זָקָן
beard
‘beard’ is one of 3 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
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
- Both
- Attested as both masculine and feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
Every verse where H2206 appears in the Book of Ezekiel — 1 distinct verse. 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.
Ezekiel
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.
The Hebrew noun זקן centers on the idea of “beard.” Its earliest occurrence is Leviticus 13:29. It turns up in 18 verses across 9 books, an uncommon footprint. The word gravitates to Leviticus (28%), then 2 Samuel and 1 Samuel. The lexicon spreads it across several senses; see its full sense range. Dig into 18-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H2206 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 →
- 18
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 18 distinct verses.
- 9 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 9 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #1,563
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 1,563 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 18 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 18 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 10 verses · 56%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 5 verses · 28%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 3 verses · 17%
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: Beard 11×, Every beard 2×, Until your beards 2×
- American Standard Version: Beard 9×, Every beard 2×, Until your beards 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Beard 11×, Beards 4×, Chin 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Beard 14×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H2206 across 19 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 4 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 H2206 across 19 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 6 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 H2206 across 19 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 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 H2206 across 17 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 3 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
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 2 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. chin (opp. רֹאשׁ, top of head) Lv 13:29, 30; 14:9 (all P), 2 S 20:9 Ez 5:1; cf. also 1 S 21:14 ψ 133:2 (where however chin as bearded may be meant); chin, or lower jaw, of lion and bear 1 S 17:35. e.g. Leviticus 13:29
- 2. beard, as growing (צמח) 2 S 10:5 = 1 Ch 19:5; as cut off Is 7:20 (ספה), 15:2 = Je 48:37 (גרע); cf. מְגֻלְּחֵי זָקָן Je 41:5 2 S 10:4 (גלח); שׂער ראשׁי וּזְקָנִי Ezr 9:3; here belongs פאת זקן(ך) Lv 19:27; 21:5 (both H; opp. ראשׁ). e.g. 2 Samuel 10:5
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. 2 S 10:5 + beard and f. Is 15:2 + chin (Assyrian ziḳnu, Asrb. Annals iv. 29; Arabic ذَقَنٌ, Aramaic דְּקַן, ܕܩܰܢ )—abs. ז׳ Lv 13:20 +; cstr. זְקַן 2 S 20:9 +; sf. זְקָנִי Ezr 9:3; זְקָנֶ֑ךָ Lv 19:27 Ez 5:1; זְקָנוֹ 1 S 21:14 + 2 times; זְקַנְכֶם 2 S 10:5 1 Ch 19:5; זְקָנָם 2 S 10:4 Lv 21:5; never pl.—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from זקן (zâqên) (H2204) — to be old.
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 16 distinct written forms H2206 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.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H2206, 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
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 16 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 18 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
- Leviticus 13:29
- 1 Samuel 21:13
- 2 Samuel 10:4
- 1 Chronicles 19:5
- Ezra 9:3
- Psalms 133:2
- Isaiah 7:20
- Jeremiah 41:5
- Ezekiel 5:1
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.
