כָּבַס
to wash
‘to wash’ is one of 5 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Piel verb in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Piel
- An intensive or resultative active stem. Here: ‘wash garments’
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”). Here: ‘only’
- Pual
- The passive counterpart of the Piel.
Form
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Person
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Grammatical forms 14 distinct
- Verb, Piel, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 17 times (33%)
- Verb, Piel, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 12 times (24%)
- Verb, Piel, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural 3 times (6%)
- Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 3 times (6%)
- Verb, Piel, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular 3 times (6%)
- Verb, Pual, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 times (4%)
- Verb, Piel, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural 2 times (4%)
- Verb, Piel, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 times (4%)
+6 more forms (7 occurrences)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (morphhb / Westminster Leningrad Codex — WLC text public domain, morphhb tagging CC BY 4.0), counted across 51 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where H3526 appears — 48 distinct verses across 10 books. 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 2 verses
- Exodus 19:10 וְ/כִבְּס֖וּ conj + Piel wpf 3cp Yahweh said to Moses, "Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments,
- Exodus 19:14 וַֽ/יְכַבְּס֖וּ conj + Piel wimpf 3mp Moses went down from the mountain to the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes.
Leviticus 28 verses
- Leviticus 6:27 תְּכַבֵּ֖ס Piel impf 2ms Whatever shall touch its flesh shall be holy. When there is any of its blood sprinkled on a garment, you shall wash that on which it was sprinkled in a holy place.
- Leviticus 11:25 יְכַבֵּ֥ס Piel impf 3ms Whoever carries any part of their carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening.
- Leviticus 11:28 יְכַבֵּ֥ס Piel impf 3ms He who carries their carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. They are unclean to you.
- Leviticus 11:40 יְכַבֵּ֥ס יְכַבֵּ֥ס Piel impf 3ms Piel impf 3ms He who eats of its carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. He also who carries its carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening.
- Leviticus 13:6 וְ/כִבֶּ֥ס conj + Piel wpf 3ms The priest shall examine him again on the seventh day; and, behold, if the plague has faded, and the plague hasn't spread in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean. It is a scab. He shall wash his clothes, and be clean.
- Leviticus 13:34 וְ/כִבֶּ֥ס conj + Piel wpf 3ms On the seventh day, the priest shall examine the itch; and, behold, if the itch hasn't spread in the skin, and its appearance isn't deeper than the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean. He shall wash his clothes, and be clean.
- Leviticus 13:54 וְ/כִ֨בְּס֔וּ conj + Piel wpf 3cp then the priest shall command that they wash the thing in which the plague is, and he shall isolate it seven more days.
- Leviticus 13:55 הֻכַּבֵּ֣ס Hothpaal inf.cs Then the priest shall examine it, after the plague is washed; and, behold, if the plague hasn't changed its color, and the plague hasn't spread, it is unclean; you shall burn it in the fire. It is a mildewed spot, whether the bareness is inside or outside.
- Leviticus 13:56 הֻכַּבֵּ֣ס Hothpaal inf.cs If the priest looks, and, behold, the plague has faded after it is washed, then he shall tear it out of the garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or out of the woof:
- Leviticus 13:58 תְּכַבֵּ֔ס וְ/כֻבַּ֥ס Piel impf 2ms conj + Pual wpf 3ms The garment, either the warp, or the woof, or whatever thing of skin it is, which you shall wash, if the plague has departed from them, then it shall be washed the second time, and it will be clean."
- Leviticus 14:8 וְ/כִבֶּס֩ conj + Piel wpf 3ms "He who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and bathe himself in water; and he shall be clean. After that he shall come into the camp, but shall dwell outside his tent seven days.
- Leviticus 14:9 וְ/כִבֶּ֣ס conj + Piel wpf 3ms It shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off. He shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his body in water, then he shall be clean.
- Leviticus 14:47 יְכַבֵּ֖ס יְכַבֵּ֖ס Piel impf 3ms Piel impf 3ms He who lies down in the house shall wash his clothes; and he who eats in the house shall wash his clothes.
- Leviticus 15:5 יְכַבֵּ֧ס Piel impf 3ms Whoever touches his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
- Leviticus 15:6 יְכַבֵּ֧ס Piel impf 3ms He who sits on anything whereon the man who has the discharge sat shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
- Leviticus 15:7 יְכַבֵּ֧ס Piel impf 3ms "'He who touches the body of him who has the discharge shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
- Leviticus 15:8 וְ/כִבֶּ֧ס conj + Piel wpf 3ms "'If he who has the discharge spits on him who is clean, then he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
- Leviticus 15:10 יְכַבֵּ֧ס Piel impf 3ms Whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until the evening. He who carries those things shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
- Leviticus 15:11 וְ/כִבֶּ֧ס conj + Piel wpf 3ms "'Whoever he who has the discharge touches, without having rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
- Leviticus 15:13 וְ/כִבֶּ֣ס conj + Piel wpf 3ms "'When he who has a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, then he shall count to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes; and he shall bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean.
- Leviticus 15:17 וְ/כֻבַּ֥ס conj + Pual wpf 3ms Every garment, and every skin, whereon the semen is, shall be washed with water, and be unclean until the evening.
- Leviticus 15:21 יְכַבֵּ֧ס Piel impf 3ms Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
- Leviticus 15:22 יְכַבֵּ֧ס Piel impf 3ms Whoever touches anything that she sits on shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
- Leviticus 15:27 וְ/כִבֶּ֧ס conj + Piel wpf 3ms Whoever touches these things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.
- Leviticus 16:26 יְכַבֵּ֣ס Piel impf 3ms "He who lets the goat go for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.
- Leviticus 16:28 יְכַבֵּ֣ס Piel impf 3ms He who burns them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.
- Leviticus 17:15 וְ/כִבֶּ֨ס conj + Piel wpf 3ms "'Every person that eats what dies of itself, or that which is torn by animals, whether he is native-born or a foreigner, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening: then he shall be clean.
- Leviticus 17:16 יְכַבֵּ֔ס Piel impf 3ms But if he doesn't wash them, or bathe his flesh, then he shall bear his iniquity.'"
Numbers 8 verses
- Numbers 8:7 וְ/כִבְּס֥וּ conj + Piel wpf 3cp Thus shall you do to them, to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of cleansing on them, let them shave their whole bodies with a razor, and let them wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves.
- Numbers 8:21 וַֽ/יְכַבְּסוּ֙ conj + Piel wimpf 3mp The Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them for a wave offering before Yahweh; and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them.
- Numbers 19:7 וְ/כִבֶּ֨ס conj + Piel wpf 3ms Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.
- Numbers 19:8 יְכַבֵּ֤ס Piel impf 3ms He who burns her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even.
- Numbers 19:10 וְ֠/כִבֶּס conj + Piel wpf 3ms He who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be to the children of Israel, and to the stranger who lives as a foreigner among them, for a statute forever.
- Numbers 19:19 וְ/כִבֶּ֧ס conj + Piel wpf 3ms and the clean person shall sprinkle on the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify him; and he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.
- Numbers 19:21 יְכַבֵּ֣ס Piel impf 3ms It shall be a perpetual statute to them: and he who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and he who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until even.
- Numbers 31:24 וְ/כִבַּסְתֶּ֧ם conj + Piel wpf 2mp You shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean; and afterward you shall come into the camp.
2 Samuel 1 verse
2 Kings 1 verse
Psalms 2 verses
Isaiah 2 verses
- Isaiah 7:3 כוֹבֵֽס Qal ptcp.act ms Then Yahweh said to Isaiah, "Go out now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shearjashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller's field.
- Isaiah 36:2 כוֹבֵֽס Qal ptcp.act ms The king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a great army. He stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field.
Jeremiah 2 verses
- Jeremiah 2:22 תְּכַבְּסִי֙ Piel impf 2fs For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me, says the Lord Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 4:14 כַּבְּסִ֨י Piel impv 2fs Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?
Malachi 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.
כבס (kâbaç) is a Hebrew verb most often rendered “to wash.” It clusters heavily in Leviticus, which alone accounts for 58% of its uses. With 48 verses in 10 books, it is a moderately common word in the Hebrew Bible. Across 4 stems, its meaning turns on the binyan (Qal, Piel). The King James Version usually renders it “shall wash,” while modern versions prefer “must wash” (Berean Standard Bible) — see the renderings breakdown. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H3526 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 →
- 48
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 48 distinct verses.
- 10 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 10 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #723
- by frequency
- Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 723 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 48 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 48 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 39 verses · 81%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 7 verses · 15%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 2 verses · 4%
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: Shall wash 19×, He shall wash 4×, Wash 4×
- American Standard Version: Shall wash 19×, Bathe 7×, He shall wash 5×
- Berean Standard Bible: Must wash 19×, Launderer’s 4×, Wash 4×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Shall wash 19×, He shall wash 9×, And 3×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H3526 across 51 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 15 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 H3526 across 58 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 18 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 H3526 across 49 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 15 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 2 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H3526 across 56 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 15 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
Hebrew verbs can shift meaning by stem (binyan): Qal is the basic action, Niphal is often passive or reflexive, Piel often intensifies or makes it factitive, and Hiphil is typically causative. The senses below are grouped under the stem BDB assigns to each. This entry also uses Pual (the passive of Piel) and Hothp (the passive of Hithpael).
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 6 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.
Qal
- Pt. only מְסִלַּת שְׂדֵה כוֹבֵס highway of fuller’s (= treader’s, washer’s) field Is 7:3; 36:2 = 2 K 18:17. e.g. Isaiah 7:3
Piel
- Pf. וְכִּבֶּס consec. Lv 13:6 + 11 times; כִּבֵּס Gn 49:11 2 S 19:25, etc.; Impf. יְכַבֵּס Lv 11:25 + 16 times; 2 ms. sf. תְּכַבְּסֵנִי ψ 51:9, etc.; Imv. sf. כַּבְּסֵנִי 51:4; fs. כַּבְּסִי Je 4:14; Pt. pl. מְכַבְּסִים Mal 3:2;— e.g. Leviticus 13:6
- 1. wash garments (i.e. by treading) Ex 19:10, 14 (E), 2 S 19:25; fig. of Judah Gn 49:11; elsewhere chiefly P: Lv 6:20; 11:25, 28; 13:6, 34; 15:11; Nu 8:9 +; ‖ רָחץ (which = wash person) Lv 14:8, 9; 15:5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 + (כ׳ in Lv 27 times, ‖ ר׳ 15 times; in Nu 8 times, ‖ ר׳ 3 times); Pt. = fuller (cf. Qal), only בֹּרִית מְכ׳ Mal 3:2. e.g. Exodus 19:10
- 2. wash person, only poet. and fig. אִם תְּכַבְּסִי בַּנֶּתֶר Je 2:22; כַּבְּסִי מֵרָעָה לִבֵּךְ 4:14; c. sf. ψ 51:4 (‖ טהר; + מֵעָוֹן); v 9 (‖ חִטֵּא). e.g. Jeremiah 2:22
Pual
- Pf. וְכֻבַּס consec. Lv 13:58; 15:17 be washed, of garment. e.g. Leviticus 13:58
Hothp
- (Ges§ 54, 3) Inf. אַחֲרֵי הֻכַּבֵּס אֶת־הַנֶּגַע Lv 13:55 after the plague is washed out, so v 56. e.g. Leviticus 13:55
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
vb. (tread), wash (NH id.; Ph. כבס as pt.; Assyrian kabâsu, tread, (down), subjugate, kilšu, step, path, DlHWB)—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: a primitive root
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.
כָּבַס
- (b. h.) to press, tread.
- to wash (clothes). M. Kat. III, 1 ואלו מְכַבְּסִין במועד and these are permitted to wash their clothes during the festive week. Taan. 29ᵇ; M. Kat. 18ᵃ, a. e. מותר לְכַבְּסוֹ וכ׳ is permitted to wash it; a. fr.—Pesik. Eth Korb., p. 61ᵇ; Pesik. R. s. 16 (play on כבשים, Num. XXVIII, 3) שהם מְכַבְּסִים וכ׳ for they (as sacrifices) wash (cleanse) the sins of Israel.—Part. pass. מְכוּבָּס, f. מְכוּבֶּסֶת; pl. מְכוּבָּסִין; מְכוּבָּסוֹת. Mikv. X, 4 בגדים שהטבילן מכ׳ garments immersed while still wet from washing. e.g. Numbers 28:3
- to be washed. Cant. R. to I, 5 (play on שלמה) [reads:] מה שַׂלְמָה זו מתלכלכת ומִתְכַּבֶּסֶת וכ׳ as a garment is soiled and washed again &c.; Yalk. ib. 982. Tanḥ. Vayḥi 10 (ref. to Gen. XLIX, 11) אם יטעו בהלכה תהא מתכבסת בתחומו וכ׳ when they err in a decision, it shall be cleansed (atoned for) in his (Judah’s) dominion (the Temple); Gen. R. s. 99 (not מתכסום). e.g. Genesis 49:11
כְּבַס
- , Targ. I Chr. XI, 5, sq., ed. Lag. a. oth., v. כְּבַשׁ
*כֶּבֶס
- , m. (preced.) cleansing material.—Pl. כְּבָסִים. Y’lamd. to Num. XXVIII, 3 quot. in Ar. s. v. כבשים (ref. to כבשים, ib.) אע"פ שכתוב כבשים אנו קורין כ׳ וכ׳ though it is written K’basim (with Sin, sheep), we read K’basim (with Sammekh), for they cleanse Israel’s sins.
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 30 distinct written forms H3526 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 47 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 48 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 49:11
- Exodus 19:10
- Leviticus 11:25
- Numbers 8:7
- 2 Samuel 19:24
- 2 Kings 18:17
- Psalms 51:2
- Isaiah 7:3
- Jeremiah 2:22
- Malachi 3:2
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.
