ch 5:2, 4, also 1 Ch 15:25; 21:16; cf. Is 3:2 (גִּבּוֹר וְאִישׁ מִלְחָמָ֑ה שׁוֹפֵט וְנָבִיא וְקֹסֵם וְז׳), 9:14 (‖ נְשׂוּא־פָנִים, but v. prob. gloss, cf. Ew Che Di Du al.); elders of one tribe (Judah) 1 S 30:26 2 S 19:12, so of Gilead Ju 11:5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; after the division of the kingdoms, of N. Isr. זקני הארץ 1 K 20:7 cf. v 8, also 2 K 6:32(×2), 10:1 (‖ שָׂרִים etc.) cf. v 5; under Josiah זקני יְהוּדָה 2 K 23:1 = 2 Ch 34:29; see also ז׳ הארץ Je 26:17, cf. זקני ארץ Pr 31:23, cf. La 1:19; 2:10; 4:16; 5:12, 14 (‖ שׂרים; + שַׁעַר); often in Ezek.: Ez 7:26 (‖ כהן), of Judah 8:1, of Isr. 8:11, 12; 14:1; 20:1, 3, also 9:6 (but del. Co). Exil. ז׳ הַגּוֹלָה Je 29:1 (‖ הכהנים, הנביאים); post-exile Ezr 10:8 (‖ שׂרים), poss. also Jo 1:14; elders of י׳ Is 24:23 (cf. Ex 24:1, 9), זִקְנֵי הַכֹּהֲנִים 2 K 19:2 = Is 37:2, so Je 19:1 (‖ זקני העם); of other peoples, Midian Nu 22:4, 7, Moab v 7 (all E), Egypt ψ 105:22 (‖ שׂרים); of Gebal Ez 27:9; elders of a city, especially as sitting in the gate to judge Dt 19:12; 21:2 (+ שֹׁפְטֶיךָ) v 3, 4, 6, 19 (+ שַׁעַר־מְקֹמוֹ), v 20; 22:15 (+ הַשָּׁ֑עְרָה), v 16, 17, 18; 25:7 (+ הַשַּׁ֫עֲרָה), v 8, 9 (all in Dt. code, and only so therein), Ru 4:2, 4, 9, 11 (cf. שַׁעַר v 1, 11), מוֹשַׁב זְקֵנִים ψ 107:32 (‖ קְהַל־עָ֑ם); Ju 8:14 (‖ שׂרים), v 16 1 S 11:3; 16:4 1 K 21:8, 11 Ezr 10:14. e.g. Exodus 3:16

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. vb. be or become old (cf., according to Thes, Arabic ذَقُونٌa she-camal that lets her lower lip hang down, 3, v. Lane 968; ذِقْنٌ decrepit man)—

II. adj. old, abs. ז׳ Gn 19:4 + 30 times (on distinct. from vb. v. supr.); cstr. זְקַן Gn 24:2; pl. זְקֵנִים Gn 18:11 + 44 times; זְקֵנוֹת Zc 8:4; cstr. זִקְנֵי Gn 50:7 + 85 times; sf. זְקֵנַי La 1:19, זְקֵנֶיךָ Dt 21:2; 32:7, זְקֵנָיו Jos 8:33 + 3 times, זְקֵנֶיהָ Ju 8:14, זְקֵנֵינוּ Ex 10:9 Jos 9:11, זִקְנֵיכֶם Dt 5:20 + 2 times;—

— 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

Part of speech: Verb TWOT: 574


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.

זָקֵן I

  • (b. h.) [to be thin, shrunk, hard,] to be old. Gen. R. s. 48 (ref. to Gen. XVIII, 13) ואני זָקַנְתִּי מלעשות וכ׳ am I (the Lord) too old to do wonders? e.g. Genesis 18:13
    • 1. to grow old. Snh. 100ᵇ הִזְקִינָה שמא וכ׳ when she arrives at old age, he is afraid lest &c. Erub. 56ᵃ מַזְקִינִים בחצי וכ׳ they age in the middle of their days (prematurely). Sabb. 152ᵃ כל זמן שמַזְקִינִין the older they grow; a. fr.
    • 2. to make old, consider old (feeble). Gen. R. s. 48 אתם … ומזקינים חביריכם you consider each himself young, and each his partner old (Yalk. ib. 82 ומז׳ אדניכם and believe your Lord too old [to do wonders]); v. supra.
    • 1. to become old, weak, frail. Y. Ber. IX, end 14ᶜ (ref. to prov. XXIII, 22) אם נִזְדַּקְּנָה אומתך וכ׳ if thy nation is decaying (in faith), stand up and fence her in (prevent her being trodden upon); Yalk. Prov. 960.—2) (cmp. דקדק) to be maturely considered, be clear (beyond doubt);
    • 3. (cmp. קשיש) to be hard, difficult. Tosef. Snh. VII, 7 (the presiding judge declares) (נִיזְקַן) נִזְקַן הדין ed. Zuck. (Var. נזדקן, נזדקק); discussed in Snh. 42ᵃ מאי נזד׳ הדין what does nizdakken mean? Does it mean קש דינא the case is hard (difficult, so as to demand a reconsideration)?… It means חכם דינא the case is clear; Y. Snh. V, end, 23ᵃ

זָקֵן II

  • preced.)
  • 1. old man. Gen. R. s. 39, opp. בחור. Y. Bicc. III, 65ᶜ bot. עמידת ז׳ (Yalk. Lev. 670 מצות ז׳) the duty of standing up before an old man. Ḥag. 14ᵃ; a. fr.
  • 2. elder, judge, scholar. Ib. (ref. to Is. III, 2) ז׳ זה שראוי וכ׳ zaken means one fit to sit in college sessions. Ber. 8ᵇ ז׳ ששכח וכ׳ a scholar who forgot what he had learned, &c., v. אוֹנֶס. Kidd. 32ᵇ אין ז׳ אלא חכם under zaken (Lev. XIX, 32) a scholar is meant; Sifra K’dosh. Par. 3, ch. VII אין ז̇ק̇ן̇ אלא ז̇ה שק̇נ̇ה חכמה a zaken is he who has acquired wisdom (through study).—ז׳ אשמאי, v. אַשְׁמַאי. Yoma 28ᵇ ז׳ ויושב בישיבה a scholar and member of college. Y. M Kat. III, beg. 81ᶜ איני מכירך ז׳ I shall not recognize thee as (give thee the diploma of) a zaken; a. fr.—Pl. זְקֵנִים. Snh. I, 3, v. סְמִיכָה. Num. R. s. 14 מצות הז׳ rabbinical law. Ber. 11ᵃ זִקְנֵי ב"ש the graduates of the Shammai school; a. v. fr. e.g. Isaiah 3:2
  • 3. grandfather, ancestor. Ex. R. s. 1 מעשה זְקֵנָן the conduct of their ancestor (Abraham). Pesik. Zakh., p. 27ᵇ; a. fr.—Fem. זְקֵנָה, זְקֵינָה. 1) old woman. Gen. R. s. 39.—Nidd. 9ᵃ ז׳ one who is past the change of life. Ib. 9ᵇ; a. fr.—2) grandmother, ancestress. Kidd. 31ᵇ הוה ליה ההיא אמא זקי׳ had a grandmother. Gen. R. s. 93 זְקֵינָתוֹ של זה this man’s (my) ancestress (Sarah); a. e.—3) (sub. נְטִיעָה) old plantation. Tosef. Shebi. I, 2; a. e., opp. נטיעה young plantation.—Pl. זְקֵינוֹת. Y. ib. I, 33ᵇ bot.; a. e.

זָקָן

  • beard, hair-covered spot. Ber. 11ᵃ זְקָנְךָ וכ׳ thy beard is &c., v. גָּדַל. Snh. VIII, 1 (68ᵇ) עד שיקיף ז׳ התחתון וכ׳ until he grows a beard, by which is meant the hair of the genitals &c.; a. fr.—Pl. זְקָנִים. Lev. R. s. 3.

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 18 distinct written forms H2204 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.

Form Parsing Example Uses
זָקֵ֔ן Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 24:1 4
זָקֵ֣ן Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 27:1 4
זָקֵ֖ן Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 Chronicles 23:1 3
זָקֵֽן Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 18:12 2
וַ/יִּזְקַ֧ן Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 Chronicles 24:15 1
זָ֫קַ֥נְתִּי Verb, Qal, Perfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Psalms 37:25 1
זָקְנָ֥ה Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular Proverbs 23:22 1
זָקֵ֑ן Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 19:31 1
זָקֵ֥ן Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 Samuel 4:18 1
זָקַ֑נְתִּי Verb, Qal, Perfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Genesis 27:2 1
זָקַ֔נְתִּי Verb, Qal, Perfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Joshua 23:2 1
זָקַ֔נְתָּ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 Samuel 8:5 1
זָקַ֖נְתִּי Verb, Qal, Perfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Ruth 1:12 1
זָקַ֣נְתִּי Verb, Qal, Perfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular 1 Samuel 12:2 1
זָקַ֨נְתָּה֙ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Joshua 13:1 1
זָקַֽנְתִּי Verb, Qal, Perfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Genesis 18:13 1
יַ֝זְקִ֗ין Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Proverbs 22:6 1
יַזְקִ֣ין Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 14:8 1

Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H2204, 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

Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 5 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.


Septuagint verse parallels

This word appears in 24 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 26 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

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.

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