כְּרוּב
cherub
‘cherub’ 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 Absolute-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
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
- Singular
- One.
Every verse where H3742 appears in the Book of Ezekiel — 22 distinct verses. 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.
Ezekiel
- Ezekiel 9:3 הַ/כְּרוּב֙ ptcl def.art + n c ms The glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house: and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer's inkhorn by his side.
- Ezekiel 10:1 הַ/כְּרֻבִ֔ים ptcl def.art + n c mp Then I looked, and see, in the expanse that was over the head of the cherubim there appeared above them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.
- Ezekiel 10:2 לַ/כְּר֗וּב לַ/כְּרֻבִ֔ים prep det + n c ms prep det + n c mp He spoke to the man clothed in linen, and said, Go in between the whirling [wheels], even under the cherub, and fill both your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city. He went in as I watched.
- Ezekiel 10:3 וְ/הַ/כְּרֻבִ֗ים conj + ptcl def.art + n c mp Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court.
- Ezekiel 10:4 הַ/כְּר֔וּב ptcl def.art + n c ms The glory of Yahweh mounted up from the cherub, [and stood] over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of Yahweh's glory.
- Ezekiel 10:5 הַ/כְּרוּבִ֔ים ptcl def.art + n c mp The sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.
- Ezekiel 10:6 לַ/כְּרוּבִ֑ים prep det + n c mp It came to pass, when he commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim, that he went in, and stood beside a wheel.
- Ezekiel 10:7 הַ/כְּר֨וּב לַ/כְּרוּבִ֗ים הַ/כְּרֻבִ֔ים ptcl def.art + n c ms prep det + n c mp ptcl def.art + n c mp The cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and took [of it], and put it into the hands of him who was clothed in linen, who took it and went out.
- Ezekiel 10:8 לַ/כְּרֻבִ֑ים prep det + n c mp There appeared in the cherubim the form of a man's hand under their wings.
- Ezekiel 10:9 הַ/כְּרוּבִים֒ הַ/כְּר֣וּב הַ/כְּר֣וּב ptcl def.art + n c mp ptcl def.art + n c ms ptcl def.art + n c ms I looked, and behold, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub, and another wheel beside another cherub; and the appearance of the wheels was like a beryl stone.
- Ezekiel 10:14 הַ/כְּר֗וּב ptcl def.art + n c ms Every one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third face the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
- Ezekiel 10:15 הַ/כְּרוּבִ֑ים ptcl def.art + n c mp The cherubim mounted up: this is the living creature that I saw by the river Chebar.
- Ezekiel 10:16 הַ/כְּרוּבִ֔ים הַ/כְּרוּבִ֜ים ptcl def.art + n c mp ptcl def.art + n c mp When the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels also didn't turn from beside them.
- Ezekiel 10:18 הַ/כְּרוּבִֽים ptcl def.art + n c mp The glory of Yahweh went forth from over the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim.
- Ezekiel 10:19 הַ/כְּרוּבִ֣ים ptcl def.art + n c mp The cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight when they went forth, and the wheels beside them: and they stood at the door of the east gate of Yahweh's house; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.
- Ezekiel 10:20 כְרוּבִ֖ים n c mp This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar; and I knew that they were cherubim.
- Ezekiel 11:22 הַ/כְּרוּבִים֙ ptcl def.art + n c mp Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels were beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.
- Ezekiel 28:14 כְּר֔וּב n c ms cs You were the anointed cherub who covers: and I set you, [so that] you were on the holy mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
- Ezekiel 28:16 כְּר֣וּב n c ms By the abundance of your traffic they filled the midst of you with violence, and you have sinned: therefore I have cast you as profane out of the mountain of God; and I have destroyed you, covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
- Ezekiel 41:18 כְּרוּבִ֖ים כְּר֣וּב לִ/כְר֔וּב לַ/כְּרֽוּב n c mp n c ms prep + n c ms prep det + n c ms It was made with cherubim and palm trees; and a palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces;
- Ezekiel 41:20 הַ/כְּרוּבִ֥ים ptcl def.art + n c mp from the ground to above the door were cherubim and palm trees made: thus was the wall of the temple.
- Ezekiel 41:25 כְּרוּבִ֣ים n c mp There were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubim and palm trees, like as were made on the walls; and there was a threshold of wood on the face of the porch outside.
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.
כרוב — transliterated kᵉrûwb — is a Hebrew noun carrying the sense “cherub.” Its English rendering has broadened — “cherubims” classically, “cherubim” (Berean Standard Bible) in modern versions; see the renderings breakdown. Spanning 66 verses in 12 books, it ranks among the moderately common words of the Hebrew Bible. Its uses concentrate in Ezekiel (33% of all occurrences). The lexicon spreads it across several senses; see its full sense range. Each statement above links to its evidence; the full detail follows below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H3742 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 →
- 66
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 66 distinct verses.
- 12 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 12 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #455
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 455 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 66 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 66 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 40 verses · 61%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 13 verses · 20%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 13 verses · 20%
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).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 2 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: Cherubims 46×, Cherub 23×, Between the cherubims 9×
- American Standard Version†: Cherubim 41×, Cherub 23×, Above the cherubim 7×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Cherubim 51×, Cherub 15×, Between the cherubim 3×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Cherubim 44×, Cherub 20×, Cherubs 16×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H3742 across 91† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 13 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 H3742 across 90† 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.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H3742 across 75† 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. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 16 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H3742 across 105† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 5 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
12 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 12 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.
כרוב I loc. in Babylonia Esr 2
כרוב II cherub
- 1. the living chariot of the theophanic God; possibly identified with the storm-wind ψ 18:11 = 2 S 22:11 וַיִּרְכַּב עַל־כְּרוּב and he rode upon a cherub (‖ flew swiftly on the wings of the wind). e.g. Psalms 18:11
- 2. as the guards of the garden of Eden Gn 3:24 (J). e.g. Genesis 3:24
- 3. as the throne of Yahweh Sabaoth, in phrase י׳ (צְבָאוֹת) יֹשֵׁב הַכְּרוּבִים Yahweh Sabaoth throned on the cherubim 1 S 4:4; 2 S 6:2 = 1 Ch 13:6; the context shews that the cherubim of the ark of the covenant are referred to, and it is probable that the same reference is in 2 K 19:15 = Is 37:16, ψ 80:2; 99:1. e.g. 1 Samuel 4:4
- 4. P gives an account of:
- a. two cherubim of solid gold upon the slab of gold of the כַּפֹּרֶת facing each other with wings outstretched above, so as to constitute a basis or throne on which the glory of Yahweh appeared, and from whence He spake Ex 25:18–22; 37:7–9; Nu 7:89; e.g. Exodus 25:18
- b. numerous cherubim woven into the texture of the inner curtains of the tabernacle and the veils Ex 26:1, 31; 36:8, 35. e.g. Exodus 26:1
- 5. K and Ch describe the cherubim of the temple:
- a. two gigantic images of olive wood plated with gold, ten cubits high, standing in the דְּבִיר facing the door, whose wings, five cubits each, extended, two of them meeting in the middle of the room to constitute the throne, two of them extending to the walls 1 K 6:23–28; 8:6–7 2 Ch 3:10–13; 5:7–8; Ch (doubtless influenced by Ez) represents them as the chariot of Yahweh 1 Ch 28:18; e.g. 1 Kings 6:23
- b. images of cherubim were carved on the gold plated cedar planks which constituted the inner walls of the temple, and upon the olive wood doors 1 K 6:29–35; 2 Ch 3:7; and on the bases of the portable lavers, interchanging with lions and oxen 1 K 7:29–36; Ch also represents that they were woven in the veil of the דְּבִיר 2 Ch 3:14. e.g. 1 Kings 6:29
- 6. Ezekiel describes the cherubim:
- a. as four living creatures, each with four faces, lion, ox, eagle, and man, having the figure and hands of men, and the feet of calves. Each has four wings, two of which are stretched upward, meeting above and sustaining the throne of Yahweh; two of them stretched downwards so as to cover the creatures themselves. The cherubim never turn but go straight forward, as do the wheels of the cherubic chariot, and they are full of eyes and are like burning coals of fire, Ez 1:5–28; 9:3; 10:1–20; 11:22; the king of Tyre is scornfully compared with one of these, and is assigned a residence in Eden and the mountain of God Ez 28:14, 16; e.g. Ezekiel 1:5
- b. Ez knows of no cherubic statues in the new temple, but represents the inner walls of the temple as carved with alternating palm trees and cherubim, each with two faces, the lion looking on one side, the man on the other. It is evident that the number and the form of the cherubim vary in the representations (cf. Ez 41:18–25). It is probable that the שְׂרָפִים of Is 6:2–6 are another form of the cherubim. The Apoc. of the seals Rev 4–6 combines them in four ζῷα. e.g. Ezekiel 41:18
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
I. n.pr.loc. in Babylonia Esr 2:59; Neh 7:61.
II. n.m. cherub;—כ׳ Ex 25:19 + 26 times; pl. כְּרוּבִים ψ 99:1 + 33 times; כְּרֻבִים Ex 25:18 + 29 times; (NH id.; Aramaic כְּרוּבָא, ܟܪܽܘܒܳܐ; √ dub.; Assyrian karâbu = be gracious to, bless DlHWB 350, but adj. karûbu is great, mighty, Id. ib. 352; on poss. connex. with כְּרוּב cf. Dl in Baer Ezech. xiii.; Assyrian kirubu = šêdu (name of winged bull in Assyrian; v. LenOrigines i. 118, Eng. Tr. 126 DlPar 154) has not been verified, cf. v. F.ZA i. 68 f. Budge Expos. Apr. May, 1885 Teloni ZA vi. 124 ff.; the older view, connecting כ׳ with γρύψ, and deriving from Pers. giriften, griffen, lacks evidence and probability.—Possibly the thunder-cloud underlies the conception);—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: of uncertain derivation
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.
כְּרוּב I
- , however, Schr. KAT2 p. 39; p. 609) [head,] Cherub. Succ. 5ᵇ; Ḥag. 13ᵇ … מאי כ׳ כרַבְיָא וכ׳ what is K’rub?—… ‘Childlike’, for in Babylonia they call a child rabia. Ib. והפכו לכ׳ and he changed it (the face of the ox, Ez. I, 10) into that of a Cherub. Ib. היינו פני כ׳ וכ׳ the face of the Ch. is the same as that of man, the one being large, the other small. Yoma 77ᵃ. Lev. R. s. 32; a. e.—Pl. כְּרוּבִים. Tanḥ. ed. Bub. B’resh. 25 לפיכן נקראו כ׳ שהן רבים (read: רוֹבִים, v. רוֹבֶה) they are called Ch., because they are young (childlike), v. supra. Yoma 54ᵇ מעורים וכ׳ הכ׳ ראה saw the figures of the cherubs twined around each other. Ib. 54ᵃ כ׳ דצורתא וכ׳ painted cherubs were in the Second Temple; a. e. e.g. Ezekiel 1:10
כְּרוּב II
- (v. preced.) [rounded,] cabbage. Ter. X, 11 כ׳ של שקייא cabbage from an irrigated field, opp. כ׳ של בעל, v. בַּעַל 3.—Ber. 44ᵇ קלח של כ׳ cabbage stalk. Ib. כ׳ למזון cabbage is good for a satisfying meal. Ned. VI, 10, v. אִיסְפַּרְגּוֹס; a. fr.
רוֹב
- multitude; larger portion; majority. Meg. 15ᵇ (ref. to Esth. V, 11) וכמה ר׳ בניו how large was the multitude of his sons? Bekh. VI, 8 ר׳ המדבר וכ׳ the larger portion of the anterior part of the tongue. Keth. 15ᵃ הולכין אחר ר׳ העיר we are guided by the legal status of the majority of the inhabitants of the town; ר׳ סיעה the majority of the members of the caravan that encamped near the town. Ib.; Ḥull. 95ᵃ, a. e. בנמצא הלך אחר הר׳ when a piece of meat is found, we go by the majority of the meat stalls (to decide whether it be kasher or not). Ib. 3ᵇ, a. e. ר׳ מצויין וכ׳ most of those engaged in slaughtering are experts. Sabb. 118ᵇ רוּבָּן של צדיקים וכ׳ most righteous men die from bowel diseases. Ḥull. II, 1 רוּבֹּו של אחד כמוהו if one cuts through the larger portion of the organ (v. סִימָן), it is considered as if he had cut it through. Hor. 3ᵇ בכל התורה … רובו ככולו in the entire Law we adopt the rule that a majority (or the larger portion) are legally equal to an entirety; Naz. 42ᵃ; a. v. fr.—Gitt. 60ᵇ ר׳ בכתב וכ׳ the majority of the halakhic decisions rests on the Scripture (is derived from the text by interpretation), and the minority on tradition; v. Y. Peah I, 17ᵃ bot.—[Y. Yeb. IV, 6ᵇ top עד שיפרש לו רובו, read: רַבֹּו.] e.g. Esther 5:11
רִיב I
- (b. h.) to contend, strive; to plead. Meg. 21ᵇ הרָב את ריבנו who pleaded our cause.
- same. Tanḥ. Naso 12 כל זמן … אינה מְרִיבָה as long as she was engaged in it, she did not quarrel, v. רָנַן. Y. Taan. IV, 68ᵈ, v. מְסַרְבַּיי. Mekh. B’shall., Vayassʿa, s. 6 כל … מְרִיבִין וכ׳ whenever you strive with me, you tempt God. Tanḥ. Mick. 10 עד … מֵרִיב עמו while he was yet in his mother’s womb, Esau was contending with him. Num. R. s. 5 שלא יָרִיבוּ זה עם זה that they might not quarrel with one another; היה זה מריב וכ׳ this one contended and said, I want to load here &c.; a. fr.
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 54 distinct written forms H3742 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 H3742, 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.
Derived from this word
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 65 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 66 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 3:24
- Exodus 25:18
- Numbers 7:89
- 1 Samuel 4:4
- 2 Samuel 6:2
- 1 Kings 6:23
- 2 Kings 19:15
- 1 Chronicles 13:6
- 2 Chronicles 3:7
- Psalms 18:10
- Isaiah 37:16
- Ezekiel 9:3
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.
