אֶחָד
one
‘one’ is one of 8 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Absolute-state word in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Adjective
- A word that describes or qualifies a noun.
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
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
21 verses where H259 appears in the Absolute state in the Book of Judges. Filtered view — show all forms. 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.
Judges
- Judges 4:16 אֶחָֽד adj Cardinal number ms But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, to Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; there was not a man left.
- Judges 6:16 אֶחָֽד adj Cardinal number ms Yahweh said to him, Surely I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.
- Judges 8:18 אֶחָ֕ד adj Cardinal number ms Then said he to Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom you killed at Tabor? They answered, As you are, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king.
- Judges 9:2 אֶחָ֑ד adj Cardinal number ms Please speak in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Whether is better for you, that all the sons of Jerubbaal, who are seventy persons, rule over you, or that one rule over you? Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.
- Judges 9:5 אֶחָ֑ת adj Cardinal number fs He went to his father's house at Ophrah, and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy persons, on one stone: but Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left; for he hid himself.
- Judges 9:18 אֶחָ֑ת adj Cardinal number fs and you are risen up against my father's house this day, and have slain his sons, seventy persons, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maid-servant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother);
- Judges 9:37 אֶחָ֣ד adj Cardinal number ms Gaal spoke again and said, Behold, there come people down by the middle of the land, and one company comes by the way of the oak of Meonenim.
- Judges 9:53 אַחַ֛ת adj Cardinal number fs A certain woman cast an upper millstone on Abimelech's head, and broke his skull.
- Judges 13:2 אֶחָ֧ד adj Cardinal number ms There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and didn't bear.
- Judges 15:4 אֶחָ֛ד adj Cardinal number ms Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between every two tails.
- Judges 16:28 אַחַ֛ת adj Cardinal number fs Samson called to Yahweh, and said, Lord Yahweh, remember me, Please, and strengthen me, Please, only this once, God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.
- Judges 16:29 אֶחָ֥ד וְ/אֶחָ֥ד adj Cardinal number ms conj + Adjective Cardinal number ms Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and leaned on them, the one with his right hand, and the other with his left.
- Judges 17:5 אַחַד֙ adj Cardinal number ms The man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
- Judges 18:19 אֶחָ֔ד adj Cardinal number ms They said to him, Hold your peace, lay your hand on your mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?
- Judges 20:1 אֶחָ֗ד adj Cardinal number ms Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, to Yahweh at Mizpah.
- Judges 20:8 אֶחָ֖ד adj Cardinal number ms All the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn to his house.
- Judges 20:11 אֶחָ֖ד adj Cardinal number ms So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man.
- Judges 20:31 אַחַ֜ת וְ/אַחַ֤ת adj Cardinal number fs conj + Adjective Cardinal number fs The children of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city; and they began to strike and kill of the people, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goes up to Bethel, and the other to Gibeah, in the field, about thirty men of Israel.
- Judges 21:3 אֶחָֽד adj Cardinal number ms They said, Yahweh, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel?
- Judges 21:6 אֶחָ֖ד adj Cardinal number ms The children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.
- Judges 21:8 אֶחָד֙ adj Cardinal number ms They said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel who didn't come up to Yahweh to Mizpah? Behold, there came none to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly.
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.
At its core, אחד (ʼechâd) means “one.” Not a single-sense word: explore its full sense range. Spanning 739 verses in 34 books, it ranks among the most common words of the Hebrew Bible. It first appears in Genesis 1:5. Sharing its root, it stands alongside אחד, חד and אחוד. Each statement above links to its evidence; the full detail follows below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H259 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 →
- 739
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 739 distinct verses.
- 34 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 34 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #43
- by frequency
- Top 50 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 43 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 739 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 739 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 324 verses · 44%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 295 verses · 40%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 120 verses · 16%
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: One 519×, A 35×, Other 29×
- American Standard Version: One 469×, Other 30×, A 27×
- Berean Standard Bible: One 410×, Each 55×, A 53×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: One 691×, One of 38×, First 29×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H259 across 942 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 127 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 10 further occurrences.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H259 across 943 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 141 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H259 across 852 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 77 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 114 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H259 across 1,000 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 46 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 16 further occurrences.
10 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 10 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. one Gn 1:9; 27:38, 45 Ex 12:49 Jos 23:10 1 S 1:24 2 S 12:3 +, Zc 14:9 Mal 2:10 Jb 31:15 +, so also (emph.) 2 S 17:3 for MT אֲשֶׁר 𝔊 We Dr; one or two לֹא לְיוֹם אֶחָד וְלֹא לִשְׁנַיִם Ezr 10:13; as subst. sq. מִן Gn 2:21 Lv 4:2, 13 Is 34:16 +; הָא׳ Gn 19:9; 42:13, 32 2 K 6:3, 5 +; one and the same Gn 40:5 Jb 31:15; pl. דְּבָרִים אֲחָדִים †Gn 11:1 cf. Ez 37:17 (abs.), but v. Co; = few, a few יָמִים א׳ †Gn 27:44; 29:20 Dn 11:20; כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד as one man, together Ju 20:8 1 S 11:7; also כְּאֶחָד late = Aramaic כַּחֲדָא †Ezr 2:64 (= Ne 7:66) 3:9; 6:20 Ec 11:6; v. especially Is 65:25 (‖ earlier יַחְדָּו 11:6, 7). e.g. Genesis 1:9
- 2. = each, every Ex 36:30 Nu 7:3, 85; 28:21 1 K 4:7 2 K 15:20 +; also repeated, distrib. sense Nu 7:11; 13:2; 17:21 Jos 3:12; 4:2, 4. e.g. Exodus 36:30
- 3. = a certain 1 S 1:1 2 S 18:10 2 K 4:1 Est 3:8 + cf. 2 S 17:9 v. Dr 1 S 1:1; hence e.g. 1 Samuel 1:1
- 4. = indef. art. 1 S 6:7; 24:15; 26:20 (but del. 𝔊 We Dr) 1 K 19:4, 5 +. e.g. 1 Samuel 6:7
- 5. only 1 K 4:19, & (fem.) once 2 K 6:10 ψ 62:12; 89:36 (once for all); אַחַת לְשָׁלוֹשׁ שָׁנִים 2 Ch 9:21, א׳ בַּשָּׁנָה Lv 16:34 cf. Jb 40:5, פַּעַם אֶחָ֑ת Jos 6:3, 11 cf. v 14, בְּאַחַת Nu 10:4 בְּאַחַת is rather ‘in one (of the trumpets)’ Jb 33:14 it = in one way; at once בְּאֶחָ֑ת Pr 28:18 read prob. with 𝔖 Lag Dys Bi בַּשָּׁ֑חַת cf. וְאִנָּֽקְמָה נְקַם־אַחַת Ju 16:28 is rather ‘vengeance for one of my two eyes’ (v. GFM). Je 10:8 בְּאַחַת prob. = in one, altogether. e.g. 1 Kings 4:19
- 6. one … another, the one … the other א׳ … א׳ Ex 17:12; 18:3, 4 Am 4:7 2 S 12:1 Je 24:2 2 Ch 3:17 Ne 4:11 +; … הא׳ א׳ Lv 14:22; 15:15 2 S 14:6 read הָאֶחָד אֶת־אָחִיו 𝔊 We Dr; one after another, one by one, לְאַחַד אֶחָד Is 27:12 cf. Ec 7:27. e.g. Exodus 17:12
- 7. as ordinal, first (mostly P & late) Gn 1:5 (P) 2:11 (J) Ex 39:10 (P) Ez 10:14 Jb 42:14; of first day of month Ex 40:2 (P) Ezr 3:6; 10:16, 17 Ne 8:2 Hg 1:1; first year, שְׁנַת אַחַת 2 Ch 36:22 Ezr 1:1 Dn 1:21; 9:1, 2; 11:1; cf. first (day, יוֹם om.) Gn 8:5, 13 בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ; so Ex 40:17 Lv 23:24 Nu 1:1, 18; 29:1; 33:38 (all P) Dt 1:3 2 Ch 29:17 Ezr 7:9(×2) Ez 26:1; 29:17; 31:1; 32:1; 45:18. e.g. Genesis 1:5
- 8. in combin.,
- a. אַחַד עָשָׂר eleven (cf. עָשָׂר, עַשְׁתֵּי) Gn 32:23; 37:9 (JE) Dt 1:2; so אַחַת־עֶשְׂרֵה Jos 15:51 (P) 2 K 23:36; 24:18 2 Ch 36:5, 11 Je 52:1 (precedes noun, except Jos 15:51); as ordinal, eleventh אַחַת עֶשְׁרֵה שָׁנָה Ez 30:20; 31:1 cf. 1 K 6:38 2 K 9:29; e.g. Genesis 32:23
- b. with other numerals, as cardinal אֶחָד וְאַרְבָּעִים אֶלֶף וַחֲמֵשׁ מֵאוֹת Nu 1:41 cf. 2:16, 28; 31:34, 39 (all P; א׳ precedes other numeral); but אַרְבָּעִים וְאַחַת שָׁנָה (א׳ following) 1 K 14:21; 15:10 2 K 14:23 2 Ch 12:13 cf. 2 K 22:1 = 2 Ch 34:1; 2 K 24:18 = Je 52:1 = 2 Ch 36:11; Jose 12:24 (D) Is 30:17 Ezr 2:26 = Ne 7:30 cf. v 37; Dn 10:13; as ordinal בְּאַחַת וְשֵׁשׁ מֵאוֹת שָׁנָה Gn 8:13 (P) Ex 12:18 (P), 1 Ch 24:17; 25:28 2 Ch 16:13 (א׳ preceding); but 1 K 16:23 Hg 2:1 (א׳ following). e.g. Numbers 1:41
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.num. one (Ph. אחד, Sab. id., cf. DHMZMG 1876, 707, Arabic أَحَدٌ, Ethiopic አሐዱ Aramaic חַד,ܚܰܕ; on Assyrian êdu, aḫadu, cf. DlW No. 139)—abs. א׳ Gn 1:5 + cstr. אַחַ֫ד Gn 21:15 +; so even bef. prep. 1 S 9:3 al. v. Dr; f. abs. אַחַ֫ת Gn 2:21 +; אֶחָ֑ת Gn 11:1 +; cstr. אַחַ֫ת Dt 13:13 +; pl. m. אֲחָדִים Gn 11:1 + 4 times; חַד Ez 33:30 del. Co cf. 𝔊;—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from אחד (ʼâchad) (H258) — to be sharp.
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.
אֶחָד
- , אַחַת f. (b. h.; v. next w., one. [Freq. represented by א׳.] Kidd. 50ᵇ, a. fr. בבת אחת simultaneously, v. בַּת III. Peah III, 3 המחליק מאחת יד וכ׳ (Ms. M. בא׳) he who takes out onions with a unity of hand, i.e. all of them for one purpose. Ber. 61ᵇ, a. fr. על אחת כמה וכמה (abbr. עאכ"ו) how much against one, i.e. how much the more.—אחד … אחד both … as well as. Tem. I, 1 א׳ האנשים וכ׳ both, men as well as women. Y. Keth. V, 29ᵈ top אחת זו ואחתֹ זו the one as well as the other; a. fr.—כְּאֶחָד, כְּאַחַת at the same time. Tosef. Neg. I, 11; sq. Sot. 8ᵃ; a. fr.—Yoma I, 7 והפג אחת and cool thyself for once, for a change, v. חֲדַת.—Pl. אֲחָדִים
- 1. singular, unique. Yalk. Gen. 62 (ref. to דברים אחדים Gen. XI, 1) they spoke words על שני א׳ against two only ones (ref. to אחד Ezek. XXXIII, 24 a. Deut. VI, 4) [corr. acc. Gen. R. s. 38]. e.g. Genesis 11:1
- 2. (cmp. אֲחַד) closed up, mysterious. Gen. R. l. c. (Yalk. l. c. אֲחוּדִים v. next w.).
אָחַד
- (sec. r. of חוּד, v. חוּד I) to join, close. Part. pass. אָחוּד, pl. אֲחוּדִים
- 1. closed up, mysterious. Yalk. Gen. 62, v. foreg.
- 2. joined, united. Gen. R. s. 38 (ref. to Gen. XI, 1, v. foreg.) דברים א׳ common goods, communism. e.g. Genesis 11:1
אֲחַד
- , Pa. אָחֵיד, אַחֵד ch. (v. foreg.)
- 1. (corresp. to h. סגר a. תפש; cmp. h. אחז) to close (the door), to lock up; to seize, capture. Targ. Is. XXII, 22 אָחֵיד. Ib. יֵיחוֹד, יִיחוֹד (fut.).—Targ. Deut. XXI, 19 יְאַ׳ = יַחֲדוּן (Pa.; Var. יֶחֱדוּן = יֶאֶח׳ Pe.). Targ. Am. III, 5; a. fr.—Snh. 26ᵃ bot., a. e. אחדיה לדשא locked the door. Pes. 111ᵇ ליה רוחא אחדא a spirit (demon, disease) seizes him.—Part. pass. אֲחִיד a) locked up. Targ. Josh. VI, 1; a. e.—b) (v. אָחוּז, s. v. אָחַז) holding. Targ. Am. II, 15; a. fr.—Part. pass. Pa. מְאַחַד locked up, hidden. Targ. Job. XXVI, 9.
- 2. to devote, v. אֲחִיד.
- to seize. Targ. Ps. LXXIII, 23.
- 1. to be seized. Targ. Ez. XIX, 4; a. fr.
- 2. to be locked up, joined. Targ. Is. XXIV, 10 את אחידו … (read אתאחידו). Ib. LIX, 10 Rashi (ed. אתא חד corr. acc.). Targ. Job XLI, 9 (8); a. e.—אִתְּחִיד. Ḥull. 52ᵇ א׳ דשא the door was locked.
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 165 distinct written forms H259 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.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 105 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H259, 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
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 → 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 716 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 739 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
- Genesis 1:5
- Exodus 1:15
- Leviticus 4:2
- Numbers 1:1
- Deuteronomy 1:2
- Joshua 3:12
- Judges 4:16
- Ruth 1:4
- 1 Samuel 1:1
- 2 Samuel 1:15
- 1 Kings 2:16
- 2 Kings 2:16
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.
