טַבַּ֫עַת
signet ring
also: ring, signet fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Construct-state word in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
State
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Gender
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
- Singular
- One.
24 distinct verses where H2885 appears in the Construct state, across 3 books. 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.
Genesis 1 verse
Exodus 18 verses
- Exodus 25:12 טַבְּעֹ֣ת טַבָּעֹ֗ת טַבָּעֹ֔ת n c fp cs n c fp n c fp You shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in its four feet. Two rings shall be on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it.
- Exodus 25:15 בְּ/טַבְּעֹת֙ prep + n c fp cs The poles shall be in the rings of the ark. They shall not be taken from it.
- Exodus 25:26 טַבְּעֹ֣ת הַ/טַּבָּעֹ֔ת n c fp cs ptcl def.art + n c fp You shall make four rings of gold for it, and put the rings in the four corners that are on its four feet.
- Exodus 26:29 טַבְּעֹֽתֵי/הֶם֙ n c fp cs + sfx pers 3mp You shall overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for the bars: and you shall overlay the bars with gold.
- Exodus 27:4 טַבְּעֹ֣ת n c fp cs You shall make a grating for it of network of brass: and on the net you shall make four brazen rings in its four corners.
- Exodus 28:23 טַבְּע֣וֹת הַ/טַּבָּע֔וֹת n c fp cs ptcl def.art + n c fp You shall make on the breastplate two rings of gold, and shall put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate.
- Exodus 28:26 טַבְּע֣וֹת n c fp cs You shall make two rings of gold, and you shall put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on its edge, which is toward the side of the ephod inward.
- Exodus 28:27 טַבְּע֣וֹת n c fp cs You shall make two rings of gold, and shall put them on the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod underneath, in the forepart of it, close by the coupling of it, above the skillfully woven band of the ephod.
- Exodus 28:28 מ/טבעת/ו מִֽ/טַּבְּעֹתָ֞י/ו טַבְּעֹ֤ת prep + n c fp cs + sfx pers 3ms prep + n c fp cs + sfx pers 3ms n c fp cs They shall bind the breastplate by the rings of it to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastplate may not swing out from the ephod.
- Exodus 30:4 טַבְּעֹ֨ת n c fp cs You shall make two golden rings for it under its molding; on its two ribs, on its two sides you shall make them; and they shall be for places for poles with which to bear it.
- Exodus 36:34 טַבְּעֹתָ/ם֙ n c fp cs + sfx pers 3mp He overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold for places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.
- Exodus 37:3 טַבְּעֹ֣ת טַבָּעֹ֗ת טַבָּע֔וֹת n c fp cs n c fp n c fp He cast four rings of gold for it, in its four feet; even two rings on its one side, and two rings on its other side.
- Exodus 37:13 טַבְּעֹ֣ת הַ/טַּבָּעֹ֔ת n c fp cs ptcl def.art + n c fp He cast four rings of gold for it, and put the rings in the four corners that were on its four feet.
- Exodus 37:27 טַבְּעֹ֨ת n c fp cs He made two golden rings for it under its molding crown, on its two ribs, on its two sides, for places for poles with which to carry it.
- Exodus 39:16 טַבְּעֹ֣ת הַ/טַּבָּעֹ֔ת n c fp cs ptcl def.art + n c fp They made two settings of gold, and two gold rings, and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate.
- Exodus 39:19 טַבְּעֹ֣ת n c fp cs They made two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on the edge of it, which was toward the side of the ephod inward.
- Exodus 39:20 טַבְּעֹ֣ת n c fp cs They made two rings of gold, and put them on the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod underneath, in the front of it, close by its coupling, above the skillfully woven band of the ephod.
- Exodus 39:21 מִ/טַּבְּעֹתָי/ו֩ טַבְּעֹ֨ת prep + n c fp cs + sfx pers 3ms n c fp cs They bound the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastplate might not come loose from the ephod, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
Esther 5 verses
- Esther 3:10 טַבַּעְתּ֖/וֹ n c fs cs + sfx pers 3ms The king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy.
- Esther 3:12 בְּ/טַבַּ֥עַת prep + n c fs cs Then were the king's scribes called in the first month, on the thirteenth day of it; and there was written according to all that Haman commanded to the king's satraps, and to the governors who were over every province, and to the princes of every people, to every province according to the writing of it, and to every people after their language; in the name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and it was sealed with the king's ring.
- Esther 8:2 טַבַּעְתּ֗/וֹ n c fs cs + sfx pers 3ms The king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.
- Esther 8:8 בְּ/טַבַּ֣עַת בְּ/טַבַּ֥עַת prep + n c fs cs prep + n c fs cs Write you also to the Jews, as it pleases you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring; for the writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse.
- Esther 8:10 בְּ/טַבַּ֣עַת prep + n c fs cs He wrote the name of king Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by post on horseback, riding on swift steeds that were used in the king's service, bred of the stud:
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
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.
- #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 →
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 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:
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:
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:
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:
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.
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.
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.
