מִלְחָמָה
battle
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
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Every verse where H4421 appears in the Book of 1 Samuel — 29 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.
1 Samuel
- 1 Samuel 4:1 לַ/מִּלְחָמָ֗ה prep det + n c fs The word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and encamped beside Ebenezer: and the Philistines encamped in Aphek.
- 1 Samuel 4:2 הַ/מִּלְחָמָ֔ה ptcl def.art + n c fs The Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was struck before the Philistines; and they killed of the army in the field about four thousand men.
- 1 Samuel 7:10 לַ/מִּלְחָמָ֖ה prep det + n c fs As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel; but Yahweh thundered with a great thunder on that day on the Philistines, and confused them; and they were struck down before Israel.
- 1 Samuel 8:12 מִלְחַמְתּ֖/וֹ n c fs cs + sfx pers 3ms and he will appoint them to him for captains of thousands, and captains of fifties; and [he will set some] to plow his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and the instruments of his chariots.
- 1 Samuel 8:20 מִלְחֲמֹתֵֽ/נוּ n c fp cs + sfx pers 1cp that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.
- 1 Samuel 13:22 מִלְחֶ֔מֶת n c fs So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan: but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found.
- 1 Samuel 14:20 הַ/מִּלְחָמָ֑ה ptcl def.art + n c fs Saul and all the people who were with him were gathered together, and came to the battle: and, behold, every man's sword was against his fellow, [and there was] a very great confusion.
- 1 Samuel 14:22 בַּ/מִּלְחָמָֽה prep det + n c fs Likewise all the men of Israel who had hid themselves in the hill-country of Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, even they also followed hard after them in the battle.
- 1 Samuel 14:23 וְ/הַ֨/מִּלְחָמָ֔ה conj + ptcl def.art + n c fs So Yahweh saved Israel that day: and the battle passed over by Beth Aven.
- 1 Samuel 14:52 הַ/מִּלְחָמָה֙ ptcl def.art + n c fs There was sore war against the Philistines all the days of Saul: and when Saul saw any mighty man, or any valiant man, he took him to him.
- 1 Samuel 16:18 מִלְחָמָ֛ה n c fs Then answered one of the young men, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, and a mighty man of valor, and a man of war, and prudent in speech, and a comely person; and Yahweh is with him.
- 1 Samuel 17:1 לַ/מִּלְחָמָ֔ה prep det + n c fs Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle; and they were gathered together at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim.
- 1 Samuel 17:2 מִלְחָמָ֖ה n c fs Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and encamped in the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines.
- 1 Samuel 17:8 מִלְחָמָ֑ה n c fs He stood and cried to the armies of Israel, and said to them, Why are you come out to set your battle in array? am I not a Philistine, and you servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.
- 1 Samuel 17:13 לַ/מִּלְחָמָ֑ה בַּ/מִּלְחָמָ֔ה prep det + n c fs prep det + n c fs The three eldest sons of Jesse had gone after Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.
- 1 Samuel 17:20 בַּ/מִּלְחָמָֽה prep det + n c fs David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the place of the wagons, as the host which was going forth to the fight shouted for the battle.
- 1 Samuel 17:28 הַ/מִּלְחָמָ֖ה ptcl def.art + n c fs Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why are you come down? and with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride, and the naughtiness of your heart; for you have come down that you might see the battle.
- 1 Samuel 17:33 מִלְחָמָ֖ה n c fs Saul said to David, You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.
- 1 Samuel 17:47 הַ/מִּלְחָמָ֔ה ptcl def.art + n c fs and that all this assembly may know that Yahweh doesn't save with sword and spear: for the battle is Yahweh's, and he will give you into our hand.
- 1 Samuel 18:5 הַ/מִּלְחָמָ֑ה ptcl def.art + n c fs David went out wherever Saul sent him, [and] behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and it was good in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants.
- 1 Samuel 18:17 מִלְחֲמ֣וֹת n c fp cs Saul said to David, Behold, my elder daughter Merab, her will I give you as wife: only be valiant for me, and fight Yahweh's battles. For Saul said, Don't let my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be on him.
- 1 Samuel 19:8 הַ/מִּלְחָמָ֖ה ptcl def.art + n c fs There was war again: and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and killed them with a great slaughter; and they fled before him.
- 1 Samuel 23:8 לַ/מִּלְחָמָ֑ה prep det + n c fs Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men.
- 1 Samuel 25:28 מִלְחֲמ֤וֹת n c fp cs Please forgive the trespass of your handmaid: for Yahweh will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the battles of Yahweh; and evil shall not be found in you all your days.
- 1 Samuel 26:10 בַ/מִּלְחָמָ֛ה prep det + n c fs David said, As Yahweh lives, Yahweh will strike him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall go down into battle and perish.
- 1 Samuel 29:4 בַּ/מִּלְחָמָ֔ה בַּ/מִּלְחָמָ֑ה prep det + n c fs prep det + n c fs But the princes of the Philistines were angry with him; and the princes of the Philistines said to him, Make the man return, that he may go back to his place where you have appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us: for with what should this [fellow] reconcile himself to his lord? should it not be with the heads of these men?
- 1 Samuel 29:9 בַּ/מִּלְחָמָֽה prep det + n c fs Achish answered David, I know that you are good in my sight, as an angel of God: notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle.
- 1 Samuel 30:24 בַּ/מִּלְחָמָ֗ה prep det + n c fs Who will listen to you in this matter? for as his share is who goes down to the battle, so shall his share be who tarries by the baggage: they shall share alike.
- 1 Samuel 31:3 הַ/מִּלְחָמָה֙ ptcl def.art + n c fs The battle went sore against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers.
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.
The Hebrew noun מלחמה centers on the idea of “battle.” Debuting at Genesis 14:2, it then recurs through the corpus. It appears 308 verses across 27 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its common vocabulary. It shares a root with לחם, לחום and לחם. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H4421 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 →
- 308
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 308 distinct verses.
- 27 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 27 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #156
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 156 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 308 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- 1 Chronicles 31 verses 10%
- 1 Samuel 29 verses 9%
- 2 Samuel 29 verses 9%
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 308 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 187 verses · 61%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 84 verses · 27%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 37 verses · 12%
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: Battle 125×, War 125×, Was war 8×
- American Standard Version: Battle 109×, War 106×, Was war 6×
- Berean Standard Bible: Battle 134×, War 90×, Fight 11×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Battle 171×, War 106×, Battles 7×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H4421 across 315 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
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 4 further occurrences.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H4421 across 312 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 60 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 H4421 across 298 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 29 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 21 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H4421 across 310 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 14 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.
- battle, war
Word origin
n.f. battle, war;—abs. מ׳ Gn 14:2, 8 Ex 1:10 +; cstr. מִלְחֶ֫מֶת 1 S 13:22 (מ׳ מִכְמָשׁ 𝔊 Th We Bu HPS Ew§ 188 c Köii 182 > abs. Thes al.); sf. מִלְחַמְתִּי 2 Ch 35:21; מִלְחַמְתְּךָ 2 S 11:25; מִלְחַמְתֶּ֑ךָ Is 41:12, etc.; pl. מִלְחָמוֹת Is 42:13 + 7 times Ch ψψ; cstr. מִלְחֲמוֹת Ju 3:1 +, etc.;—battle, Gn 14:8 1 S 17:1, 2, 8; 31:3 1 K 20:14, 18, 29, 39 + often; war, Gn 14:2 Ex 1:10 Dt 20:12 Jos 11:23; 14:15 2 S 3:1 (וַתְּהִי הַמִּלְחָמָה אֲרֻכָּה) +; מִלְחֲמוֹת כְּנָ֑עַן Ju 3:1; סֵפֶר מִלְחֲמֹת י׳ Nu 21:14 (JE); acc. cogn. c. נלחם †1 S 8:20 2 Ch 32:8 and (מִלְחֲמוֹת י׳) 1 S 18:17; 25:28†; = art of war, למד מ׳ Is 2:4 learn war = Mi 4:3; למּד מ׳ Ju 3:2 teach war, fighting; מְלַמֵּד יָדַי לַמּ׳ 2 S 22:35 = ψ 18:35, cf. ψ 144:1; לְמוּדֵי מ׳ 1 Ch 5:18, מְלֻמְּדֵי מ׳ Ct 3:8 instructed in war; once = battlefield וַיָּבֹאוּ עַד הַמּ׳ 1 S 14:20 (so KitKauAT). The most freq. phrases are: †אִישׁ מ׳ Is 3:2 1 S 16:18; 17:33 2 S 17:8 Ez 39:20 Jos 17:1 (P), also (coll.) Ju 20:17, of י׳ Ex 15:3 (poem); אַנְשֵׁי הַמּ׳ Jos 6:3; 10:24 (both JE), Dt 2:14, 16 Jos 5:4, 6 (all D), Je 38:4; 39:4; 41:3, 16; 49:26; 51:32; 52:7, 25, also 1 K 9:22 2 K 25:4 Nu 31:28, 49 (P), Jo 4:9; late אַנְשֵׁי מ׳ Jo 2:7 1 Ch 12:39 (v 38 van d. H) 2 Ch 8:9; 17:13; אִישׁ מִלְחָמוֹת Is 42:13 1 Ch 28:3; אַנְשֵׁי מִלְחַמְתָּהּ Je 50:30 her men of war, cf. Is 41:12 Ez 27:10, 27; אִישׁ מִלְחֲמוֹת תֹּעִי 2 S 8:10 a man of battles of Toi, i.e. his frequent opponent (v. Dr), = 1 Ch 18:10; seldom גִּבּוֹר מ׳ ψ 24:8 (of י׳), גִּבּוֹרֵי מ׳ 2 Ch 13:3; שָׂרֵי מִלְחָמוֹת 2 Ch 32:6; עַם הַמּ׳ Jos 8:1, 3; 10:7; 11:7, cf. 8:11 (all JE), cf. also 1 S 13:16 add. 𝔊 We Dr, cf. Klo; אַנְשֵׁי חַיִל לַמּ׳ Je 48:14; צְבָא מ׳ battle-host Is 13:4, so צ׳ הַמּ׳ Nu 31:14 (P); also גְּדוּדֵי צְבָא מ׳ 1 Ch 7:4, יֹצְאֵי צ׳ לַמּ׳ v 11, אַנְשֵׁי צָבָא לַמּ׳ 1 Ch 12:9 (v 8 van d. H)†; weapons of war, כְּלֵי (ה)מ׳ Ju 18:11, 17 Je 21:4; 51:20 1 Ch 12:34 (v 33 van d. H), also fig. 2 S 1:27 (‖ גִּבּוֹרִים); כְּלֵי צְבָא מ׳ 1 Ch 12:38 (v 37 van d. H.); קֶשֶׁת מ׳ Zc 9:10; 10:4; כְּלֵי מִלְחַמְתּוֹ his weapons of war 1 S 8:12 Dt 1:41, cf. Ju 18:16 Ez 32:37; דִּבְרֵי הַמּ׳ = the news of the battle 2 S 11:18, 19 + v 22 add. 𝔊 The We Klo Dr Bu. Freq. combin. with vbs. are: עָרַךְ מ׳ draw up battle-line Ju 20:22 +, sq. אֵת with = against Gn 14:8 Ju 20:20, sq. עִם 2 Ch 13:3; אסר המּ׳ i.e. begin the battle 1 K 20:14, cf. 2 Ch 13:3; וַתִּקְרַב הַמּ׳ 1 K 20:29 and the battle was joined; עָשָׂה מ׳ make war Pr 20:8; 24:6 1 Ch 22:8, sq. אֵת with Gn 14:2 Jos 11:18 (D), sq. עִם Dt 20:12, 20 1 Ch 5:10, 19; †יָצָא לַמּ׳ עִם Ju 20:14, 20, 28, c. עַל 1 K 8:44 2 Ch 6:34; הָלַךְ לַמּ׳ עִם 2 K 8:28; נגשׁ לַמּ׳ עִם Ju 20:23, c. בְּ 1 S 7:10 2 S 10:13, abs. Je 46:3†; וַתְּהִי הַמּ׳ עִם 2 S 21:18, 19, c. בֵּין 2 S 3:1, cf. v 6 +; †קִדַּשׁ מ׳ consecrate war, i.e. open a campaign (with sacred rites, Che) Mi 3:5 Je 6:4 (both c. על), Jo 4:9; cf. †וְהַמּ׳ הִדְבִּיקָתְהוּ Ju 20:42 and the battle clung to them; וַתַּעֲלֶה הַמּ׳ 22:35 and the battle rose (high) = 2 Ch 18:34; וַתִּטּשׁ הַמּ׳ 1 S 4:2, read וַתֵּט הַמּ׳ (𝔊 We Klo Bu, cf. Dr) and the battle inclined (in favour of one side); נָפוֹצֶת הַמּ׳ 2 S 18:8 Qr the battle was spread (extended), so read 1 S 14:24 add. 𝔊 The We Klo Dr; תָּקוּם עָלַי מ׳ ψ 27:3 if war rise against me†; הַמּ׳ כָּבֵ֑דָה Ju 20:34 the battle was severe, cf. וַתִּכְבַּד הַמּ׳ אֶל־שָׁאוּל 1 S 31:3 = 1 Ch 10:3 (על for אל); so וַתְּהִי הַמּ׳ חֲזָקָה 1 S 14:52, חָזַק מִמֶּנּוּ הַמּ׳ 2 K 3:26; וַתְּהִי הַמּ׳ קָשָׁה 2 S 2:17: cf. כֹּבֶד מ׳ Is 21:15, עֱזוּז מ׳ 42:25.
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from לחם (lâcham) (H3898) — to fight.
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.
מִלְחָמָה
- war, contest. Sot. VIII, 1, a. fr. משוח מ׳ chaplain of the army (Deut. XX, 2), v. מָשַׁח I. Ib. 7 מִלְחֶמֶת הרשות (Bab. ed. 44ᵇ, pl.) secular (political) warfare; מ׳ מצוה a war for religious causes; מ׳ חובה וכ׳ a war of duty. Ib. 44ᵇ מ׳ יהושע וכ׳ the war of conquest under Joshua, all agree, is a war of duty &c.—Meg. 15ᵇ מִלְחַמְתָּהּ של תורה disputes about the Law; a. fr.—Pl. מִלְחָמוֹת. Sot. l. c. מִלְחֲמוֹת בית דוד לרווחה the wars of the house of David for extending the dominion. M. Kat. 25ᵇ (in a eulogy) גזע … ועמו ספר מ׳ an offspring of worthies came up from Babylonia and with him came the book of wars (allegorically for knowledge of the Law; oth. interpret. R. Hamnuna who came with Rabbah). Snh. 97ᵃ בשביעית מ׳ in the seventh Messianic year there will be wars; a. fr. e.g. Deuteronomy 20:2
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 84 distinct written forms H4421 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.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 24 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H4421, 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 → Showing 4 of 5 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 294 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 308 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 14:2
- Exodus 1:10
- Numbers 10:9
- Deuteronomy 1:41
- Joshua 4:13
- Judges 3:1
- 1 Samuel 4:1
- 2 Samuel 1:4
- 1 Kings 2:5
- 2 Kings 3:7
- 1 Chronicles 5:10
- 2 Chronicles 6:34
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.
