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חֲמוֹר

donkey

H2543 Strong's Hebrew
chămôwr Transliteration
/kham-ore'/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 97 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.

“donkey” is the headline sense of the Hebrew noun חמור (chămôwr). Older and newer Bibles part ways — “ass” in the King James Version, “donkey” (Berean Standard Bible) in modern versions. See the renderings breakdown. It appears 94 verses across 20 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its moderately common vocabulary. Scripture first uses it in Genesis 12:16. It shares a root with חמר, חמר and חמר. See the sense tree, 94-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
ass
Modern gloss
donkey
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 H2543 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 →

94
distinct verses
The word appears in 94 distinct verses.
20 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 20 of 39 Old Testament books.
Genesis 12:16
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Genesis 12:16.
Zechariah 14:15
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Zechariah 14:15.
#432
by frequency
Top 500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 432 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 94 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 41 · 44%
  • Historical 44 · 47%
  • Wisdom 2 · 2%
  • Prophets 7 · 7%

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 94 distinct verses.

  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 44 verses · 47%
  • Torah (Pentateuch) 41 verses · 44%
  • Writings (Ketuvim) 9 verses · 10%

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 3 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: Ass 46×, Asses 37×, Or his ass 2×
  • American Standard Version: Ass 44×, Asses 33×, Couple of asses 2×
  • Berean Standard Bible: Donkey 44×, Donkeys 44×, Or donkey 4×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: Donkey 52×, Donkeys 33×, Donkey of 3×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H2543 across 96 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Ass” 46×
  • “Asses” 37×
  • “Or his ass” 2×

Plus 11 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 H2543 across 96 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Ass” 44×
  • “Asses” 33×
  • “Couple of asses” 2×
  • “Or his ass” 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 H2543 across 96 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Donkey” 44×
  • “Donkeys” 44×
  • “Or donkey” 4×

Plus 4 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 H2543 across 99 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Donkey” 52×
  • “Donkeys” 33×
  • “Donkey of” 3×
  • “And” 2×

Plus 9 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.

חמור I [m.] heap, abs. ח׳ with du. חֲמֹרָתָ֑יִם (Baer חֲמֹרֹת׳), as if from חֲמֹרָה

חמור II

  • 1. as (valuable) property, with oxen, sheep, camels, slaves, etc. Gn 12:16; 24:35; 30:43; 47:17 Ex 9:3 (all J) Ex 20:17 (E), 21:23; 22:3, 8, 9; 23:4, 5, 12; Nu 16:15; Jos 6:21; 7:24 (all JE); note also Ex 13:13 = 34:20 (JE; firstlings belongs to י׳); Gn 36:24; Nu 31:28, 30, 34, 39, 45 (all P); Dt 5:14, 18; 22:3, 4; 28:31; Ju 6:4; 1 S 8:16; 12:3; 15:3; 22:19; 27:9; 1 Ch 5:21 Ezr 2:67 = Ne 7:68 (Baer), Zc 14:15; coll. Gn 32:5 (J; ‖ שׁוֹר, צֹאן, עֶבֶד, שִׁפְחָה), but pl. (similar ‖) Gn 34:28 (P), 47:17 (J); cf. also ח׳ יְתוֹמִים 24:3 the orphans’ ass (‖ שׁוֹר אַלְמָנָה); as knowing its master’s crib Is 1:3 (‖ שׁוֹר); found in camp 2 K 7:7, 10 (both ‖ סוּסִים); as harnessed מֶתֶג לַח׳ Pr 26:3 (‖ סוּם). e.g. Genesis 12:16
  • 2. used for riding:
    • a. by women Ex 4:20 (J), Jos 15:18 (JE) = Ju 1:14; 1 S 25:20, 23, 42, cf. 2 Ch 28:15. e.g. Exodus 4:20
    • b. by men 2 S 16:2; 17:23; 19:27; 1 K 2:40; 13:13(×2), 23, 24, 27, 28(×2) Is 21:7; Zc 9:9. e.g. 2 Samuel 16:2
    • c. צֶמֶד חמורים a pair of asses 2 S 16:1 (for burdens and for riding); for man and woman Ju 19:3, 10, 19, 21; carrying dead body v 28, cf. ח׳ 1 K 13:29. e.g. 2 Samuel 16:1
  • 3. beast of burden Gn 22:3, 5 (cf. v 6), 42:26, 27; 45:23 (all E) 43:18, 24; 44:3, 13 (all J), Jos 9:4 (JE), 1 S 25:18; 1 Ch 12:41; Ne 13:15 (cf. also צֶמֶד ח׳ 2 S 16:1 supr.); metaph. of Issachar ח׳ גָּ֑רֶם Gn 49:14 (poem), an ass of (strong) bones.—ח׳ לֶחֶם 1 S 16:20 read prob. חֲמִשָּׁה five, or better עֲשָׂרָה ten, v. We Dr. e.g. Genesis 22:3
  • 4. used in tillage Is 32:20; not to be used in ploughing with an ox (שׁוֹר) Dt 22:10. e.g. Isaiah 32:20
  • 5. parts of body of ass mentioned are: לְחִי ח׳ Ju 15:15, 16 jawbone, Samson’s weapon; רֹאשׁ ח׳ 2 K 6:25 eaten in famine; בְּשַׂר ח׳ Ez 23:20 genital organ of ass (contempt. sim.) e.g. Judges 15:15
  • 6. קְבוּרַת ח׳ Je 22:19 burial of an ass, in fig. of ignominious treatment of a corpse. Also she-ass 2 S 19:27 (cf. Mishn. AZ. vi). e.g. Jeremiah 22:19

חמור III m. father of Shechem (he-ass

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.] heap, abs. ח׳ with du. חֲמֹרָתָ֑יִם (Baer חֲמֹרֹת׳), as if from חֲמֹרָה;—בִּלְחִי הַחֲמוֹר חֲמוֹר חֲמֹרָתָ֑יִם Ju 15:16 with the ass’s jawbone, a heap, two heaps, i.e. so many slain.

II. n.m. Gn 45:23 (he)-ass (NH id. (sometimes female, but this regularly חֲמוֹרָה); Aramaic חֲמָרָא, ܚܡܳܪܳܐ; Arabic حِمَارٌ, Palm. חמרא ReckendorfZMG 1888, 404; Assyrian imêru, SchrCOT Gloss.;—name from reddish colour)—abs. חֲמוֹר Gn 22:5 + 43 times; חֲמֹר Ex 13:13 Dt 22:10; cstr. חֲמוֹר Ex 23:5 + 4 times; חֲמֹר Gn 49:14; sf. חֲמֹרְךָ Dt 5:14; 28:31; חֲמֹרֶ֑ךָ Ex 23:12; חֲמֹרוֹ Gn 22:3 + 8 times; pl. חֲמוֹרִים Ju 19:10 + 9 times; חֲמֹרִים Gn 12:16 + 16 times; sf. חֲמוֹרֵינוּ Ju 19:19; חֲמֹרֵינוּ Gn 43:18; חֲמוֹרֵיכֶם 1 S 8:16; חֲמֹרֵיהֶם Gn 34:28 + 4 times; חֲמוֹרֵיהֶם Jos 9:4;—ass (he-ass; אתון = she-ass) found in all periods (coll. only Gn 32:6 Is 21:7);—

III. n.pr.m. father of Shechem (he-ass; v. RSK 220; Sem i. 449)—Gn 33:19; 34:2, 4, 6, 8, 13, 18(×2), 20, 24, 26; Jos 24:32; Ju 9:28.

— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.

Derived from חמר (châmar) (H2560) — to boil.

Part of speech: Noun Masculine TWOT: 685a


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.

חֲמוֹר

  • c. (b. h.; v. חָמַר II a.
  • 1. [load-carrier, cmp. גָּמָל.] ass. Nidd. 31ᵃ, v. גָּרַם. Sabb. 152ᵃ דעל ח׳ וכ׳ he who rides an ass is a freeman. B. Bath. 143ᵃ את וח׳ thou and the ass (shall own my property, a form of donation implying a rational and an irrational being).—Bekh. I, 2 ח׳ שילדה וכ׳ if an ass gave birth to &c. Snh. 33ᵃ הלכה חֲמוֹרְךָ וכ׳ thy ass is gone, Tarfon! (I shall have to make compensation for erroneous judgment); a. fr.
  • 2. (cmp. various uses of horse) a contrivance for working-men, rest, jack, stocks &c. Kel. XIV, 3 ח׳ של נפחין the smiths’ ass (‘on which the smith sits while using its head as an anvil’, Maim.; ‘the rest of the bellows’, R. S.). Ib. XVIII, 3 וח׳ a stand on which the bedstead is placed. Gen. R. s. 65, end ח׳ של חרשים carpenters’ sawing-jack (an instrument for torture); Gen. R. s. 70 (alluding to Prov. XXVII, 22) אפי׳ … בח׳ של חרשים וכ׳ even if you put the wicked man on a carpenter’s jack, you cannot make anything useful out of him (sufferings will have no effect on him); Yalk. Kings 201; Yalk. Prov. 961; (Pesik. Shek., p. 15ᵃ במכתש).—Pl. חֲמוֹרִים. Sabb. 112ᵇ. Gen. R. s. 75; a. fr.—Denom. חַמָּר, חִמִּר.—Fem. חֲמוֹרָה. Tosef. Kil. V, 5. e.g. Proverbs 27:22

חָמוּר

  • (חָמַר I) heavy, weighty, important; strict, severe, stringent, restrictive. Kel. I, 4 ח׳ שבכולם וכ׳ the most stringent of all are the laws concerning corpses.—איסור ח׳, v. אִיסּוּר.—Snh. 50ᵃ שריפה ח׳ וכ׳ death by burning is a severer punishment than &c. Ib. IX, 4, a. e. נידון בח׳ he suffers the severer penalty of the two. Ab. II, 1 כבחמורה as in the observance of a difficult commandment (requiring self-denial); a. fr.—Pl. חֲמוּרִים, חֲמוּרִין, f. חֲמוּרוֹת. Ḥull. XII, 5; a. fr.—Y. Snh. X, 28ᵇ top חֲמוּרוֹתָיו של וכ׳ (not חומר׳) the heaviest sins that Jeroboam committed.—דורשי חֲמוּרוֹת, v. חוֹמֶר II. קלים וחֲמוּרִים, v. חוֹמֶר I.

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 69 distinct written forms H2543 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
הַ/חֲמ֔וֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Genesis 22:5 7
הַ/חֲמ֑וֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute 1 Kings 13:13 5
חֲמ֨וֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 22:10 3
וַ/חֲמֹרִ֕ים Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute Numbers 31:34 3
חֲמ֖וֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Isaiah 21:7 3
חֲמֹר֔/וֹ Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Construct Genesis 22:3 3
הַ/חֲמ֗וֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute 1 Samuel 25:20 2
הַ/חֲמֹרִ֖ים Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute Genesis 36:24 2
וַ/חֲמ֖וֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Isaiah 1:3 2
וַ/חֲמֹר֔/וֹ Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Construct Deuteronomy 5:21 2
וַ/חֲמֹרִֽים Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute Genesis 24:35 2
חֲמ֣וֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Construct Exodus 23:5 2
חֲמֹרִ֕ים Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute Ezra 2:67 2
חֲמֽוֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 21:33 2
חֲמוֹר֙ Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 34:20 2
חֲמוֹרִים֙ Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute Ezekiel 23:20 2
בַּ/חֲמֹרִים֙ Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 28:15 1
בַּ/חֲמוֹרִ֣ים Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute 1 Chronicles 12:40 1
בַּֽ/חֲמֹרִים֙ Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute Exodus 9:3 1
הַ/חֲמ֖וֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute 1 Kings 13:29 1
הַ/חֲמ֨וֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute 2 Samuel 19:26 1
הַ/חֲמֹ֔ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 4:20 1
הַ/חֲמֹרִ֟ים Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute Nehemiah 13:15 1
הַ/חֲמֹרִ֥ים Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute Numbers 31:30 1
הַ/חֲמֹרִֽים Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute 1 Samuel 25:18 1
הַ/חֲמֽוֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute 1 Kings 13:28 1
הַ/חֲמוֹרִ֨ים Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute 2 Samuel 16:2 1
וְ/הַ/חֲמ֔וֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Zechariah 14:15 1
וְ/הַ/חֲמ֣וֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute 2 Kings 7:10 1
וְ/הַ/חֲמֽוֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Isaiah 32:20 1
וְ/הַ/חֲמוֹר֙ Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute 1 Kings 13:24 1
וַ/חֲמ֔וֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Genesis 32:5 1
וַ/חֲמ֛וֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute 1 Samuel 22:19 1
וַ/חֲמ֧וֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Construct 1 Samuel 12:3 1
וַ/חֲמֹֽרְ/ךָ֜ Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Construct Deuteronomy 5:14 1
וַ/חֲמֹרִ֔ים Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute Genesis 12:16 1
וַ/חֲמֹרִ֤ים Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute 1 Samuel 27:9 1
וַ/חֲמֹרֵי/הֶֽם Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct Genesis 44:3 1
וַ/חֲמֹרֶ֔/ךָ Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Construct Exodus 23:12 1
וַ/חֲמֽוֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Judges 6:4 1
וַ/חֲמוֹרִ֖ים Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute 1 Chronicles 5:21 1
וּ/בַ/חֲמֹ֖ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Deuteronomy 22:10 1
וּ/בַ/חֲמֹרִ֑ים Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute Genesis 47:17 1
וַֽ/חֲמוֹר֙ Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute 1 Kings 13:28 1
חֲ֠מוֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 22:9 1
חֲמ֔וֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Zechariah 9:9 1
חֲמ֛וֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 22:4 1
חֲמ֥וֹר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute 1 Samuel 16:20 1
חֲמֹ֣ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Construct Genesis 49:14 1
חֲמֹ֣רֵי/הֶ֔ם Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct 2 Kings 7:7 1
חֲמֹֽרְ/ךָ֙ Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Construct Deuteronomy 28:31 1
חֲמֹר֖/וֹ Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Construct Exodus 23:4 1
חֲמֹר֙ Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 13:13 1
חֲמֹר֨/וֹ Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Construct Joshua 7:24 1
חֲמֹרִ֑ים Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute Judges 19:3 1
חֲמֹרִ֔ים Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute Genesis 45:23 1
חֲמֹרִ֜ים Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute 2 Samuel 16:1 1
חֲמֹרֵֽי/נוּ Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct Genesis 43:18 1
חֲמֹרֵי/הֶ֑ם Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct Genesis 42:26 1
חֲמֹרֵי/הֶּ֑ם Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct Genesis 34:28 1

The 60 most common forms are shown; 9 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.


Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H2543, 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 9 — not the complete family. 2 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.


Septuagint verse parallels

This word appears in 90 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 94 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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