חָבֵר
companion
‘companion’ 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
- 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
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
- Singular
- One.
Every verse where H2270 appears in the Book of Ecclesiastes — 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.
Ecclesiastes
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.
חבר (châbêr) is a Hebrew word most often rendered “companion.” It first appears in Judges 20:11. It turns up in 11 verses across 7 books, an uncommon footprint. It is not a single-sense word — see its full sense range. From the same root come חבר, חבורה and חבר. 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 H2270 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 →
- 11
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 11 distinct verses.
- 7 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 7 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #1,836
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 1,836 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 11 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Psalms 2 verses 18%
- Song of Solomon 2 verses 18%
- Isaiah 2 verses 18%
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 11 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 6 verses · 55%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 5 verses · 45%
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: Companions 5×
- American Standard Version: Companions 6×
- Berean Standard Bible: Associated with him 3×, Companions 3×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Companions 5×, Companion 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H2270 across 12 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 7 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 H2270 across 12 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 H2270 across 12 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.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H2270 across 12 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 5 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
9 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 9 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. adj. united כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד חֲבֵרִים Ju 20:11 knit together as one man (AV RV). e.g. Judges 20:11
- 2. n. associate, fellow:
- a. of children (tribes) of Isr. assoc. with Judah as head Ez 37:16; id. assoc. with Joseph (Ephr.) as head v 16, 19 (in all these read Qr חֲבֵרָיו). e.g. Ezekiel 37:16
- b. of like rank ψ 45:8. e.g. Psalms 45:8
- c. of like calling Ct 1:7. e.g. Song of Solomon 1:7
- d. worshippers (associates, belonging to the society or guild) of idols Is 44:11 (v. Che; > others priests, Geiger Urschr, 121, 493 SS, cf. חֶבֶר Ho 6:9; Du reads חֲבָרִים enchantments). e.g. Isaiah 44:11
- e. in gen. Ct 8:13. e.g. Song of Solomon 8:13
- f. implying likeness of character Is 1:23 Pr 28:24 ψ 119:63. e.g. Isaiah 1:23
- 3. companion at a particular time Ec 4:10. e.g. Ecclesiastes 4:10
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
adj. and n.m. Ct 8:13, united, associate, companion—ח׳ abs. Pr 28:24 ψ 119:63; sf. חֲבֵרוֹ Ec 4:10 (+ 3 times Ez Kt; Qr חבריו, v. infr.); pl. חֲבֵרִים Ju 20:11 Ct 8:13; cstr. חַבְרֵי Is 1:23; sf. חֲבֵרֶ֑ךָ ψ 45:8, חֲבֵרֶ֑יךָ Ct 1:7; חֲבֵרָיו Is 44:11 + 3 times Ez Qr;—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from חבר (châbar) (H2266) — to bind together.
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.
חָבַר
- (b. h.)
- 1. to join, befriend, assist. Y. Ab. Zar. I, 39ᵇ top (ref. to Ps. LVIII, 6) [read:] כל מי שהיה חוֹבְרוֹ הוא חוברו whoever assisted him (in his political ambition), him he befriended.—Esp. חוֹבֵר, pl. חוֹבְרִים, חוֹבְרִין having a share in the ownership of a sacrifice, v. חֲבוּרָה. Men. IX, 9 (93ᵇ bot.) אחד מניף לכל החו׳ Ms. M. (ed. חֲבֵרִים) one of the company does the waving in behalf of all of them. Ib. 94ᵃ נתמעטה בחו׳ is reduced in numbers as regards the participants (only one of them being required to act). Tem. 2ᵃ; Arakh. 2ᵃ בעלי ח׳ (sub. קרבן) partners of a sacrifice (also בעלי קרבן). e.g. Psalms 58:6
- 2. with על (cmp. זָוַג) to join against, protest. B. Bath. 11ᵃ חָבְרוּ עליו וכ׳ his brothers &c. combined to protest against his actions.
- 3. to tie, fascinate, charm. Lam. R. to I, 5 מביאין חוֹבֵר וחוֹבְרִין וכ׳ they procure a charmer and charm the serpent. Sifré Deut. 172 ה׳ מרובה he who charms large objects; Ker. 3ᵇ ח׳ גדול; Snh. 65ᵃ חַבָּר גדול. Ker. l. c. חוֹבֵר חֶבֶר דבלאו הדין הוא but what kind of charmer (Deut. XVIII, 11) is he that is liable only to lashes (v. לַאו)?; a. fr.—[ e.g. Deuteronomy 18:11
- 4. (cmp. חָבַל) to unshape, wound. Denom. חַבּוּרָה.]
- 1. to join, fasten. Yalk. Job 927 (ref. to Job XL, 30) מי שח׳ עצמו במצות whoever befriended himself with good deeds; Tanḥ. Nitsab. 4 (corr. acc.). Kel. XIV, 2 וחִבְּרָהּ לו (or וחֲבָרָהּ) and he fastened the tube to it (the staff). Ib. משיְחַבֵּר from the moment he attaches it, opp. משיחבל, v. חָבַל.—Part. pass. מְחוּבָּר. Ib. XII, 2 כל המ׳ וכ׳ whatever is fastened (belonging) to an object fit to become unclean &c.—מ׳ (לקרקע) fixed, immovable, opp. תלוש. B. Mets. 89ᵃ אוכל במ׳ may eat of what is standing in the field (Deut. XXIII, 25, sq.). Peah IV, 1, v. דָּלִית. Y. ib. 18ᵃ ואינו מ׳ and when the Mishnah says בדלית ובדקל, it does not mean במ׳ בדלית וכ׳ ‘of that which is attached to the vine and tree’; אין תימר מ׳ הוא וכ׳ if you say, it means that which is attached, then the Mishnah means to say that the owner must designate the Peah while it is up (on the tree) &c.—Ib. II, beg. 16ᵈ (in a passage misplaced and corrupted) הא גדר מ׳ ואינו מ׳ this ‘fence’ (Mish. ib. II, 3) is to be considered as something attached to the ground (like a growth) and (in other respects) as not attached. e.g. Job 40:30
- 2. to charm. Lam. R., introd. (R. Josh. 2) התחיל מְחַבֵּר חֲבָרִים (not מחבי חביים) he began to consult charmers (with ref. to Ez. XXI, 26). Snh. 65ᵃ מקטר לחַבֵּר he burns incense for charming purposes (to exorcise the demons); a. fr. e.g. Ezekiel 21:26
- to be joined, gathered. Gen. R. s. 80 (ref. to Hos. VI, 9) as the priests נֶחְכָּרִים על וכ׳ are grooped around &c.; Macc. 10ᵃ מִתְחַבְּרִין וכ׳. e.g. Hosea 6:9
- 1. same; v. supra.—2)
- to associate, make friends with. Ab. I, 7.—Num. R. s. 20, beg. נִתְחַבְּרוּ מואב וכ׳ Moab and Midian formed an alliance; Tanḥ. Balak 3.—3) to be charmed, spellbound. Ib. B’shall. 18 מיד נתח׳ וכ׳ at once the bird is spellbound (by the snake looking at its shadow) and falls to pieces; Yalk. Ex. 255 מת (read מתחבר); Mekh. B’shall., Vayassa, s. 1 מִתְחַבֵּר על צלו (not ומת׳ אל) it remains spell-bound over its own shadow.
חֲבַר
- , Pa. חַבֵּר ch. same,
- 1. to fasten, join. Targ. Ps. CXIX, 69 (Ms. חָבְרוּ Pe.; h. text טפלו).
- 2. to combine against. Targ. Job XVI, 4 (h. text אחבירה).
- 3. to charm. Targ. Y. I Deut. XVIII, 11.
- 4. to wound, v. infra. [Y. Maas. Sh. V, 56ᵇ bot., v. חֲכַר.]
- 1. to associate. Targ. Hos. IV, 17; a. e.
- 2. to be wounded. Keth. 5ᵇ דם מיפקד פקיד או חַבּוּרֵי אִיחַבַּר is the blood (in the womb) stored up, or is it the result of a wound?; ib. 6ᵃ דם חבורי מִיחַבַּר.
חָבֵר
- preced. wds.) (with suff. חֲבֵיר־)
- 1. associate, friend, partner (in sacrifices); colleague, fellow-student; fellow-being; of the same kind(also of things). Ab. II, 9 ח׳ טוב a true friend; ח׳ רע a false friend. Ib. 10 כבוד חֲבֵרְךָ thy neighbor’s honor. Sabb. 63ᵃ top בח׳ טוב with a good friend (an obscene disguise for a fair woman, v. גּוּרְדְּלִי); a. v. fr.—ח׳ ותלמיד, (in Babli) תלמיד ח׳ colleague and pupil, a title of distinction for a student, fellow. Y. Shek. III, beg. 47ᵇ; Y. B. Bath. IX, end, 17ᵇ, a. e. ח׳ ות׳ הוה וכ׳ was a fellow under R. Ak.; Bab. B. Bath. 158ᵇ. Ber. 27ᵇ דתלמיד ח׳ הוה who was a fellow (under Rab).
- 2. Ḥaber, Fellow, a scholar’s title, less than חַכִּים or זָקֵן. Kidd. 33ᵇ (in Chald. phras.) אנא ח׳, אתון חכימי ye are ḥakkime (doctors), and I merely a fellow. Snh. 8ᵇ, a. e. ח׳ אינו וכ׳, v. הַתְרָאָה; a. fr.—Gen. R. s. 84 (play on חֶ֗בְ֗ר֗ו̇ן֗) ח̇ב̇ר̇ הנ̇אה וכ׳ that worthy scholar buried &c.
- 3. Ḥaber,member of a religious or charitable association, esp. member of the order for the observance of levitical laws in daily intercourse. Dem. II, 3. Tosef. ib. II, 2 מקבלין אותו להיות ח׳ is accepted as a member of the order; a. v. fr.—Pl. חֲבֵרִים, חֲבֵי׳. Ber. 28ᵇ ולא יכשלו חֲבֵרַי וכ׳ that my colleagues (in court) may not fail in a decision of the law. Ib. הזהרו בכבוד חֲבֵירֵיכֶם take heed of your fellow-students’ honor. Bekh. 30ᵇ בפני שלשה ח׳ in the presence of three members of the order. Pesik. R. s. 11 חֲבֵרֵיהֶם שלהם עוסקים וכ׳ the members of societies among them are engaged in charitable work. Ib. ואין חביריהם מרגישים and their neighbors (the fruits in the same bag) are not affected; a. v. fr.—Fem. חֲבֵירָה, חֲבֵרָה, חֲבֶרֶת, חֲבֶירֶת. Snh. 8ᵇ אשה חבירה a scholarly woman (acquainted with the law). Ber. 48ᵇ, a. fr. אין מלכות נוגעת בחֲבֶרְתָּהּ וכ׳ one term of office does not touch upon its successor even at a hair’s breadth (duration of power is preordained). Deut. R. s. 7 אין טיפה מתערבת בחברתה one rain-drop does not mix itself with the other; a. fr.—Pl. חֲבֵרוֹת. Sabb. 129ᵃ חֲבֵרוֹתֶיהָ וכ׳, v. אֲגַף; a. fr.
חֶבֶר
- preced. wds.)
- 1. association.—חֶבֶר עיר a town organization, congregation (for divine services, study, charities). Ber. IV, 7. R. Hash. 34ᵇ. Meg. 27ᵇ top (Rashi: חֲבַר עיר a scholar maintained by the town, v. preced. w.).
- 2. charm. Snh. 65ᵃ; Ker. 3ᵇ, v. חָבַר.—Pl. חֲבָרִים. Lam. R. introd. (R. Josh. 2), v. חָבַר, Pi.
- 3. ח׳ גואלקי a load of sacks tied across an animal’s back, to unload which you must lift them before untying, contrad. to אֵבֶר גואלקי a load kept in balance by equal weight on both sides, to unload which you need only untie the knot on the animal’s back. Sabb. 154ᵇ מאי לאו בחבר גוולקי וכ׳ ed. (Ms. M. באבר גזול or גדול) do you not think (when it says, ib. XXIV, 1, ‘he unties the ropes and the sacks drop of themselves’) a ḥeber is meant which must be lifted along the sides of the animal?; לא באבר גואלקי וכ׳ Rashi Ms. a. Ar. (ed. בחבר אגלווקי, Ms. M. בגאלקי מפייהו, read: גופייהו, v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note 7) no, a balanced load is meant &c.; v. Ar. Compl. ed. Koh. s. v. חבר. Cmp. אַבְרַוְורֵי.
חַבָּר
- associate; Talm. = חוֹבֵר, v. חָבַר)
- 1. charmer. Snh. 65ᵃ, v. חָבַר. Deut. R. s. 7; a. e.
- 2. magus (v. אַמְגּוּשָׁא), Parsee priest, guebre in gen. Parsee government. Sabb. 11ᵃ תחת נכרי ולא תחת ח׳ (v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note 80) rather under heathen (Roman) government, than under a Parsee.—Pl. חַבָּרִין, חַבָּרִים. Kidd. 72ᵃ הראני ח׳ let me see (give me a description of) the Parsees (as opposed to Persians). Pes. 113ᵇ. Yeb. 63ᵇ (ref. to Deut. XXXII, 21 גוי נבל) אלו ח׳ this means the Parsees. e.g. Deuteronomy 32:21
חַבָּר ²
- 1. charmer, v. חַבּוּרָא II.—Lev. R. s. 22; Yalk. Koh. 972 אתא חד חבר (Gen. R. s. 10; Koh. R. to V, 8 גבר, corr. acc.) a charmer (of snakes) came; Tanḥ. Ḥuck. 1.—Pl. חַבָּרַיָּא. Snh. 65ᵇ מן ח׳ את thou art a creation of the charmers.
- 2. Parsee. Gitt. 16ᵇ, sq. אתא ההוא ח׳ וכ׳ a Parsee came and took the lamp from them.—Pl. חַבָּרֵי. Sabb. 45ᵃ מקמי ח׳ from fear of the Parsees (that they might see the lights). Yeb. 63ᵇ אתו ח׳ לבבל the Parsees have entered the Jewish colonies of Babylonia. Bets. 6ᵃ but nowadays דאיכא ח׳ when there are Parsees (forcing to public labors).
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 12 distinct written forms H2270 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.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| חבר/ו | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct | Ezekiel 37:16 | 3 |
| חֲבֵרָ֑י/ו | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct | Ezekiel 37:16 | 2 |
| וְ/חַבְרֵי֙ | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct | Isaiah 1:23 | 1 |
| חֲבֵר֑/וֹ | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct | Ecclesiastes 4:10 | 1 |
| חֲבֵרִ֛ים | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute | Song of Solomon 8:13 | 1 |
| חֲבֵרִֽים | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute | Judges 20:11 | 1 |
| חֲבֵרֶֽי/ךָ | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct | Song of Solomon 1:7 | 1 |
| חֲבֵרָֽי/ו | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct | Ezekiel 37:16 | 1 |
| חֲבֵרָי/ו֙ | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct | Isaiah 44:11 | 1 |
| חָבֵ֣ר | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Psalms 119:63 | 1 |
| חָבֵ֥ר | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Proverbs 28:24 | 1 |
| מֵֽ/חֲבֵרֶֽי/ךָ | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct | Psalms 45:7 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H2270, 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
- חבורה chabbûwrâh H2250 wound
- חבר cheber H2267 association
- חבר chăbar H2269 companion
- חבר chabbâr H2271 partner
- חברברה chăbarburâh H2272 stripe
- חברת chôbereth H2279 joining
- מחברת machbereth H4225 joint
- מחברה mᵉchabbᵉrâh H4226 clamp
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 12 — 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 10 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 11 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
- Judges 20:11
- Psalms 45:7
- Proverbs 28:24
- Ecclesiastes 4:10
- Song of Solomon 1:7
- Isaiah 1:23
- Ezekiel 37:16
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.
