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כֹּהֵן

priest

‘priest’ is one of 8 main senses fuller range ↓

H3548 Strong's Hebrew
kôhên Transliteration
/ko-hane'/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 749 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.

כהן — transliterated kôhên — is a Hebrew noun carrying the sense “priest.” The lexicon spreads it across several senses; see its full sense range. Spanning 652 verses in 29 books, it ranks among the most common words of the Hebrew Bible. Its earliest occurrence is Genesis 14:18. Sharing its root, it stands alongside כהן, כהנה and כהן. See the sense tree, 652-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
chief ruler
Modern gloss
priest
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 H3548 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 →

652
distinct verses
The word appears in 652 distinct verses.
29 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 29 of 39 Old Testament books.
Genesis 14:18
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Genesis 14:18.
Malachi 2:7
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Malachi 2:7.
#67
by frequency
Top 100 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 67 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 652 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 245 · 38%
  • Historical 300 · 46%
  • Wisdom 6 · 1%
  • Prophets 101 · 15%

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 652 distinct verses.

  • Torah (Pentateuch) 245 verses · 38%
  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 239 verses · 37%
  • Writings (Ketuvim) 168 verses · 26%

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: Priest 392×, Priests 243×, Priest's 7×
  • American Standard Version: Priest 383×, Priests 232×, Were priests 6×
  • Berean Standard Bible: Priest 380×, Priests 255×, Way the priest 8×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: Priest 410×, Priests 271×, The 30×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H3548 across 750 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Priest” 392×
  • “Priests” 243×
  • “Priest's” 7×
  • “Priests'” 5×
  • “Were the priests” 5×
  • “All the priests” 4×
  • “Among the priests” 4×
  • “Shall be the priest's” 4×
  • “Shall the priest” 4×
  • “Came to pass when the priests” 3×
  • “Let the priests” 3×
  • “Became his priest” 2×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 58 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 H3548 across 750 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Priest” 383×
  • “Priests” 232×
  • “Were priests” 6×
  • “All the priests” 4×
  • “Among the priests” 3×
  • “Came to pass” 3×
  • “Him” 3×
  • “Let the priests” 3×
  • “Shall be the priest” 3×
  • “Shall the priest” 3×
  • “' houses of the priests” 2×
  • “Became his priest” 2×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 83 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 H3548 across 725 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Priest” 380×
  • “Priests” 255×
  • “Way the priest” 8×
  • “Among the priests” 6×
  • “Priestly” 5×
  • “Were priests” 5×
  • “Along with the priests” 3×
  • “And” 3×
  • “He” 3×
  • “Priest’s” 3×
  • “Well as the priests” 3×
  • “After the priest” 2×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 37 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 25 further occurrences.

unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Renders H3548 across 768 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Priest” 410×
  • “Priests” 271×
  • “The” 30×
  • “Priests of” 14×
  • “Priest of” 12×
  • “Were priests” 4×
  • “Among the priests” 3×
  • “Is for the priest” 3×
  • “Eyes of the priests” 2×
  • “High priest” 2×

Plus 17 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.


11 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 11 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. priest-king: e.g. Melchizedek Gn 14:18 (E?), cf. ψ 110:4 (the Messianic priest-King like Melchizedek); Zc 6:13 (Messianic priest and king); Israel מַמְלֶכֶת כֹּהֲנִים Ex 19:6 (E) a kingdom of priests (priests and kings at once in their relation to the nations); cf. Is 61:6 (of Israel ministering as a priest); or a chieftain (exercising priestly functions) כֹּהֵן מִדְיָן Ex 2:16; 3:1; 18:1 (all JE); so also probably the sons of David 2 S 8:18, his grandson 1 K 4:5; and Ira the Jairite 2 S 20:26, who as princes performed priestly functions. With these we may class the כהנים Ex 19:22, 24 (J). e.g. Genesis 14:18
  • 2. priests of other religions than י׳’s: Potiphera כ׳ אֹן Gn 41:45, 50 (E), 46:20 (P); Egyptian כהנים Gn 47:22(×2), 26 (J); כ׳ דָגוֹן 1 S 5:5; Philistine כהנים וקסמים 1 S 6:2; כֹּהֲנָיו his priests: e.g. of Baal 2 K 10:19 = of Ahab 2 K 10:11; of Chemosh Je 48:7; of Malcam Je 49:3; Mattan was כ׳ הבעל 2 K 11:18 = 2 Ch 23:17; הכמרים עם הכהנים Zp 1:4; Josiah burned the bones of the priests of the Baalim and Asherim 2 Ch 34:5. e.g. Genesis 41:45
  • 3. priests of special orders in Israel:
    • a. Micah in the hill-country of Ephraim consecrated his own son וַיְהִי־לוֹ לְכֹהֵן Ju 17:5; but so soon as he could secure Jonathan ben Gershom, a descendant of Moses (see VB Ju 18:30), he consecrated him, היה ל׳ לכהן Ju 17:10, 12, 13; 18:4, 19; הַכֹּהֵן v 6, 17, 18, 20, 24, 27. He was captured by the Danites, and he and his line became priests at Dan until the Exile, v 19(×2), 30. e.g. Judges 17:5
    • b. Jeroboam עשׂה כהנים 1 K 12:31 of those not מבני לוי, as כ׳ (הַ)בָּמוֹת priests of (the) high places 1 K 12:32; 13:2, 33(×2) = כ׳ לבמות 2 Ch 11:15; Amaziah (of this class) was כ׳ בית־אל Am 7:10; v. also 2 Ch 13:9; called by Chr כ׳ לְלֹא אלהים v 9; yet Hosea rebukes them as priests of י׳ Ho 4:4, 9; 5:1; 6:9; at the Exile they were deported by the Assyrians 2 K 17:27, 28. e.g. 1 Kings 12:31
    • c. the people imported into Samaria made some of themselves כ׳ במות to worship י׳ the God of the land 2 K 17:32. e.g. 2 Kings 17:32
  • 4. priests in Israel הכהנים who bore the ark and the trumpets Jos 3:13, 14, 15, 17; 4:3, 9, 10, 17, 18(×2); 6:4(×2), 6(×2), 8, 9, 12, 13, 16 (all JE), 1 K 8:3, 6, 10, 11; Eli was הכהן 1 S 1:9; 2:11; כ׳ יהוה 14:3; and his sons כ׳ ליהוה 1 S 1:3; a מִשְׁפַּט הַכֹּהֲנִים 1 S 2:13 mentions the ministering priest הכהן and the נַעַר הַכּ׳ 1 S 2:13, 14, 15(×2), Ahijah was הַכּ׳ in time of Saul 1 S 14:19(×2); 36; Abimelech הַכּ׳ at Nob, a priestly centre, 1 S 21:2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10; 22:11; where were many כֹּהֲנֵי י׳ 1 S 22:17(×2), 21, all slain by Saul except Abiathar son of Ahimelech 1 S 22:11, 18(×2), 19, who became הַכּ׳ 1 S 23:9; 30:7 1 K 1:7, 19, 25, 42; 2:22, 26; Zadok later was הַכּ׳ 2 S 15:27 1 K 1:8, 26, 32, 34, 38, 39, 44, 45; 2:35; 3:2 1 Ch 16:39; 24:6: so that the two were (ה)כהנים 2 S 8:17 = 1 Ch 18:16 (read וְאֶבְיָתָר בֶּן־אח׳ 2 S 8:17 𝔖 We Dr, and correct 1 Ch 18:16 accordingly) 2 S 15:35(×2); 17:15; 19:12; 20:25 1 K 4:4; Sol. removed Abiathar 1 K 2:27 and Zadok was anointed לְכֹהֵן according to 1 Ch 29:22; cf. prediction of rejection of house of Eli and selection of כ׳ נֶאֱמָן 1 S 2:28, 35; Jehoiada הַכּ׳ led the revolution against Athaliah 2 K 11:9(×2), 10, 15(×2), 18; 12:3, 8, 10 = 2 Ch 22:11; 23:8(×2), 9, 14(×2); 24:2, 20, 25, perhaps also Je 29:26; הנהנים sustaining him in his reforms 2 K 12:5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 17; Uriah was הַכּ׳ in the reign of Ahaz 2 K 16:10, 11(×2), 15, 16 Is 8:2; Hilkiah of Josiah 2 K 22:10, 12, 14; 23:24 2 Ch 34:14, 18. Other individual priests are named, e.g.: Pashhur of Jehoiachin Je 20:1; Zephaniah of Zedekiah Je 21:1; 29:25, 26, 29; 37:3; הַכּ׳ is Ezekiel’s title Ez 1:3. Priests are classed with officials of state: prophets and priests 2 K 23:2 Is 28:7 Je 5:31; 6:13; 8:10; 14:18; 23:11, 33, 34; 26:7, 8, 11, 16; 29:1; La 2:20; 4:13; priests and elders La 1:19; 4:16; king and priest La 2:6; kings, priests, and prophets Je 13:13; kings, princes, and priests Je 1:18; princes, eunuchs, and priests Je 34:19; priest, sage, and prophet Je 18:18; chiefs, priests, and prophets Mi 3:11; prophets, priests, and elders Ez 7:26; kings, princes, priests, and prophets Je 2:26; 4:9; 8:1; 32:32; princes, judges, prophets, and priests Zp 3:4; seeming to exclude any other officials. Apparently in the same generic sense הכהנים Je 1:1; 2:8; 27:16; 28:1, 5; 29:25; 31:14; כַּכֹּהֵן Is 24:2; כהנים Jb 12:19; כהניה La 1:4 Ez 22:26; כהניו ψ 78:64. Moses and Aaron among his priests ψ 99:6 includes Moses (against P). Zion’s priests clothed with righteousness and salvation ψ 132:9, 16 = 2 Ch 6:41, prob. here also. e.g. Joshua 3:13
  • 5. Levitical priests הַכֹּהֲנִים הַלְוִיִּם Dt 17:9, 18; 18:1; 24:8; 27:9; Jos 3:3; 8:33 (all D), Je 33:18 (inverted), v 21 (neither in 𝔊), 2 Ch 5:5 (= הַכּ׳ וְהַלּ׳ 1 K 8:4: Chronicler retains original Deuteronomic reading), Ez 43:19; 44:15 (cf. 6); הַכּ׳ בְנֵי לֵוִי Dt 21:5; 31:9; לקח לכ׳ לל׳ Is 66:21 take for priests, for Levites (of the nations in Messianic age). Doubtless of same class are: הַכֹּהֲנִים Dt 18:3; 19:17; Jos 3:6, 8; 4:11 (D); and הַכֹּהֵן, the priest officiating on a partic. occasion Dt 18:3; 20:2; or holding a partic. dignity 17:12; 26:3, 4. The כהנים of the other cities of Judah, כ׳ הבמות, who were not allowed to minister in Jerusalem 2 K 23:8(×2), 9, 20, may be an attempt to enforce an exclusion from the priesthood of all but Levitical priests. e.g. Deuteronomy 17:9
  • 6. Zadokite priests: Ezekiel distinguishes among הכהנים הלוים those of the seed of Zadok, בְּנֵי צָדוֹק; all but the latter excluded by him from priesthood 40:46; 43:19; 44:15; 48:11; the priests of his code being all Zadokites 40:45, 46; 42:13, 14; 43:24, 27; 44:21, 22, 30(×2), 31; 45:4, 19; 46:2, 19, 20; 48:10, 13. e.g. Ezekiel 40:46
  • 7. Aaronic priests. In H. it is taken for granted that a priest is of the seed of Aaron; the pl. is never used; כֹּהֵן is used for any priest Lv 21:9; 22:10, 11, 12, 13; הַכֹּהֵן for Aaron Lv 21:21, and for the official priest (acting for the priesthood, almost collective) Lv 17:5, 6; 22:14; 23:10, 11, 20(×2); 27:8(×3), 11, 12(×2), 14(×2), 18, 21, 23. The priests of P are בְּנֵי אַהֲרֹן Lv 1:5, 8, 11; 2:2; 3:2; 21:1 Nu 3:3; 10:8 Jos 21:19; so in Chronicles 2 Ch 13:9, 10; 26:18; 29:21; 31:19; 35:14(×2); הַכֹּהֵן is used of Aaron 22 times, Eleazar 29 times, Phinehas Jos 22:30 and elsewhere; 180 times of ministering priests, or generic of the priests; הכהנים Lv 6:22; 7:6; 13:2; 16:33 Jos 4:16; כהן Lv 6:16. Chronicles distinguishes הַכֹּהֲנִים וְהַלְוִיִּם 1 Ch 13:2; 15:11, 14; 23:2; 24:6, 31; 28:13, 21 2 Ch 8:15; 11:13; 13:9, 10; 23:4; 24:5; 29:4; 30:15, 25; 31:2(×2), 4, 9; 34:30; 35:8, 18 (the variants without וְ 2 Ch 23:18; 30:27 are due to copyists’ errors). Ezr 1:5; 2:70; 3:8, 12; 6:20; 7:7; 8:29, 30; 9:1 Ne 7:72; 8:13; 11:3; 12:1, 30, 44(×2); 13:30; הלוים והכהנים 2 Ch 19:8; 30:21; priests, Levites, and others 1 Ch 9:2 Ezr 10:5 Ne 10:1, 29, 35; 11:20; בְּנֵי לֵוִי antith. to הַכּ׳ Ezr 8:15; הכהן בן אהרן עם הלוים Ne 10:39; (ה)כהנים in Chr 67 times has the same reference, as also כֹּהֲנֵינוּ Ezr 9:7 Ne 9:32, 34; כֹּהֵן Ezr 2:63 = Ne 7:65; כ׳ ליהוה 2 Ch 26:17; כהניו His (God’s) priests 2 Ch 13:12; כ׳ מוֹרֶה teaching priest 2 Ch 15:3; הַכֹּהֵן is used of Jehoiada in time of David 1 Ch 27:5, and Azariah in the reign of Uzziah 2 Ch 26:17. In the literature of the restoration הַכֹּהֵן is used of Ezra, Ezr 7:11; 10:10, 16 Ne 8:2, 9; 12:26; Uriah Ezr 8:33; Eliashib Ne 13:4; Shelemiah Ne 13:13; הכהנים Jo 1:9, 13; 2:17 Hg 2:11, 12, 13 Zc 7:5 Mal 1:6; 2:1; priests and prophets Zc 7:3; כהן Mal 2:7. e.g. Leviticus 21:9
  • 8. the high priest: הַכֹּהֵן is frequently used (see 4) to designate the priest who was at the head of priestly affairs. The adj. הַגָּדוֹל first appears of Jehoiada 2 K 12:11, then of Hilkiah 2 K 22:4, 8; 23:4; 2 Ch 34:9; after the exile, of Joshua Hg 1:1, 12, 14; 2:2, 4 Zc 3:1, 8; 6:11, and Eliashib Ne 3:1, 20; 13:28. But P uses it of Aaron and his eldest descendants who are anointed with holy oil Lv 21:10 (H; הכ׳ הַגָּדוֹל מֶאֶהָיו), Nu 35:25, 28(×2) Jos 20:6, and so הַכּ׳ הַמָּשִׁיהַ Lv 4:3, 5, 16; 6:15, cf. 16:32. כ׳ הָרֹאשׁ is used of Seraiah 2 K 25:18 = Je 52:24; and, in Chronicler, of Amariah 2 Ch 19:11, Jehoiada 2 Ch 24:11, Azariah, 2 Ch 26:20; 31:10; of Aaron Ezr 7:5. (We also supposes הרואה in 2 S 15:27 to be a corruption of הראשׁ, which he regards as postexilic insertion. The text is corrupt [see DrSm. l.c.]; but this correction is improbable. Lists of high priests occur 1 Ch 5:30–41; 6:35–38.) A priest of second rank (כֹּהֵן (ה)מִשְׁנֶה) appears in 2 K 23:4 (cstr. pl. incorrect), 25:18 = Je 52:24; זִקְנֵי הַכּ׳ 2 K 19:2 = Is 37:2, Je 19:1; שָׂרֵי הַכּ׳ 2 Ch 36:14 Ezr 8:24, 29; 10:5; רָאשֵׁי הַכּ׳ Ne 12:7. e.g. 2 Kings 12:11

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.m. priest (NH כֹּהֵן; Aramaic כָּהֵין, כַּהֲנָא ܟܳܗܶܢ, ܟܳܗܢܳܐ; Ethiopic ካህን, all id.; on Ph. and Arabic v. supr.);—כ׳ Gn 14:18 + 439 times; pl. כֹּהֲנִים Ex 19:6 + 272 times; cstr. כֹּהֲנֵי 1 S 5:5 + 13 times; sf. כֹּהֲנַי La 1:19 + 22 times; sfs.—

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

Derived from כהן (kâhan) (H3547) — to serve as priest.

Part of speech: Noun Masculine TWOT: 959a


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.

כֹּהֵן

  • , v. כּוּן; cmp. b. h. כַּן) [standing, stationed,] officer, esp. priest. Yoma 6ᵃ, a. fr. כ׳ גדול (abbr. כ"ג) high priest, כ׳ הדיוט ordinary priest. Meg. I, 9 כ׳ משוח an anointed high priest, contrad. to מרובה בגדים a high priest distinguished only by his robes (but not anointed, as in the days of the Second Temple). Ib. כ׳ משמש officiating highpriest, כ׳ שעבר a substitute of the high priest no longer required, ex-substitute. Hor. III, 8 ממזר … קודם לכ"ג ע"ה a bastard who is a scholar has the precedence of an ignorant high priest; a. v. fr.—Pl. כֹּהֲנִים. Yeb. 86ᵇ, a. e. בכ"ד מקומות נקראו הכ׳ וכ in twenty four Biblical passages the priests are designated as Levites; a. v. fr.—תּוֹרַת כֹּהֲנִים (abbr. ת"כ) Torath Kohănim, a) name of the third book of Moses, Leviticus. Kidd. 33ᵃ. Lev. R. s. 7 מפני מה … בת"כ why do we, in teaching children, commence with Leviticus? a. e.—b) name of an halachic commentary to Leviticus, also named Sifra. Yeb. 72ᵇ; a. fr.—Fem. כֹּהֶנֶת, כּוֹהֶ׳ a priest’s daughter or wife. Ḥull. 131ᵇ, sq.—Keth. IV, 8 ובכ׳ and in the case of a priest’s wife. Ib. VII, 1, sq. (70ᵃ) ובכ׳ Mish. a. Y. ed. (Bab. ed. ובכהן). Ib. 71ᵃ; a. fr.—Pl. כֹּהֲנוֹת, כּוֹהֲ׳. Ber. 44ᵃ. Yeb. III, 10 אם היו כ׳ (Y. ed. כוה׳) if they are daughters of priests; a. e.

כָּהַן

  • , (b. h.), Nithpa. נִתְכַּהֵן (denom. of כֹּהֵן) to be appointed priest, to act as priest. Zeb. 101ᵇ לא נ׳ פנחס וכ׳ Phineas was not appointed high priest until &c. Ib. 102ᵃ לא נ׳ משה וכ׳ Moses acted as priest only during &c.

כָּהֵן

  • Targ. Jer. XIV, 18. Targ. Mal. II, 7. Targ. Lev. I, 7; a. v. fr.—Snh. 110ᵃ, a. fr. כ׳ רבא high priest. Ḥull. 49ᵃ ישמעאל כ׳ מסייע כהני Ishmael, being a priest, favors the priests. Gitt. 59ᵇ קרי בכ׳ read from the Torah in the priest’s place, i.e. was called up the first; Meg. 22ᵃ Ms. O. (ed. בכהני pl.); a. fr.—Pl. כַּהֲנִין, כַּהֲנַיָּא, כַּהֲנֵי. Targ. Ex. XIX, 6. Targ. O. Lev. I, 5; a. fr.—Gitt. l. c. כ׳ חשיבי דא"י highly esteemed Palestinean priests; a. fr.—Fem. (כֹּהֶנֶת) כַּהַנְתָּא. Ḥull. 131ᵇ … יהיב לכ׳ gave priestly gifts to a priest’s daughter (married to an Israelite). Pes. 49ᵃ נסיב כ׳ married a priest’s daughter.—Pl. כַּהֲנָתָא. Ber. 44ᵃ

כָּהֵן ²

  • (or כֹּהֵן), כַּהֲנָא II pr. n. m. Kahen, Kahăna, name of several Amoraim. Y. Ber. III, 6ᵃ, a. fr. ר׳ כהן.—B. Kam. 117ᵃ. Y. R. Hash. IV, beg. 59ᵇ; a. fr.—Erub. 8ᵇ רב כ׳ רביה דרב (v., however, Ms. M. a. Rabb. D. S. a. l. notes); a. fr.—v. Fr. M’bo, p. 109ᵇ, sq.

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 161 distinct written forms H3548 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/כֹּהֵ֔ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Deuteronomy 26:3 62
הַ/כֹּהֵ֖ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Deuteronomy 20:2 45
הַ/כֹּהֵ֛ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Deuteronomy 26:4 36
הַ/כֹּהֵ֜ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 45:19 36
הַ/כֹּהֵן֙ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Deuteronomy 17:12 34
הַ/כֹּהֲנִ֖ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Deuteronomy 17:18 30
הַ/כֹּהֵ֗ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 1 Chronicles 16:39 29
הַ/כֹּהֵֽן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Exodus 38:21 28
הַ/כֹּ֣הֲנִ֔ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezekiel 46:19 25
הַ/כֹּהֵ֑ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 1 Kings 1:7 21
הַ/כֹּהֵ֣ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Haggai 1:14 20
הַ/כֹּֽהֲנִים֙ Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Deuteronomy 19:17 17
הַ/כֹּהֲנִ֣ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezekiel 43:19 15
כֹּהֵ֣ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Amos 7:10 12
הַ/כֹּהֲנִ֛ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Exodus 19:22 10
הַ/כֹּהֵ֤ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 1 Samuel 21:4 10
הַ/כֹּהֲנִ֗ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezekiel 42:14 9
הַ/כֹּהֲנִֽים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezekiel 44:31 9
הַ/כֹּהֲנִ֤ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezekiel 43:24 8
הַ/כֹּהֲנִ֧ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Deuteronomy 24:8 8
הַ/כֹּהֲנִ֔ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezekiel 48:13 7
הַ/כֹּהֲנִים֙ Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Deuteronomy 17:9 7
הַ/כֹּהֵ֥ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Haggai 1:1 7
הַ/כֹּהֵ֨ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Haggai 1:12 7
לַ/כֹּהֵ֖ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Leviticus 5:13 7
הַ/כֹּהֲנִ֜ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Deuteronomy 18:3 6
הַ/כֹּהֵן֒ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 2 Chronicles 23:8 6
כֹּהֲנֵ֣י Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct 1 Kings 13:33 6
לַ/כֹּהֲנִ֖ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezekiel 44:30 6
וְ/הַ/כֹּהֲנִים֙ Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 7:6 5
כֹּהֵ֥ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 2 Chronicles 15:3 4
הַ/כֹּהֲנִ֡ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Joshua 3:13 4
הַ/כֹּהֲנִ֨ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezra 3:10 4
הַ֠/כֹּהֵן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 1 Kings 1:8 4
הַֽ/כֹּהֲנִ֑ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezra 2:36 4
וְ/הַ/כֹּ֣הֲנִ֔ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 13:14 4
וְ/הַ/כֹּהֲנִ֖ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezra 1:5 4
כֹּֽהֲנִ֔ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Hosea 6:9 4
כֹּהֵ֔ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Jeremiah 6:13 4
כֹּהֵ֖ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Ezra 2:63 4
לְ/כֹהֵֽן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 1 Chronicles 29:22 4
לַ/כֹּהֵ֑ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 1 Samuel 2:15 4
לַ/כֹּהֵ֔ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Deuteronomy 18:3 4
הַ/כֹּֽהֲנִ֑ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 1 Chronicles 15:11 3
הַ/כֹּהֲנִ֥ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 1 Chronicles 13:2 3
הַ/כֹּהֵ֡ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 2 Kings 22:12 3
הַ/כֹּהֵ֧ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Leviticus 4:3 3
הַ/כֹּהֵן֮ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Judges 18:27 3
הַ֠/כֹּהֲנִים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 1 Kings 8:6 3
וְ/הַ/כֹּֽהֲנִים֙ Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 34:30 3
וְ/הַ/כֹּהֲנִ֣ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Deuteronomy 27:9 3
וְ/הַ/כֹּהֲנִ֨ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezekiel 44:15 3
כֹהֵ֖ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Genesis 14:18 3
כֹהֵן֙ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Jeremiah 23:33 3
כֹּהֲנִ֖ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Exodus 19:6 3
כֹּהֲנֵ֥י Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct 1 Kings 12:32 3
כֹּהֵ֛ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Jeremiah 14:18 3
לַ/כֹּ֣הֲנִ֔ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezekiel 40:45 3
לַ/כֹּהֲנִ֥ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 35:8 3
בַּ/כֹּ֣הֲנִ֔ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 1 Samuel 22:18 2

The 60 most common forms are shown; 101 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.


Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H3548, 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.

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Septuagint verse parallels

This word appears in 595 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 652 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.

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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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