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חָצֵר

court

‘court’ is one of 2 main senses fuller range ↓

H2691 Strong's Hebrew
châtsêr Transliteration
/khaw-tsare'/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 190 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.

The Hebrew noun חצר centers on the idea of “court.” Translators differ — “court” in the King James Version, then “courtyard” (Berean Standard Bible), as the renderings breakdown shows. It turns up in 163 verses across 17 books, a common footprint. First canonically at Genesis 25:16, it enters the text early. Its meaning spans more than one sense — see its full sense range. Dig into 163-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
court
Modern gloss
court
Strong's 1890 agrees
Strong's 1890 and current BDB scholarship align on this entry's primary sense — a good signal that the gloss above is unambiguous and stable. Download share card

About this word

Strong's H2691 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 →

163
distinct verses
The word appears in 163 distinct verses.
17 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 17 of 39 Old Testament books.
Genesis 25:16
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Genesis 25:16.
Zechariah 3:7
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Zechariah 3:7.
#245
by frequency
Top 250 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 245 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 163 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 28 · 17%
  • Historical 70 · 43%
  • Wisdom 9 · 6%
  • Prophets 56 · 34%

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 163 distinct verses.

  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 96 verses · 59%
  • Writings (Ketuvim) 39 verses · 24%
  • Torah (Pentateuch) 28 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).

BDB lists this Strong’s number as 2 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: Court 112×, Villages 43×, Courts 22×
  • American Standard Version: Court 109×, Villages 41×, Courts 20×
  • Berean Standard Bible: Courtyard 60×, Court 42×, Villages 28×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: Courtyard 74×, Villages 43×, The 13×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H2691 across 188 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Court” 112×
  • “Villages” 43×
  • “Courts” 22×

Plus 11 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.

American Standard Version Public Domain

Renders H2691 across 187 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Court” 109×
  • “Villages” 41×
  • “Courts” 20×
  • “Villages thereof” 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 H2691 across 184 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Courtyard” 60×
  • “Court” 42×
  • “Villages” 28×
  • “Along with their villages” 19×
  • “Courts” 19×
  • “Courtyards” 5×
  • “Outer court” 2×

Plus 9 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 6 further occurrences.

unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Renders H2691 across 191 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Courtyard” 74×
  • “Villages” 43×
  • “The” 13×
  • “Courtyard of” 11×
  • “Courts” 10×
  • “Court” 9×
  • “Courts of” 9×
  • “Court of” 4×
  • “Courtyards” 2×
  • “Villages of” 2×

Plus 14 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.

חצר I

  • 1. enclosures (in Egypt), perhaps court-yards, or cattle-yards, distinct from houses and from fields Ex 8:9 (J). e.g. Exodus 8:9
  • 2. court of private house 2 S 17:18 (containing well), cf. Ne 8:16; of a palace, חָצֵר הָאַחֶרֶת 1 K 7:8 the other court, immediately surrounding palace, so called in distinct. from (הֶ)ח׳ הַגְּדוֹלָה v 9, 12 the great court, including ח׳ הא׳ and הֶח׳ הַפְּנִימִית of temple (v. 3 b) in one great enclosure (v. StaSalomos Bauten, ZAW 1883, 152f.); 2 K 20:4 (MSS. Qr Vrss The al.; Kt Ke al. הָעִיר), Je 36:20 Est 1:5; 2:11; 4:11; 5:1, 2; 6:4(×2), 5; ח׳ מַטָּרָה court of guard, place of (honourable) confinement Je 32:2 (in king’s house), v 8, 12; 33:1; 37:21(×2); 38:6, 13, 28; 39:14, 15. Especially e.g. 2 Samuel 17:18
  • 3.
    • a. court of tabernacle חֲצַר הַמִּשְׁכָּן Ex 27:9, cf. v 9, 12, 13 + 24 times Ex (all P; שַׁעַר הֶח׳ gate of the court Ex 35:17; 38:15, 18, 31; 39:40; 40:8, 33); Lv 6:9, 19; Nu 3:26(×2) (פֶּתַח הֶח׳), v 37; 4:26(×2) (פֶּתַח שַׁעַר הֶח׳), v 32; courts of house of י׳ 1 Ch 23:28. e.g. Exodus 27:9
    • b. court(s) of Sol.’s temple, inner c. הֶח׳ הַפְּנִימית 1 K 6:36; 7:12 (but on txt. v Stal.c.) Ez 8:16; 10:3 cf. v 4; = upper c. הֶח׳ הָעֶלְיוֹן Je 36:10 (v. Gf), and ח׳ הַכֹּהֲנִים 2 Ch 4:9 (where also הָעֲזָרָה הַגְּדוֹלָה, as often Ezek., also דְּלָתוֹת לָעֲזָרָה); outer court הֶח׳ הַחִיצֹנָה Ez 10:5 = הֶח׳ הַחֲדָשָׁה 2 Ch 20:5; v. further 1 K 8:64 = 2 Ch 7:7, 2 Ch 24:21; 29:16; Je 19:14; 26:2; Ez 8:7; two courts 2 K 21:5 = 2 Ch 33:5, 2 K 23:12; courts Ez 9:7; 1 Ch 28:12; 2 Ch 23:5; Ne 8:1, 6; 13:7; often poet., courts of י׳ Is 1:12; 62:9 (ח׳ קדשׁי) Zc 3:7 ψ 65:5; 84:3, 11; 96:8; 100:4; 116:19; 135:2. e.g. 1 Kings 6:36
    • c. courts of Ezek.’s temple Ez 40:14 + 38 times Ez 40–46 (of these read הַשַּׁעַר for החצר 40:19, 32 with 𝔊 Hi Co; and החיצון for החצר 41:15 with 𝔊 Ew Co; cf. 42:6 הַחִיצֹנוֹת for הַחֲצֵרוֹת); s. תִּיכוֹן on p. 1064. e.g. Ezekiel 40:14

חצר II

  • a. settlements of Ishmaelites Gn 25:16 (P; ‖טִירוֹת circles of tents); of עַוִּים Dt 2:23; of Kedar Is 42:11 (‖ עָרִים); בָּתֵּי הַחֲצֵרִים אֲשֶׁר אֵין־לָהֶם חֹמָה סָבִיב Lv 25:31 (H), houses of the villages which have no wall about them; מַאֲרַב חֲצֵרִים ψ 10:8 lurking-place(s) of villages (i.e. where oppressor, as a wild beast, watches his opportunity to attack the defenceless). Usually e.g. Genesis 25:16
  • b. as dependencies of cities Jos 15:46, with בְּנֹתֶיהָ (v. supr. בַּת 4 p. 123) Jos 15:45, 47(×2) (all JE?); וְכָל־הַח׳ אֲשֶׁר סְבִיבוֹת הֶעָרִים 19:8 (P), also 21:12 (P) = 1 Ch 6:41, Ne 12:29; also Jos 13:23, 28; 15:32 + 23 times Jos (all P), Ne 11:25, 30 (‖ בָּנוֹת v 25, 27 etc.), 12:28. e.g. Joshua 15:46
  • c. villages, not contrasted with cities (cf. Is 42:11 supr.) 1 Ch 9:16, 22, 25 (all of Levites). e.g. Isaiah 42:11
  • d. ח׳ appar. incl. all settlements outside of Jerusalem הַח׳ בִּשְׂדֹתָם Ne 11:25.—ח׳ in n.pr.loc. v. infr. (and see Bla on Jos 15:20–32). e.g. Nehemiah 11:25

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. Ez 40:23 and (oftener) f. 1 K 6:36 enclosure, court—abs. ח׳ 1 K 7:8 +, חָצֵרָה Je 36:20; cstr. חֲצַר Ex 27:9 +; sf. חֲצֵרוֹ 2 S 17:18; חֲצֵרוֹת Ex 8:9 + 4 times; cstr. חַצְרֵי Ne 13:7, חַצְרוֹת 2 K 21:5 + 10 times; sf. חֲצֵרָ֑י Is 1:12; Zc 3:7; חֲצֵרֶיךָ ψ 65:5; 84:11; חֲצֵרוֹתָ֑י 1 Ch 28:6; חֲצֵרֹחָיו ψ 100:4, לְחַצְרוֹתָ֑יו ψ 96:8, וּבְחַצְרֹתֵיהֶם Ne 8:16;—

II. n.m. Ne 11:25 settled abode, settlement, village (Lagl.c.)—always pl., abs. חֲצֵרִים Jos 19:8 + 5 times; cstr. חַצְרֵי 1 Ch 9:16; Ne 12:28; sf. חֲצֵרֶיהָ Jos 21:12 + 4 times; חַצְרֵיהֶם 1 Ch 4:33 + 6 times; חַצְרֵיהֶן Jos 13:23 + 24 times; Jos;—

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

Derived from חצר (châtsar) (H2690) — to trumpet.

Part of speech: Noun Masculine TWOT: 722a , 723a


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.

*חֲצַר

  • (dial. for חֲצַד) to cut, harvest. Taan. 10ᵃ עתידה בבל דחַצְרָא וכ׳ Ms. M. (v. חֲצַד) Babylonia shall in the future harvest without rain (on account of the canalization introduced). Cmp. חָצִיר.—[מְחַצְּרִין, v. חַצְצַר.]

חֲצַר

  • grass, leek, v. חָצִיר, חָצִירָא.

חָצֵר

  • c. (b. h.; wds.; cmp. גָּזַר a. גִּזְרָה &c.) court, yard, in gen. private property. B. Mets. 11ᵃ חֲצֵרוֹ של אדם וכ׳ the ground belonging to a person takes possession for him (of what is found there) even without his knowledge. Ib. ח׳ המשתמרת a well-guarded ground (fenced-in). B. Kam. 12ᵃ; Gitt. 21ᵃ, a. e. ח׳ מהלכת a moving ground, e.g. the back of a slave. Erub. VI, 1 הדר עם … בח׳ if one dwells in the same court yard with a gentile. Ib. 3 אנשי ח׳ the residents of dwellings in one court yard; a. v. fr.—ח׳ הצירית Tyrian yard (with a lodge at the entrance). Maasr. III, 5; Nidd. 47ᵇ.—חֲצַר הקבר the excavated ground to which all the caves of a cemetery open. Ohol. XV, 8; Tosef. ib. XV, 7.—חֲ׳ הכירה the rim of the cooking range. Kel. VII, 3; Tosef. Kel. B. Kam. V, 5.—חֲ׳ הכבד (= b. h. יֹתֶרֶת) lobe of the liver. Yoma VIII, 6; a. e.—חֲ׳ מות cemetery, v. supra. Ber. 18ᵇ.—Pl. חֲצֵרוֹת, חֲצֵי׳. Erub. IV, 6. Ib. VI, 8; a. fr.

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 94 distinct written forms H2691 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
וְ/חַצְרֵי/הֶֽן Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct Joshua 13:23 25
הֶ/חָצֵ֥ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 40:32 8
הֶֽ/חָצֵר֙ Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 27:12 8
בַּ/חֲצַ֣ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Construct Jeremiah 19:14 6
הֶ/חָצֵ֖ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 27:19 6
הֶ/חָצֵֽר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 35:17 6
חֲצַ֣ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Construct Esther 2:11 5
בַּ/חֲצַ֖ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Construct 2 Chronicles 24:21 4
בַּ/חֲצַ֥ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Construct Jeremiah 32:12 4
הֶ/חָצֵ֑ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 38:9 4
הֶ/חָצֵ֗ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 40:33 4
הֶ/חָצֵ֣ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 42:14 4
הֶֽ/חָצֵ֔ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 38:15 4
הֶ/חָצֵ֨ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Esther 4:11 3
חַצְר֥וֹת Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct 2 Chronicles 33:5 3
לֶ/חָצֵ֣ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 40:23 3
בְּ/חַצְר֖וֹת Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct 2 Chronicles 23:5 2
הֶ/חָצֵ֔ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 35:17 2
הֶ/חָצֵ֛ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 38:16 2
הֶ/חָצֵ֜ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 39:40 2
הֶ/חָצֵ֤ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 44:27 2
הֶֽ/חָצֵ֗ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 27:13 2
הֶֽ/חָצֵ֜ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 27:16 2
וַ/חֲצֵרֶֽי/הָ Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct Joshua 15:45 2
חֲצֵרִ֗ים Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute Nehemiah 12:29 2
חֲצֵרֶ֑י/הָ Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct 1 Chronicles 6:56 2
חָצֵ֖ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 46:21 2
חָצֵר֙ Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 40:31 2
לֶ/חָצֵ֖ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 40:17 2
לֶ/חָצֵ֥ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 40:27 2
לֶֽ/חָצֵר֙ Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 40:34 2
בְ/חַצְרֵי/הֶם֙ Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct 1 Chronicles 9:22 1
בֶ/חָצֵ֑ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Esther 6:4 1
בְּ/חַצְר֤וֹת Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct Psalms 116:19 1
בְּ/חַצְר֥וֹת Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct Isaiah 62:9 1
בְּ/חַצְרֵ֖י Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct Nehemiah 13:7 1
בְּ/חַצְרֵ֥י Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct 1 Chronicles 9:16 1
בְּ/חַצְרֵי/הֶ֖ם Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct Genesis 25:16 1
בְּ/חַצְרֵי/הֶ֜ם Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct 1 Chronicles 9:25 1
בְּ֝/חַצְר֗וֹת Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct Psalms 135:2 1
בֶּ/חָצֵ֑ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Esther 6:5 1
בֶּ/חָצֵ֣ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Jeremiah 36:10 1
בֶּ/חָצֵ֤ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 40:44 1
בֶּֽ/חָצֵ֔ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Esther 5:2 1
בַּ/חֲצֵר֖/וֹ Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Construct 2 Samuel 17:18 1
בַּ/חֲצֵרֶ֗י/ךָ Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct Psalms 84:10 1
בַּ/חֲצַ֕ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Construct Esther 1:5 1
בַּ/חֲצַ֤ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Construct Esther 5:1 1
הֶ/חָצֵ֧ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 40:19 1
הֶ/חָצֵר֙ Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 38:18 1
הֶֽ/חָצֵ֑ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 8:7 1
הֶֽ/חָצֵ֖ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 43:5 1
הֶֽ/חָצֵ֤ר Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 27:17 1
הֶֽ/חָצֵר֩ Noun, Common, Both, Singular, Absolute Exodus 27:18 1
הַ/חֲצֵר֑וֹת Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute Ezekiel 42:6 1
הַ/חֲצֵר֛וֹת Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute Ezekiel 9:7 1
הַ/חֲצֵרִ֖ים Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute Nehemiah 11:25 1
הַ/חֲצֵרִ֗ים Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute Leviticus 25:31 1
הַ/חֲצֵרֹ֖ת Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute Exodus 8:13 1
הַ/חֲצֵרוֹת֙ Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute 1 Chronicles 23:28 1

The 60 most common forms are shown; 34 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.


Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H2691, 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

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 17 — not the complete family. 13 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 148 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 163 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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