כְּאֵב
pain
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
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
2 distinct verses where H3511 appears in the Absolute state, across 2 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.
Job 1 verse
Isaiah 1 verse
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.
“pain” is the headline sense of the Hebrew noun כאב (kᵉʼêb). Scripture first uses it in Job 2:13. With 6 verses in 4 books, it is an uncommon word in the Hebrew Bible. It concentrates in Job, which alone accounts for 33% of its uses. From the same root come כאב and מכאב. See the sense tree, 6-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H3511 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 →
- 6
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 6 distinct verses.
- 4 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 4 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #3,040
- by frequency
- Top 5000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 3,040 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 6 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 6 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 3 verses · 50%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 3 verses · 50%
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: Sorrow 3×, Grief 2×
- American Standard Version: Sorrow 3×
- Berean Standard Bible: Pain 3×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Pain 4×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H3511 across 6 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 H3511 across 6 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 H3511 across 6 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.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H3511 across 7 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 BDB
The 1 sense BDB distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
- pain (mental and physical), sorrow
Word origin
n.m. Jb 2:13 pain;—כ׳ abs. Jb 2:13 Is 17:11; cstr. 65:14; sf. כְּאֵבִי Jb 16:6 + 2 times;—pain, mental and physical Jb 2:13; 16:6 perhaps also ψ 39:3; כּ׳ אָנוּשׁ (in disappointment and disaster) Is 17:11 (‖ נַחֲלָה from חָלָה; mental, כּ׳־לֵב Is 65:14 (‖ שֵׁבֶר רוּחַ) so Je 15:18 (‖ מַכָּה fig.)
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from כאב (kâʼab) (H3510) — to be in pain.
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.
אַב־
- a prefix of words of Greek origin answering to αὐ-, au-, e.g. אבטומטוס = αὐτόματος; or to εὐ, e.g. אבגינוס = εὐγενής.
אָב I
- (Assyr. A-bu, Schr. K. A. T., p. 247) Ab, the fifth month of the Jewish calendar (of thirty days) beginning between the eighth of July and the seventh of August, and ending between the sixth of August and the fifth of September. R. Hash. I, 3, על אב וכ׳ for announcing the beginning of Ab messengers are sent out, for the sake of the fast. Ib. 18ᵇ ט׳ באב the ninth of Ab, anniversary of Temple destruction. Taan. IV, 6 משנכנס אב with the beginning of Ab. Ib. 29ᵇ לישתמיט מיניה באב let him try to be relieved of (the law-suit) in Ab. Meg. 5ᵇ; a. e.
אָב II
- , const. אֲבִי, אַב [embracer], father, ancestor, progenitor; teacher; chief, leader; author, originator. Ex. R. s. 46 end המגדל אב the educator is the real father. Lev. R. s. 1 אבי החכמה וכ׳, the father of all wisdom, … the father of prophets. Y. Ned. V, 39ᵇ; a. fr.—אַב בית דין (abbr. אב"ד) president of the Court (Great Sanhedrin), next in dignity to the Nassi. Taan. II, 1; a. fr.—Metaph. origin, cause. Num. R. s. 10 (play on אֲבוֹי, Prov. XXIII, 29) א׳ אוי the cause of woe (sin).—אב מלאכה (for which also עיקר) one of the chief labors forbidden on the Sabbath, opp. תולדה a labor the prohibition of which is based on the ground of its being a species of the former, or derived from the former. Sabb. VII, 1 sq.; a. fr.—[Y. Sabb. II, 5ᵃ, אב שלה, sub. מלאכה.]—אב הטומאה one of the original or direct causes of levitical uncleanness, opp. ולד (child) secondary cause. Toh. I, 5; a. fr.—א׳ הנזק v. Pl.—בנין א׳ creation of a class, i.e. a conclusion, by analogy, from a case explicitly stated in the bibl. law on all similar cases not specified in detail. Sifra introd.—Ib. K’doshim, end, ch. 11 (ref. to Lev. XX, 27) זה ב׳ א׳ לכל דמיהם בם this forms the rule for all cases in which the Bible uses the word d’mēhem bam (that the penalty is stoning to death); a. fr.; v. also בֵּית אב.—Pl. אָבוֹת־, const. אֲבוֹת, e.g. Proverbs 23:29
- 1. fathers, ancestors, patriarchs &c. Ber. 26ᵇ prayers א׳ תקנום have been instituted by the Patriarchs; a. fr.—אבות בתי דינין, v. supra. Ḥag. II, 2.—בת א׳ a woman of noble descent. Num. R. s. 1; a. e.—Metaph. principal, chief א׳ מלאכות, v. supra. א׳ הטומא׳ Kel. I, 1; v. supra.—א׳ נזיקין (sing. אב הנזק) the chief actionable injuries or damages, from which the subordinate are deduced (תולדות). B. Kam. I, 1; a. e.
- 2. Aboth, the first section of the Prayer of Benedictions (v. תְּפִלָּה), so called because it alludes to the Patriarchs. R. Hash. IV, 5; a. fr.
- 3. Aboth, name of a treatise of the Mishnah, containing sayings of Talmudic authorities and belonging to the fourth section, נזיקין, of the Mishnah collection (משניות); also styled פִּרְקֵי א׳ a. מְסֶכֶת א׳. A similar collection of a later date is contained in Talmud Babli editions, named א׳ דרבי נתן Aboth d’Rabbi Nathan. [Y. Yoma VIII, 44ᵈ top אב בית נפש v. אֲבֵידָה.]
אָב II ²
- ch., v. אַבָּא
אֵב
- swelling, spreading, whence
- 1. the young shoots of a tree, opp. to the branches growing directly from the trunk. B. Kam. 81ᵃ אִיבּוֹ של אילן ed. (Ar. a. Ms. חובו, v. חוֹב II, cmp. Rashi a. l.). [Y. Erub. III, 21ᵃ top איבו; Y. Succ. II, 53ᵃ צידו.]
- 2. pl. אִבִּין, אִיבִּין state of growth, development. Ḥull. 58ᵃ cascuta which became wormy באִבֶּיהָ during its growth. Ib. 127ᵇ figs which shrunk באִבֵּיהֶן during development. Y. Sabb. VII, 10ᶜ bot. he who presses olives מאִבֵּיהֶן from where they grow (before they are ripe to be taken off). [Tosef. Maasr. I, 4 איבין אדומים, Var. אובין, read אוּגִין, v. אוֹג.] Ib. 5 they differ על האיבין concerning the plants in their growing state (between ripening [גמר] and blossoming [הנץ]; Var. אוֹנין incorr.); cmp. יָבַן. Ch. v. אִיבָּא I.
כָּאֵב
- (b. h.) to be heavy, to feel pain. Y. Sabb. IX, 12ᵃ ib. XIX, 17ᵃ bot. (ref. to Gen. XXXIV, 25) בהיותו כּוֹאֵב כל איבריהם כּוֹאֲבִים עליהם … it does not say, ‘when it (the wound) was painful’, but …, which intimates that all their limbs pained them. e.g. Genesis 34:25
- to cause pain, grief. Ex. R. s. 3 (ref. to Ex. III, 7) ידעתי … להַכְאִיבֵנִי וכ׳ I know how much they will grieve me &c. Pirké d’R. El. ch. XII שלא להַכְאִיבוֹ so as to make him feel no pain. Midr. Till. to Ps. XCIV (ref. to Prov. III, 12) א"ת וּכְאָב אלא וּכְאֵב … שמַכְאִיבוֹ read not ukh’ab (and like a father) but ukh’eb (and pain), when He sends him pain. e.g. Exodus 3:7
כְּאֵב I
- Targ. Prov. XIV, 13.—Part. כָּאֵב, כָּאֵיב, כָּיֵב. Targ. Job XIV, 22. Targ. Ps. LXIX, 30; a. fr.—Targ. Jer. IV, 19 כֵּיבִין (ed. Lag. כָּיְיבָן).—B. Kam. 46ᵇ מאן דכאיב ליה כאיבא וכ׳ Ms. F. (v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note, Ms. H. כיבא) he who feels sick, goes to the physician. Ib. 85ᵇ הוה כ׳ ליה מידי וסליק ואיתיב וכ׳ Ms. M. (ed. ואייתי) he had a sore and it was going away, and one put on a corrodent drug for him &c., v. חֲוַר. Gitt. 68ᵇ כָּיֵיב; a. fr.—B. Kam. 35ᵃ כיבין, v. חִינְכֵי.
- to cause pain, wound, grieve. Lam. R. to II, 1 translating יעיב, ib.) איך כ׳ וכ׳ how did the Lord wound &c., v. כֵּיבָא.
כְּאֵב II
- preced.)
- 1. heaviness, pain. Ber. 55ᵃ כ׳ לב heaviness of heart (fretfulness). Gen. R. s. 67, end כ׳ על כ׳ grief added to grief; a. e.
- 2. grievous offence. Deut. R. s. 3 (ref. to מכאביו, Ex. III, 7) יודע אני מה כ׳ וכ׳ I know what grievous offence they are going to commit, v. כָּאֵב. e.g. Exodus 3:7
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 6 distinct written forms H3511 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| הַ/כְּאֵ֖ב | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Job 2:13 | 1 |
| וּ/כְאֵ֥ב | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Isaiah 17:11 | 1 |
| וּ/כְאֵבִ֥/י | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct | Psalms 39:2 | 1 |
| כְאֵבִ/י֙ | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct | Jeremiah 15:18 | 1 |
| כְּאֵבִ֑/י | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct | Job 16:6 | 1 |
| מִ/כְּאֵ֣ב | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct | Isaiah 65:14 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H3511, 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
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 6 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 6 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.
