לָקַט
to gather
‘to gather’ is one of 3 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: ‘gather’
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”). Here: ‘pick up’
- Hithpael
- The reflexive or reciprocal stem (the subject acts on itself).
- Pual
- The passive counterpart of the Piel.
Form
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- 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).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
- Cohortative
- A first-person volitional form expressing wish or resolve (“let me / let us 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”).
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Grammatical forms 20 distinct
- Verb, Piel, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 3 times (8%)
- Verb, Piel, Infinitive Construct 3 times (8%)
- Verb, Piel, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular 3 times (8%)
- Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct 3 times (8%)
- Verb, Piel, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular 2 times (5%)
- Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural 2 times (5%)
- Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural 2 times (5%)
- Verb, Piel, Perfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular 2 times (5%)
+12 more forms (17 occurrences)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (morphhb / Westminster Leningrad Codex — WLC text public domain, morphhb tagging CC BY 4.0), counted across 37 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where H3950 appears — 34 distinct verses across 12 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 2 verses
- Genesis 31:46 לִקְט֣וּ Qal impv 2mp Jacob said to his relatives, "Gather stones." They took stones, and made a heap. They ate there by the heap.
- Genesis 47:14 וַ/יְלַקֵּ֣ט conj + Piel wimpf 3ms Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.
Exodus 9 verses
- Exodus 16:4 וְ/לָֽקְטוּ֙ conj + Qal wpf 3cp Then said Yahweh to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from the sky for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law, or not.
- Exodus 16:5 יִלְקְט֖וּ Qal impf 3mp It shall come to pass on the sixth day, that they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily."
- Exodus 16:16 לִקְט֣וּ Qal impv 2mp This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded: "Gather of it everyone according to his eating; an omer a head, according to the number of your persons, shall you take it, every man for those who are in his tent."
- Exodus 16:17 וַֽ/יִּלְקְט֔וּ conj + Qal wimpf 3mp The children of Israel did so, and gathered some more, some less.
- Exodus 16:18 לָקָֽטוּ Qal pf 3cp When they measured it with an omer, he who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack. They gathered every man according to his eating.
- Exodus 16:21 וַ/יִּלְקְט֤וּ conj + Qal wimpf 3mp They gathered it morning by morning, everyone according to his eating. When the sun grew hot, it melted.
- Exodus 16:22 לָֽקְט֥וּ Qal pf 3cp It happened that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one, and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.
- Exodus 16:26 תִּלְקְטֻ֑/הוּ Qal impf 2mp + sfx pers 3ms Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day is the Sabbath. In it there shall be none."
- Exodus 16:27 לִ/לְקֹ֑ט prep + Qal inf.cs It happened on the seventh day, that some of the people went out to gather, and they found none.
Leviticus 3 verses
- Leviticus 19:9 תְלַקֵּֽט Piel impf 2ms "'When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.
- Leviticus 19:10 תְלַקֵּ֑ט Piel impf 2ms You shall not glean your vineyard, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am Yahweh your God.
- Leviticus 23:22 תְלַקֵּ֑ט Piel impf 2ms "'When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap into the corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest: you shall leave them for the poor, and for the foreigner. I am Yahweh your God.'"
Numbers 1 verse
Judges 2 verses
- Judges 1:7 מְלַקְּטִים֙ Piel ptcp.act mp Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered [their food] under my table: as I have done, so God has requited me." They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
- Judges 11:3 וַ/יִּֽתְלַקְּט֤וּ conj + Hithpael wimpf 3mp Then Jephthah fled from his brothers, and lived in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain fellows to Jephthah, and they went out with him.
Ruth 10 verses
- Ruth 2:2 וַ/אֲלַקֳטָּ֣ה conj + Piel coh 1cs Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor. She said to her, Go, my daughter.
- Ruth 2:3 וַ/תְּלַקֵּ֣ט conj + Piel wimpf 3fs She went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and she happened to come to the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.
- Ruth 2:7 אֲלַקֳטָה Piel coh 1cs She said, Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves. So she came, and has continued even from the morning until now, except that she stayed a little in the house.
- Ruth 2:8 לִ/לְקֹט֙ prep + Qal inf.cs Then said Boaz to Ruth, Don't you hear, my daughter? Don't go to glean in another field, neither pass from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens.
- Ruth 2:15 לְ/לַקֵּ֑ט תְּלַקֵּ֖ט prep + Piel inf.cs Piel impf 3fs When she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and don't reproach her.
- Ruth 2:16 וְ/לִקְּטָ֖ה conj + Piel wpf 3fs Also pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it, and let her glean, and don't rebuke her.
- Ruth 2:17 וַ/תְּלַקֵּ֥ט לִקֵּ֔טָה conj + Piel wimpf 3fs Piel pf 3fs So she gleaned in the field until even; and she beat out that which she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.
- Ruth 2:18 לִקֵּ֑טָה Piel pf 3fs She took it up, and went into the city; and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned: and she brought forth and gave to her that which she had left after she was sufficed.
- Ruth 2:19 לִקַּ֤טְתְּ Piel pf 2fs Her mother-in-law said to her, Where have you gleaned today? and where have you worked? blessed be he who did take knowledge of you. She shown her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, The man's name with whom I worked today is Boaz.
- Ruth 2:23 לְ/לַקֵּ֔ט prep + Piel inf.cs So she kept fast by the maidens of Boaz, to glean to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest; and she lived with her mother-in-law.
1 Samuel 1 verse
2 Kings 1 verse
Psalms 1 verse
Song of Solomon 1 verse
Isaiah 2 verses
- Isaiah 17:5 כִּ/מְלַקֵּ֥ט prep + Piel ptcp.act ms It shall be as when the harvester gathers the standing grain, and his arm reaps the ears; yes, it shall be as when one gleans ears in the valley of Rephaim.
- Isaiah 27:12 תְּלֻקְּט֛וּ Pual impf 2mp It shall happen in that day, that Yahweh will beat off [his fruit] from the flood of the River to the brook of Egypt; and you shall be gathered one by one, you children of Israel.
Jeremiah 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.
לקט — transliterated lâqaṭ — is a Hebrew verb carrying the sense “to gather.” Its English rendering has broadened — “gather” classically, “glean” (unfoldingWord Literal Text) in modern versions; see the renderings breakdown. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 34 verses — moderately common. More than a quarter of its appearances fall in Ruth. Across 4 stems, its meaning turns on the binyan (Qal, Piel). 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 H3950 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 →
- 34
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 34 distinct verses.
- 12 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 12 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #967
- by frequency
- Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 967 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 34 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 34 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 15 verses · 44%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 12 verses · 35%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 7 verses · 21%
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: Gather 7×, Gathered 4×, Glean 4×
- American Standard Version: Gather 7×, Glean 4×, Gathered 3×
- Berean Standard Bible: Gather 7×, Glean 4×, Or gather 3×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Glean 9×, Gather 5×, They gathered 4×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H3950 across 37 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 12 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 H3950 across 37 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.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H3950 across 37 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 19 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 H3950 across 44 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 16 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
7 senses and sub-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 Hithpael (reflexive or reciprocal).
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 7 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
- 1. pick up, gather
- 2. specif. glean
Piel
- 1. gather, gather up
- 2. fig. collect (money)
- 3. specif. glean
Pual
- . ye shall be picked up
Hithpael
- . and there collected themselves worthless men unto Jephthah
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
[ לָקַט ] vb. pick or gather up, specif. glean
— 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.
לָקַט
- (b. h.) [to seize,]
- 1. to gather, glean; to pick, v. Pi.—Part. לוֹקֵט gleaner, huckster, v. לָקוֹט.
- 2. (in sewing) to gather, pucker. M. Kat. 26ᵃ bot. ללוֹקְטָן ולעשותן כמין סולמות to mend (the rents for the dead) by gathering or making a sort of stairs (chain-stitches), v. סוּלָּם.
- same,
- 1. to pick, harvest; to pick up, collect. Tosef. Shebi. IV, 21 לי׳ אתרוג באחד וכ׳ he harvested Ethrogs on the first of Sh’bat; R. Hash. 14ᵃ; Erub. 7ᵃ; Yeb. 15ᵃ. Tosef. R. Hash. I, 9 לי׳ ירק if one picked vegetables; a. v. fr.—Maas. Sh. II, 5 מה שלי׳ לי׳ וכ׳ Y. ed. (Mish. a. Bab. ed. מה שלקט לקט) what coins he picked up singly belong to the second-tithe fund. Y. ib. 53ᶜ והוא שלי׳ מיכן ומיכן אבל לי׳ על אומד וכ׳ (not אומן) provided he picked up here and there (deliberately selecting), but if he did so at random &c. Bekh. 7ᵇ כל המטיל בצים מְלַקֵּט וכ׳ every animal that lays eggs supports its brood by picking up food for it, except the bat … which gives suck.—M. Kat. I, 5 מלקט אדם וכ׳ one may (during the festive week) collect for final burial the bones of &c., v. לִיקּוּט. Snh. VI, 6 מְלַקְּטִין את העצמות וכ׳ the bones (of the convict) may be collected and buried in their family tomb; a. fr.—Esp. to glean, to take the poor man’s share in the crop. Peah IV, 9 מי שלקט וכ׳ (Y. ed. שלי׳) if one gleaned the corner of the field and said, this is to belong to &c.; Gitt. 11ᵇ; B. Mets. 9ᵇ.—Peah V, 6 לִלְקוֹט (Y. ed. ללַקֵּט). Y. ib. IV, 18ᵇ ילכו וִילַקְּטוּ וכ׳ let them have an opportunity to go and glean in another field &c., v. כִּילּוּי, a. v. fr.—[Peah IV, 5, v. Hif.].—[Sot. 11ᵇ ומלקט להן וכ׳, v. נָקַט.]
- 2. to pluck (hair) out singly. Naz. 40ᵇ לִיקְּטוֹ במלקט if he plucked it singly with pinchers; Macc. III, 5 לְקָטוֹ. Ib. 20ᵇ במְלַקֵּט לבנות וכ׳ when one plucks out the white hair among the black; Sabb. 94ᵇ; a. e.—[Naz. l. c. עד שילקטנו בתער, read שיטלנו as Macc. III, 5.]
- 1. to be collected, harvested. Tosef. Shebi. IV, 21 שגדל בחובה ונ׳ בחובה what has been growing under obligation (as eventually subject to tithes) and been harvested under obligation; שגדל בשביעית ונ׳ בשביעית what has been growing in the Sabbatical year and collected in &c.; R. Hash. 15ᵃ; a. e.
- 2. to be made smooth by plucking. Sabb. 97ᵃ, v. מַלְקֵט.
- to be gleaned. Peah V, 1 גדיש שלא ל׳ תחתיו a stack of grain under which the gleaning for the poor has been left.
- 1. to cause picking, to strew feed for birds. Tosef. Sabb. XVIII, 4 מַלְקִיטִין, contrad. to מהלקטין (v. הִילְקט); Sabb. 155ᵇ
- 2. to arrange the gleaning by the poor. Peah IV, 5 (3) היו מַלְקִיטִין על החבל Y. ed. (Bab. ed. a. Mish. מלקטין) arranged the gleaning by the line, leaving a corner at the end of each furrow.
- to be collected; to require collection. Maas. Sh. II, 5 המִתְלַקְּטִים those coins which have been picked up singly, opp. הנבללין.—Ḥull. 46ᵃ מִתְלַקֵּט מהו if the required size of sound flesh can be obtained only by collecting (it not being in one place), how is it?—Ib. 77ᵃ מתל׳ מהו how is it, if the quantity of flesh required to cover the broken bone is scattered?
לְקַט
- , ch. same, to pick up; to gather. Targ. Gen. XXXI, 46. Ib. XLVII, 14 (ed. Berl. לַקֵּיט). Targ. Ex. XVI, 26; a. e.—Part. לָקֵיט, לָקֵט. Targ. O. Deut. XXIX, 10 לָקֵיט ed. Berl. (ed. Amst. לַקֵּט, corr. acc.; h. text חטב); Targ. Josh. IX, 21 לַקְטֵי Bxt. (ed. מְלַקְּטֵי).—Sabb. 156ᵃ דלא לָקֵיט בלישניה (a calf) that does not take up with its tongue (the fodder placed before it), v. infra; a. e.
- same. Targ. Gen. XLVII, 14, v. supra. Targ. Lev. XIX, 9 (Y. II Pe.); a. fr.—Targ. II Esth. III, 8 ומְלַקְּטִין (not ומְלָקְטִין), v. חַצְבָּא.—Lev. R. s. 6 שרי ההוא מְלַקֵּט א"ל לַקֵּט לַקֵּט … את מלקט he began to pick up (the scattered Denars); said he to him, pick up, pick up, for it is thine own thou art picking up.—Y. Sabb. VII, 10ᵃ bot. ומְלַקְּטָן (not וולקטה) and gathers them (the sun-dried fruits in cakes or strings; v. Maim. Sabb. VIII, 6); a. e.
- to cause to take up, to put the mouth to. Sabb. 156ᵃ מַלְקִיטִין יתיה Ms. O. (Ms. M. מַלְקְטִין ליה, ed. מהלקיטין, v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note) we may make it take up (taste the fodder).
לֶקֶט
- preced. wds.)
- 1. gleanings; the poor man’s share in the crop (Lev. XIX, 9). Peah IV, 3. Ib. 10 איזהו ל׳ הנושר וכ׳ what is called leḳet (the poor man’s share)? That which drops &c. Ib. 11 ספק ל׳ ל׳ where there is a doubt about leḳet, it is leḳet, i.e. the poor man has the benefit of the doubt. Ib. V, 1 אומדין אותה כמה ל׳ וכ׳ we calculate how much it would ordinarily give out for the poor man. Y. ib. V, beg. 18ᵈ שגדש ע"ג לִיקְטָן של וכ׳ for he piled up the stack over the poor man’s share; a. fr. e.g. Leviticus 19:9
- 2. pucker, seam. M. Kat. 26ᵇ הקורע … מתוך הל׳ he who rends his garment … in a place which has been mended by a pucker (after having been rent for a death).
לֶקֶט ²
- 1. same, gleanings, poor man’s share. Targ. Lev. XIX, 9.
- 2. the accumulated food in a bird’s crop. Targ. Y. I Lev. I, 16.
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 35 distinct written forms H3950 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.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H3950, 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
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 34 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 34 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 31:46
- Exodus 16:4
- Leviticus 19:9
- Numbers 11:8
- Judges 1:7
- Ruth 2:2
- 1 Samuel 20:38
- 2 Kings 4:39
- Psalms 104:28
- Song of Solomon 6:2
- Isaiah 17:5
- Jeremiah 7:18
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.
