אָח
pot
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
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.
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
Every verse where H254 appears — 2 distinct verses across 1 book. 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.
Jeremiah 2 verses
- Jeremiah 36:22 הָ/אָ֖ח ptcl def.art + n c ms Now the king was sitting in the winter-house in the ninth month: and [there was a fire in] the brazier burning before him.
- Jeremiah 36:23 הָ/אָ֑ח הָ/אָֽח ptcl def.art + n c ms ptcl def.art + n c ms It happened, when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, that [the king] cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier.
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.
“pot” is the headline sense of the Hebrew noun אח (ʼâch). A scarce word — 2 verses in all of the Hebrew Bible. It clusters heavily in Jeremiah, which alone accounts for 100% of its uses. First canonically at Jeremiah 36:22, it enters the text early. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H254 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 →
- 2
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 2 distinct verses.
- 1 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 1 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #4,179
- by frequency
- Top 5000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 4,179 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 2 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Jeremiah 2 verses 100%
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 2 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 2 verses · 100%
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 5 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 on the hearth 2×
- American Standard Version†: Was in the brazier 2×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Fire 1×, Firepot 1×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H254 across 3† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H254 across 3† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H254 across 2† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.
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 4 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.
אח I interj. (onomatop.) ah! alas! Ez 6
אח II
- 1. brother, born of same mother (& father) Gn 4:2, 8, 9, 10, 11; 27:6, 11; 44:20; 49:5; cf. 28:2; 29:10(×2) + Ex 4:14 + often; also of half-brother Gn 20:5, 13, 16 (on parentage cf. v 12) 37:2, 4, 5 +, 2 S 13:4, 7, 8 +. e.g. Genesis 4:2
- 2. indef. = relative; Lot, of Abr. Gn 13:8; 14:14, 16; Jacob, of Laban 29:12, 15 (nephew); hence of kinship in wider sense; member of same tribe Nu 16:10; 18:2, 6 2 S 19:13; of same people Ex 2:11(×2); 4:18 Dt 15:12 Ju 14:3 Is 66:20 Ne 5:1, 5, 8 vid. especially Lv 19:17 cf. v 18 (extended to incl. sojourner גֵּר v 34); of Israel & Judah 2 S 19:42; Isr. & Edom Nu 20:14; cf. of Ishmael Gn 16:12; 25:18; of friend 2 S 1:26 1 K 9:13; 20:32, 33; of allies בְּרִית א׳ Am 1:9. e.g. Genesis 13:8
- 3. fig. of resemblance Jb 30:29 אָח הָיִיתִי לְתַנִּים (‖ רֵעַ לִבְנוֹת יַעֲנָה) i.e. by reason of his crying, cf. Di; Pr 18:9 מִתְרַפֶּה בִּמְלַאכְתּוֹ אָח הוּא לְבַעַל מַשְׁחִית. e.g. Job 30:29
- 4. in phr. one … another אִישׁ אָחִיו Gn 9:5 Jo 2:8 Zc 7:10; אָחִיו … אִישׁ Gn 13:11 + 25 times + Ex 32:27 (where also same phr. c. רֵעֵהוּ & קְרֹבוֹ—v. these words—& also אִישׁ, אֶחָד); for development of idiom cf. Dt 15:2 Is 19:2 Je 34:14 (cf. 15) 17 Ez 38:21 Hg 2:22; usually of men; of faces of golden cherubim Ex 25:20; 37:9; of scales of crocodile Jb 41:9. (אָח fire-pot v. sub ii. אחח.) On pr. names compounded with אָח, v. reff. given under אָב supr. e.g. Genesis 9:5
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
III. interj. (onomatop.) ah! alas! Ez 6:11; 21:20. iii. אָח Ez 18:10 (textual error). Ez 18:10 אָח is a vox nihili (dittogr. from foll. אחד: v. Comm.): in 21:10 also dub. (𝔊 εὖ), read אַךְ Ew Hi Sm Toy, חַדָּה Co Berthol, אַתְּ Oort Krae.
IV. n.m. brother (Ph. אח, Arabic أَخٌ (cstr. أَخُو etc.), Sab. אחֿ (sf. אחֿיהו) CISiv, 1, 17 and 24 al., Ethiopic እኅው Assyrian aḫu cf. DlW, Aramaic אַח, ܐܰܚܳܐ; Palm., Nab. sf. אחוהי, אחיה);—abs. אָח Gn 24:29 + (Ez 18:10 del. Co cf. 𝔊 𝔖 𝔙; Ew Sm אַךְ; Dl Ba Ez x defends as = one cf. Assyrian aḫu) never c. art.; cstr. אֲחִי Gn 10:21 +; sf. אָחִי Gn 4:9 +; אָחִיךָ Gn 4:9 +; אָחִיו Gn 4:2 +; אָחִיהוּ Je 34:9 + 3 times etc.; pl. אַחִים Gn 13:8 +; so read Ho 13:15 v. DeCompl. Var. 23 cf. sub אָחוּ; cstr. אֲחֵי Nu 27:10 +; sf. אַחַי Gn 19:7 +; אֶחָ֑י 1 S 20:29 + (but 1 S 30:23 𝔊 We אַחֲרֵי for אֶחָ֑י את); אַחֶיךָ Gn 37:13 +; אֶחָיו Gn 44:14 + etc.
V. n.f. fire-pot, brasier (Arabic وَلَدًا, in Thes, is an error fire-pot is loan-word from Egyptian ʿḫ according to WMMOLZ 3, 51) always c. art. Je 36:22 הַא׳ לְפָנָיו מְבֹעָ֑רֶת the brasier before him was burning; v 23 הָאֵשׁ אֲשֶׁר אֶל־הָא׳; v 23 הָאֵשׁ אֲשֶׁר עַל־הָא׳ (i. אָח, brother v. sub אחה; iii. אָח interj., p. 25).
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: of uncertain derivation
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.
אָח I
- brother, kinsman; fellow, equal, fellow-believer &c. Meg. 11ᵃ (play on ăhashverosh, Ahasverus) אָׄחִׄיו ש̇ל ר̇אש̇ וכ׳ a brother (in cruelty) to the chief tyrant (Nebucadn.); a. fr.—Pl. אַחִים, אַחִין. Gen. R. s. 89, beg. (play on āḥu, Gen. XLI, 2) in years of plenty הבריות נעשו א׳ וכ׳ people are brotherly to each other. Gen. R. s. 99 אחים דפחתא וכ׳ brothers to the degraded woman (Dinah), … but not to Joseph; a. fr.—Cant. R. to VIII, 1 שני אחים brother and sister e.g. Genesis 41:2
אַח
- Targ. fr.—Pl. אָחִין. Targ. Gen. XIII, 8; a. e.—אַחֵי Yeb. 65ᵇ.—Y. Yoma VI, 43ᵈ אֲחֵינָן our brothers
אָח II
- interj. interj.
- 1. (b. h.) exclamation of sorrow, Oh! Meg. 11ᵃ (play on ăhashverosh; v. אָח I) א׳ לראשו woe upon his head. Snh. 102ᵇ (play on Ahab אח־אב) א׳ לשמי׳ a subject of grief to the Lord, and father (friend) of idolatry.—2 (= Syr.) exclamation of joy, Ah! Targ. Is. XLIV, 16 (h. הֶאָח).
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 3 distinct written forms H254 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| הָ/אָ֑ח | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Jeremiah 36:23 | 1 |
| הָ/אָ֖ח | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Jeremiah 36:22 | 1 |
| הָ/אָֽח | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Jeremiah 36:23 | 1 |
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 2 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 2 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.
