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טַבַּ֫עַת

signet ring

also: ring, signet fuller range ↓

H2885 Strong's Hebrew
ṭabbaʻath Transliteration
/tab-bah'-ath/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 50 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 טבעת centers on the idea of “signet ring.” The word gravitates to Exodus (79%), then Esther and Genesis. It appears 38 verses across 5 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its moderately common vocabulary. Its earliest occurrence is Genesis 41:42. Beyond “signet ring” it also covers “ring” and “signet” — see its full sense range. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
ring
Modern gloss
signet ring
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 H2885 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 →

38
distinct verses
The word appears in 38 distinct verses.
5 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 5 of 39 Old Testament books.
Genesis 41:42
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Genesis 41:42.
Isaiah 3:21
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Isaiah 3:21.
#739
by frequency
Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 739 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 38 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 32 · 84%
  • Historical 5 · 13%
  • Wisdom 0 · 0%
  • Prophets 1 · 3%

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 38 distinct verses.

  • Torah (Pentateuch) 32 verses · 84%
  • Writings (Ketuvim) 5 verses · 13%
  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 1 verse · 3%

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: Rings 36×, Ring 9×
  • American Standard Version: Rings 30×, 's ring 4×, Ring 4×
  • Berean Standard Bible: Rings 31×, Signet ring 7×, Ring 3×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: Rings 20×, Rings of 17×, Signet ring 4×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H2885 across 49 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Rings” 36×
  • “Ring” 9×

Plus 4 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 H2885 across 49 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Rings” 30×
  • “'s ring” 4×
  • “Ring” 4×
  • “Two rings” 4×
  • “Signet-rings” 2×
  • “Thereof unto the rings” 2×

Plus 3 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 H2885 across 44 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Rings” 31×
  • “Signet ring” 7×
  • “Ring” 3×
  • “Gold rings” 2×

Plus 1 rendering that appears 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 5 further occurrences.

unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Renders H2885 across 50 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Rings” 20×
  • “Rings of” 17×
  • “Signet ring” 4×
  • “Signet ring of” 4×
  • “Ring” 2×

Plus 3 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.


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 3 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. signet-ring, of king, taken from his hand and given as token of authority Gn 41:42 (E), Est 3:10; 8:2; used in sealing official missives Est 3:12; 8(×2), 10 (vb. חָתַם). e.g. Genesis 41:42
  • 2. ring, as ornament Is 3:21; as gift for sacred purposes Ex 35:22 Nu 31:50 (both P). e.g. Isaiah 3:21
  • 3. most often (only in Ex.) of rings for staves of ark, for curtains, for ephod, and other sacred furniture Ex 25:12(×3) + 35 times in Ex (all P). e.g. Exodus 25:12

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

n.f. signet, signet-ring, ring (on format. v. LagBN 88; Assyrian ṭimbu’u, seal-ring, Muss-Arnoltl.c.)—abs. טַבַּעַת Ex 26:24 + 3 times; cstr. id. Est 3:12 + 3 times; טַבַּעְתּוֹ Gn 41:42 + 2 times; pl. abs. טַבָּעוֹת Is 3:21 Ex 28:23; טַבָּעֹת Ex 25:12(×2) + 14 times; cstr. טַבְּעוֹת Ex 28:23 + 2 times; טַבְּעֹת Ex 25:12 + 12 times; sf. טַבְּעֹתָ֯ו Ex 28:28; 39:21; טַבְּעֹתֵיהֶם Ex 26:29; טַבְּעֹתָם 36:34;—

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

Derived from טבע (ṭâbaʻ) (H2883) — to sink.

Part of speech: Noun Masculine TWOT: 789a


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.

טַבַּעַת

  • round band, ring. Tosef. Kel. B. Mets. II, 1 ט׳ שהוא חוגר וכ׳ a ring which one puts around his loins; ט׳ של אצבע finger ring; Sabb. 52ᵇ. Ib.; Kel. XII, 1 ט׳ אדם ornamental ring; ט׳ בהמה והכלים a ring used for beasts or for garments (for fastening); a. fr.—Esp. seal-ring. Sabb. 59ᵇ. Deut. R. s. 2; a. fr.—הֲסָרַת ט׳ the authority given by transfer of the ring. Meg. 14ᵃ; Lam. R. to IV, 22.—Pl. טַבָּעוֹת. Sabb. l. c.; a. fr.—Ab. d’R. N. ch. XVIII ט׳ ט׳, v. מַטְבֵּעַ.—Trnsf. (פי הט׳) anus, end of the rectum. B. Kam. 92ᵃ. Sabb. 108ᵇ bot.; a. fr.—Y. ib. VIII, end, 11ᶜ לטבעות, read לטבעת, v. אַמְבְּטִיתָא.

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 29 distinct written forms H2885 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
טַבְּעֹ֣ת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct Exodus 25:12 8
הַ/טַּבָּעֹ֑ת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute Exodus 25:27 4
הַ/טַּבָּעֹ֔ת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute Exodus 25:26 3
טַבְּע֣וֹת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct Exodus 28:23 3
טַבְּעֹ֨ת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct Exodus 30:4 3
בְּ/טַבַּ֣עַת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Esther 8:8 2
בְּ/טַבַּ֥עַת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Esther 3:12 2
בַּ/טַּבָּעֹ֔ת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute Exodus 25:14 2
הַ/טַּבַּ֖עַת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Exodus 26:24 2
טַבָּעֹ֗ת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute Exodus 25:12 2
בְּ/טַבְּעֹת֙ Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct Exodus 25:15 1
בַּ/טַּבָּעֹ֑ת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute Exodus 27:7 1
בַּ/טַּבָּעֹ֗ת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute Exodus 38:7 1
הַ/טַּבָּע֔וֹת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute Exodus 28:23 1
הַ/טַּבָּע֖וֹת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute Isaiah 3:21 1
וְ/טַבַּ֤עַת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Exodus 35:22 1
טַבְּעֹ֤ת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct Exodus 28:28 1
טַבְּעֹֽתֵי/הֶם֙ Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct Exodus 26:29 1
טַבְּעֹתָ/ם֙ Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct Exodus 36:34 1
טַבַּ֖עַת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Numbers 31:50 1
טַבַּעְתּ/וֹ֙ Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Genesis 41:42 1
טַבַּעְתּ֖/וֹ Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Esther 3:10 1
טַבַּעְתּ֗/וֹ Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Esther 8:2 1
טַבָּע֔וֹת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute Exodus 37:3 1
טַבָּעֹ֔ת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute Exodus 25:12 1
טַבָּעֹ֛ת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute Exodus 38:5 1
מ/טבעת/ו Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct Exodus 28:28 1
מִ/טַּבְּעֹתָי/ו֩ Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct Exodus 39:21 1
מִֽ/טַּבְּעֹתָ֞י/ו Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct Exodus 28:28 1

Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H2885, 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

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 32 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 38 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.

Reading settings

Reading text

Shown beneath each verse's original-language words.

Old Testament
Old Testament edition

Read the OT as the Masoretic Hebrew (MT) or the Greek Septuagint (LXX).

English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

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