מֶ֫לֶךְ

king

H4428 Strong's Hebrew

melek Transliteration

/meh'-lek/ Pronunciation

Usage in the Hebrew Bible 2,526 appearances

Definition — BDB

king

Cite this entry

Strong's H4428 — מלך (melek), "king". Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB, 1906). Lemma, https://lemma.gebible.app/w/H4428.

Show BibTeX & RIS

BibTeX

@misc{lemma-H4428,
  author       = {Lemma},
  title        = {H4428 מלך (melek) — king},
  howpublished = {\url{https://lemma.gebible.app/w/H4428}},
  note         = {Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB, 1906). Lemma interlinear Bible study tool}
}

RIS

TY  - GEN
AU  - Lemma
TI  - H4428 — מלך (melek), "king"
PB  - Lemma
N1  - Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB, 1906)
UR  - https://lemma.gebible.app/w/H4428
ER  -

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Grammar key — what these labels mean

Noun: A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.

Common: A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.

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).

Masculine: Grammatically masculine.

Singular: One.
Plural: More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).

Page 2 of 6 — showing verses 201–400 of 1,140 distinct verses where H4428 appears in the Absolute state, across 34 books. Filtered view — show all forms. 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.

2 Samuel 191 verses

1 Kings 160 verses

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.

מלך — transliterated melek — is a Hebrew noun carrying the sense “king.” Its earliest occurrence is Genesis 14:1. It appears 1,919 verses across 35 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its most common vocabulary. It shares a root with מלך, מלוכה and מלך. See the sense tree, 1,919-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890

king

Modern gloss

king

Strong's 1890 agrees

About this word

Strong's H4428 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 →

1,919: distinct verses; The word appears in 1,919 distinct verses.
35 / 39: OT books; The word appears in 35 of 39 Old Testament books.
Genesis 14:1: first appearance; The earliest occurrence is in Genesis 14:1.
Malachi 1:14: last appearance; The latest occurrence is in Malachi 1:14.
#15: by frequency; Top 25 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 15 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 1,919 occurrences in the concordance →

Most concentrated in

2 Kings 268 verses 14%
1 Kings 231 verses 12%
2 Chronicles 218 verses 11%

By section of the Old Testament

Pentateuch 75 · 4%
Historical 1,323 · 69%
Wisdom 119 · 6%
Prophets 402 · 21%

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 1,919 distinct verses.

Prophets (Nevi'im) 1,231 verses · 64%
Writings (Ketuvim) 613 verses · 32%
Torah (Pentateuch) 75 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).

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: King 1,741×, Kings 202×, King's 187×
American Standard Version: King 1,824×, Kings 192×, All the kings 24×
Berean Standard Bible: King 1,732×, Kings 261×, King’s 120×
unfoldingWord Literal Text: King 1,322×, King of 697×, Kings of 130×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H4428 across 2,523 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

“King” 1,741×
“Kings” 202×
“King's” 187×
“All the kings” 25×
“Against the king” 13×
“All the king's” 12×
“Was king” 8×
“Did the king” 7×
“Be king” 6×
“Behold the king” 6×
“Came to pass when the king” 6×
“Is the king” 6×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 173 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 H4428 across 2,522 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

“King” 1,824×
“Kings” 192×
“All the kings” 24×
“Against the king” 14×
“Came to pass” 12×
“Him” 11×
“All the king” 10×
“Is the king” 10×
“Now the king” 9×
“Did the king” 8×
“Thee” 8×
“Was king” 8×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 225 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 H4428 across 2,406 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

“King” 1,732×
“Kings” 261×
“King’s” 120×
“Royal” 57×
“Reign” 43×
“He” 10×
“Now the king” 10×
“Against the king” 8×
“May the king” 7×
“Him” 6×
“And” 4×
“You king” 4×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 86 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 118 further occurrences.

unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Renders H4428 across 2,390 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

“King” 1,322×
“King of” 697×
“Kings of” 130×
“Kings” 120×
“The” 16×
“All of the kings of” 10×
“And” 8×
“A” 7×
“Against the king” 5×
“Is the king of” 5×
“Against the king of” 4×
“Or the king of” 4×

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.

9 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 9 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.

מלך I king (NH id.

1. king: of Egypt Gn 39:20 f. Ex 1:8 f. Dt 11:3 1 K 3:1; of Mesopotamia, Shinar, Assyrian, Babyl., Pers., etc. Ju 3:8, 10 Gn 14:1 f. 2 K 15:19, 20, 29; 17:3 f.; 18:13 f.; 24:1, 11 f. Ezr 1:1 f.; 4:3 f. Est 1:2 +, 1 K 11:18, 40; 14:25 2 K 17:4 f.; 23:29 +; of Canaan, Philist., Edom, Moab, etc. (often of single city): Gn 14:2 f. v 18; 20:2; 26:1, 8; 36:31 Nu 20:14; 21:1 f.; 22:4, 10 Dt 1:4; 3:1 f. Jos 2:2 (often in Jos), Ju 1:7; 5:19; 8:5, 12; 11:12 f.; 2 K 3:4 f. +; of Aram, Hamath, etc. 2 S 8:3 f. v 9 1 K 15:18; 20:1 f.; 22:3 2 K 5:1 f.; 8:7 f v 29; 9:14, 15; 15:37; 16:5 f. +; of Tyre, etc. 2 S 5:11; 1 K 5:15; 9:11; 16 +, etc.; especially of Israel (undivided, and of both divisions) Gn 36:31 Nu 23:21; 24:7 Dt 17:14 f. Ju 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25; 1 S 2:10; 8:5 f. 2 S 2:4 f. 1 K 1:33, 34 f. + very often; cf. also Ju 9:5.—2 S 18:29b del. הַמּ׳ We Klo Dr Kit Bu. Note that in early books המלך דוד is nearly always said; in late books usually דוד (שׁלמה וגו׳) המלך; cf. Aramaic כּוֹרֶשׁ מַלְכָּא, etc. e.g. Genesis 39:20
2. of Davidic king, as under divine protection, 1 S 2:10 (‖ מְשִׁיחוֹ), ψ 2:6; 18:51; 89:19; 61:7, cf. 99:4; so in (Messianic) prediction Ho 3:5 Is 32:1 Je 23:5 Ez 37:22, 24 Zc 9:9. e.g. 1 Samuel 2:10
3. used of י׳ as king of Israel 1 S 12:12; poet. Dt 33:5 cf. ψ 5:3; 10:16; 29:10; 44:5; 48:3; 68:25; 74:12; 84:4; 145:1; 149:2 Is 41:21; 43:15; 44:6 Zp 3:15; מֶלֶךְ הַכָּבוֹד ψ 24:7, 8, 9, 10(×2); universal king ψ 47:3, 8; 95:3; 98:6 Je 10:7, 10, cf. 46:18; 48:15; 51:57 Zc 14:9, 16, 17 Mal 1:14; of false god Am 5:26. e.g. 1 Samuel 12:12
4. in fable, king of trees Ju 9:8, 15; fig. of crocodile Jb 41:26; מ׳ אֵין לָאַרְבֶּה Pr 30:27; of death, מֶלָךְ בַּלָּהוֹת Jb 18:14. e.g. Judges 9:8
5. combinations are:—
- a. הַמּ׳ הַגָּדוֹל 2 K 18:19, 28 = Is 36:4, 13 (of Assyrian king: cf. Assyrian šarru rabû); מ׳ גָּדוֹל Ec 9:14 (indef.); of י׳ Mal 1:14, מ׳ ג׳ עַל־כל־אלהים ψ 95:3; עוֹלָם מ׳ Je 10:10 (of י׳); מ׳ מְלָכִים Ez 26:7 (king of Babyl.) e.g. 2 Kings 18:19
- b. יְחִי הַמֶּלֶךְ 1 S 10:24 2 S 16:16(×2) 1 K 1:34, 39 2 K 11:12 2 Ch 23:11; מֶלָךְ בירושׁלם Ec 1:1, cf. 1 Sa 15:26; 2 S 5:2 1 K 14:2 1 Ch 29:25 2 S 2:11 (היה מ׳ בחברון על־) 1 K 11:37 2 Ch 28:4 Ec 1:12. e.g. 1 Samuel 10:24
- c. following a very (one or two acc.) שִׂים מ׳ על Dt 17:14, 15(×2) 1 S 10:19; שִׂים לָנוּ מ׳ 1 S 8:5; שִׂים לְמ׳ 1 K 10:9; נָתַן מ׳ לְ 1 S 8:6 Ho 13:10, 11; נָתַן עַל 1 S 12:13 2 Ch 2:10 Ne 9:37; 13:26; הִמְלִיךְ לְמֶלֶךְ Ju 9:6 1 S 15:11; הִמְלִיךְ מ׳ על 1 S 12:1; הִמְלִיךְ מ׳ לְ 1 S 8:22; מָשַׁח מ׳ עַל Ju 9:8; מָשַׁח לְמ׳ 1 K 1:45; מָשַׁח לְמ׳ עַל Ju 9:15 1 S 15:1, 17; 2 S 2:4; 5:3, 12; 12:7 1 K 1:34 1 Ch 11:3; 14:8; מ׳ יִהְיֶה על 1 S 8:19; בִּקֵּשׁ למ׳ על 2 S 3:17; הֵכִין לְמ׳ על 2 S 5:12 1 Ch 14:2; הֵקִים מ׳ על 1 K 14:14 Dt 28:36; יָשַׁב עַל־כִּסֵּא י׳ לְמ׳ תַּחַת וגו׳ 1 Ch 29:23, cf. Pr 20:8; נָתַן עַל־כִּסֵּא לְמ׳ לְי׳ אלהיך 2 Ch 9:8. e.g. Deuteronomy 17:14
- d. מַעֲדַנֵּי־מֶלֶךְ Gn 49:20 royal dainties, fig.; מִשְׁתֵּה הַמּ׳ 1 S 25:36 royal feast (in sim.); אֶבֶן הַמּ׳ 2 S 14:26 king’s weight; יַד־הַמּ׳ 1 K 10:13 royal bounty (in sim.); גִּזֵּי הַמּ׳ Am 7:1 king’s mowings; מִקְדַּשׁ מ׳ Am 7:13 royal sanctuary; עֲטֶרֶת מַלְכָּם 2 S 12:30 crown of their king = 1 Ch 20:2 (but read מִלְכֹּם 𝔊 We Klo Dr Kit Kau—not Bu KitChr. Hpt); cf. also בַּיִת, עֵמֶק, גַּן, שָׁוֵה, etc.—N.pr. אבימלך, אחימלך, אלימלך, נתן מלך, עבד מלך, v. sub אב, אח, etc. e.g. Genesis 49:20

מלך II m. son of Micah, a Benjamite (on מ׳ as individ. name v. GrayProp. N. 116, 112 n. 4

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.m. king (NH id.; MI 1.5.10.18.23 מלך; 1:4 המלכן; Ph. מלך; Zinj. מלך DHMSendsch. 60; Assyrian maliku, malku, prince (Assyrian šarru = king); Arabic مَلِكٌ king (orig. Heb. מַלִךְ inferred, LagBN 73 BaNB § 112 WMMAs. u. Europ. 76); Sab. מלכן SabDenkmNo. 1; cstr. מלך, pl. אמלך CISiv. 37; cf. Ethiopic አምላክ God (and Nöl.c.); Aramaic ܡܠܶܟ, מְלֵיךְ; Palm. מלך מלכא VogNo. 28; Nab. מלכא EutNab. 1);—מ׳ abs. Gn 36:31 + (ins. also 2 S 13:17 𝔊 Th We Dr Kit Bu, and v 34 𝔊 We Dr Kit Bu); in p. always מֶ֑לֶךְ Gn 49:20 + 238 times (so also n.pr. in -מֶלֶךְ); cstr. Gn 14:1 +; sf. מַלְכִּי 2 S 19:44 + 6 times, etc.; pl. מְלָכִים Gn 14:9 +; מְלָכִין Pr 31:3; cstr. מַלְכֵי Gn 17:6 +; sf. מְלָכֶיהָ Is 7:16 + 3 times; מַלְכֵיהֶם Dt 7:24 + 16 times, etc.;—

II. n.pr.m. son of Micah, a Benjamite (on מ׳ as individ. name v. GrayProp. N. 116, 112 n. 4; cf. Ph. n.pr. מלך (v. Bloch); Sab. n.pr. מלכם CIS iv. 1; Palm. n.pr. מלכו VogPalm. 92 al. Nab. id., EutNab 21, 4 al. VogNab. 1, 2);—1 Ch 8:35 (𝔊 Μελχηλ), 9:41 (𝔊 Μαλαχ; 𝔊L Μελχιηλ in both).

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

Derived from מלך (mâlak) (H4427) — to reign.

Part of speech: Noun Masculine TWOT: 1199a

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.

*מַלָּךְ

(= מַה לָךְ) what is it to thee?; of no practical value. Sabb. 150ᵃ sq. חשבונות של מ׳ ושל מה בכך (Ms. M. מה לך, v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note) accounts of ‘what is it to thee?’ and of ‘what is in it?’, i.e. for no practical purpose. [Oth. opin., v. Ar.]

מָלַךְ

(b. h.) [to lead in council,] to preside; to officiate; to be ruler. B. Bath. 164ᵇ מ׳ שנה מונין לו שתים when he has been in office one year, they date (in documents) ‘the second year’. Meg. 11ᵃ (ref. to המֹלֵךְ, Esth. I, 1) מ׳ מעצמו started a dynasty with himself (had no claims of succession). Ib. מָלְכוּ בכיפה, v. כִּיפָּה. Zeb. 118ᵇ עשרה שנה שמ׳ וכ׳ ten years during which Samuel ruled alone, ושנה שמ׳ שאול וכ׳ and one year during which Saul and Samuel ruled conjointly; Tem. 15ᵃ; a. fr. e.g. Esther 1:1
- [to be led,]
- 1. to take council, to ask advice or permission. Ber. 3ᵇ נִמְלָכִין בסנהדרין they ask the Sanhedrin for their confirmation. Ib. 4ᵃ כל מה … אני נ׳ במפיבשת וכ׳ in whatever I undertake, I consult the opinion of M., my teacher. Ib. 29ᵇ וכשאתה … הִמָּלֵךְ בקונך וצא and when thou art about to go on a journey, take council of thy Maker (pray) and go out. B. Mets. 14ᵃ צריך לִימָּלֵךְ the scribe must ask for authorization (to insert in the contract); a. fr.
- 2. [to take council with one’s self,] to reconsider, change one’s mind. Gitt. III, 1. Dem. III, 2 הלוקח … ונ׳ להחזיר if one buys vegetables …. and then decides to return (the goods). Ib. 3 נטלן לאוכלן ונ׳ להצניע if he took them up to eat them and changed his mind (deciding) to keep them; a. fr.
- to appoint or elect for rulership, to acknowledge the authority of. Snh. 64ᵃ שהִמְלִיכוּהוּ עליהם, v. מוֹלֶךְ. Y. Ned. IX, beg. 41ᵇ (ref. to Ps. LXXXI, 10) זר שבקרבך אל תַּמְלִיכֵהוּ עליך allow not the tyrant within thee (the evil inclination) to rule over thee. Ab. Zar. 18ᵃ אומה זו מן השמים הִמְלִיכוּהָ this (Roman) nation has been given the rulership by divine decree. R. Hash. 16ᵃ אמרו לפני … מלכיות שתַּמְלִיכוּנִי עליכם recite before me verses of homage (v. מַלְכוּת), in order that you may declare me your ruler; a. fr. e.g. Psalms 81:10

מְלַךְ

1. to rule. Targ. Gen. XXXVII, 8; a. fr.—Part. מָלִיךְ. Targ. Jer. XXXIII, 21 (ed. Wil. מְלִיךְ, corr. acc.); a. fr.—Ab. Zar. 10ᵃ בעינא דיִמְלַךְ וכ׳ I desire that my son Severus be king after me; ib. דיִמְלוֹךְ.—Ber. 64ᵃ מ׳ רבה Rabbah officiated (as teacher and judge); a. fr.
2. (mostly מליך) to decide. Targ. Is. XIV, 27. Ib. XXIII, 8 (ed. Ven. מַלִּיךְ). Ib. 9 מִילְכָהּ ed. Lag. (some ed. מלכא, read: מִלְכָהּ); a. fr.—Part. pass. מְלִיךְ. Ib. XIV, 26; a. e.
3. to advise. Targ. II Sam. XVII, 7. Targ. I Kings I, 12; a. fr.
- 1. to advise. Targ. Job XXVI, 3.
- 2. to decide, v. supra.
- 1. = preced. = preced. Hif. Targ. I Kings III, 7; a. fr.
- 2. to counsel, persuade. Targ. Josh. XV, 18. Targ. Y. Deut. XXX, 6; a. e.—[Targ. Prov. VIII, 15 מַמְלְכִין ed. Lag. rule (oth. ed. מלכין).]
- , אִמְּ׳ = preced. Nif.—Targ. Is. XXXII, 7; a. fr.—B. Bath. 4ᵃ בתר דעבדין מִתְמַלְּכִין do people ask for advice (or permission) after they have acted? Ber. 27ᵇ אִימְּלִיךְ וכ׳ consult my family. Ib. אזיל ואִמְּ׳ וכ׳ he went and consulted his wife. Ned. 54ᵃ כל מילתא דצריך שליחא לאִמְּלוּכֵי וכ׳ any change of order for which the messenger has to ask special authorization, is heterogeneous (to the object of the original commission); כל מילתא דמִימְּלִיךְ שליח עלה וכ׳ a change for which the messenger asks for instructions is homogeneous. Sot. 43ᵇ אי אימ׳ עלה if he reconsiders his original disposal; a. fr.

מֶלֶךְ

preced.) leader in council, chief, king. Ber. 3ᵇ אדוננו המ׳ our lord the king! Tosef. Snh. VIII, 5, a. fr. מ׳ מלכי המלכים the Most Supreme King (the Lord). Ib. IX, 8 אפי׳ מ׳ של מלכים even a king of kings (great sovereign). Snh. 38ᵃ, a. fr. מ׳ בו"ד (v. בָּשָׂר) a human chief. Ab. Zar. 10ᵃ אין מושיבין מ׳ בן מ׳ they (the Romans) do not allow the son of a king to succeed his father. Kerith. 5ᵇ מ׳ ראשון a first king, starter of a dynasty. Shebu. 6ᵇ מַלְכֹּו של זה this hyparch’s chief. Num. R. s. 18 משה מ׳ וכ׳ Moses has made himself the chief, and Aaron is high priest &c.; a. v. fr.—Pl. מְלָכִים. Hor. 12ᵃ כיצד מושחין את המ׳ וכ׳ how are kings anointed? By drawing with the oil the outlines of a crown; Ker. 5ᵇ. Ib. מַלְכֵי בית דוד the kings of the house of David (southern kingdom); מ׳ ישראל the kings of the northern kingdom; a. v. fr.—בַּת מְ׳ Princess, name of a demon afflicting the eye, also a certain disorder of the eye, v. בַּת I. Sabb. 109ᵃ (Var. בת חורין, v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note).—Pl. בנות מֶלֶךְ. Tosef. B. Kam. IX, 27 יצאו בנות מ׳ the ‘princesses’ (humors of the eye) escaped (in consequence of a blow).

מֶלֶךְ ²

Targ. Ps. XXIV, 7; 9. Targ. Ex. I, 8; a. fr.—Snh. 110ᵃ איהו הוה מ׳ he (Moses) himself is chief. Y. Yeb. XVI, 15ᶜ, v. אָרְסְקִינָס. Y. Ter. VIII, 46ᵇ bot. אתעביד מ׳ he (Dioclet) became king; a. fr.—Pl. מַלְכֵין, מַלְכַיָּא, מַלְכֵי. Targ. Gen. XVII, 6. Ib. XIV, 5. Targ. Prov. VIII, 15; a. fr.—Gitt. 62ᵃ שלמא עלייכו מ׳ (to scholars) peace be with you, chiefs!—Shebu. 6ᵇ תרי מ׳ וכ׳ two kings and two viceroys (hyparchs); a. fr.

מֵלַךְ

(preced. wds.) counsel, advice. Targ. Is. III, 3. Targ. Y. Deut. VIII, 18 (O. עצה; h. text כֹּחַ); a. fr.—Pl. מִלְכִין, מִלְכַיָּא, מִי׳. Targ. Is. XXV, 1. Targ. Job XII, 17 (not מַ׳). Targ. Hos. X, 6; a. e.

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 242 distinct written forms H4428 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
מֶֽלֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Amos 1:1	354
מֶ֣לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Amos 1:1	294
הַ/מֶּ֔לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Daniel 1:3	192
הַ/מֶּ֖לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Daniel 1:8	147
מֶ֥לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Esther 2:6	118
הַ/מֶּֽלֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Amos 7:1	118
הַ/מֶּ֨לֶךְ֙	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Daniel 1:5	107
הַ/מֶּ֑לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Daniel 1:4	93
הַ/מֶּ֣לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Esther 1:2	88
הַ/מֶּ֜לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Daniel 1:5	59
מַלְכֵ֣י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Deuteronomy 3:8	51
הַ/מֶּ֗לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Daniel 11:36	46
הַ/מֶּ֛לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Esther 3:3	42
הַ/מֶּ֤לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Esther 1:20	36
הַ/מֶּ֥לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Daniel 8:21	34
לְ/מַלְכֵ֥י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	1 Kings 14:19	31
מֶ֤לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	1 Chronicles 19:7	28
מַלְכֵ֥י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Daniel 10:13	27
מֶ֖לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Ecclesiastes 1:1	26
הַ/מֶּ֨לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Esther 3:1	20
לַ/מֶּ֣לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Esther 3:8	18
הַ/מֶּ֧לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Esther 4:8	16
לְ/מֶ֖לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	1 Chronicles 14:2	16
לַ/מֶּ֖לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Daniel 2:2	16
מֶ֨לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	1 Kings 22:30	14
לְ/מֶ֣לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Exodus 14:5	14
מֶ֑לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Deuteronomy 33:5	14
וּ/מֶ֣לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Daniel 11:25	13
הַ/מֶּ֡לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Esther 1:5	12
הַ֠/מֶּלֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Daniel 2:2	11
לַ/מֶּ֥לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Esther 1:9	11
וְ/הַ/מֶּ֣לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Ezra 1:7	10
לַ/מֶּ֔לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Esther 6:4	10
מֶ֨לֶךְ֙	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Amos 7:13	9
לְ/מֶ֥לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Genesis 40:1	9
מַלְכֵי	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Ezekiel 27:33	9
הַ/מְּלָכִ֣ים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Deuteronomy 3:21	8
הַ/מֶּלֶךְ֒	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Daniel 1:19	7
לַ/מֶּ֨לֶךְ֙	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	1 Kings 1:23	7
מְלָכִ֖ים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Ecclesiastes 2:8	7
מְלָכִ֣ים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Jeremiah 17:25	7
וּ/מֶ֥לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Genesis 14:2	6
הַ/מֶּלֶךְ֮	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	1 Kings 12:16	6
לְ/מֶ֔לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	1 Kings 10:9	6
לְ/מֶ֨לֶךְ֙	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	1 Chronicles 11:3	6
לַ/מֶּ֑לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	1 Chronicles 27:33	6
לַ/מֶּֽלֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Daniel 1:10	6
מֶ֔לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Deuteronomy 17:14	6
מֶ֛לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Ecclesiastes 1:12	6
מֶ֧לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	2 Kings 3:12	6
מֶ֭לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Proverbs 14:35	5
הַ/מְּלָכִ֔ים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Genesis 36:31	5
וְ/הַ/מֶּ֖לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Hosea 10:3	5
וּ/מְלָכִ֖ים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Genesis 17:6	5
לַ/מֶּ֛לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Esther 2:2	5
מַלְכֵ֤י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	2 Chronicles 9:14	5
מַלְכֵֽי	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	2 Chronicles 27:7	5
מַלְכֵי/הֶם֙	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Deuteronomy 7:24	5
הַ/מֶּלֶךְ֩	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Esther 4:11	4
וְ/הַ/מֶּ֗לֶךְ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	1 Kings 22:35	4

The 60 most common forms are shown; 182 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.

Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H4428, 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

מלך mâlak H4427 to reign

Shares the same root

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 → Showing 4 of 20 — not the complete family. 11 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.

Septuagint verse parallels

This word appears in 1,799 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 1,919 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

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.

מֶ֫לֶךְ

Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)

Where this word appears

2 Samuel 191 verses

1 Kings 160 verses

About this entry