סוּס
horse
‘horse’ is one of 2 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
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 H5483 appears in the Book of Esther — 5 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.
Esther
- Esther 6:8 וְ/ס֗וּס conj + n c ms let royal clothing be brought which the king uses to wear, and the horse that the king rides on, and on the head of which a crown royal is set:
- Esther 6:9 וְ/הַ/סּ֗וּס הַ/סּוּס֙ conj + ptcl def.art + n c ms ptcl def.art + n c ms and let the clothing and the horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes, that they may array the man therewith whom the king delights to honor, and cause him to ride on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.
- Esther 6:10 הַ/סּוּס֙ ptcl def.art + n c ms Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the clothing and the horse, as you have said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king's gate: let nothing fail of all that you have spoken.
- Esther 6:11 הַ/סּ֔וּס ptcl def.art + n c ms Then took Haman the clothing and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and caused him to ride through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.
- Esther 8:10 בַּ/סּוּסִ֜ים prep det + n c mp He wrote the name of king Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by post on horseback, riding on swift steeds that were used in the king's service, bred of the stud:
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.
At its core, סוס (çûwç) means “horse.” Scripture first uses it in Genesis 47:17. It turns up in 130 verses across 27 books, a common footprint. Carrying more than one sense, it rewards its full sense range. It shares a root with סוסה, סס and סוסי. Dig into 130-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H5483 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 →
- 130
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 130 distinct verses.
- 27 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 27 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #318
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 318 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 130 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 130 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 95 verses · 73%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 24 verses · 18%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 11 verses · 8%
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 3 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†: Horses 86×, Horse 31×, Every horse 2×
- American Standard Version†: Horses 76×, Horse 29×, All of them riding upon horses 2×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Horses 90×, Horse 25×, Horseback 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Horses 74×, Horse 38×, Were 4×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H5483 across 137† 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. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 3 further occurrences.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H5483 across 137† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 24 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 H5483 across 135† 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. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 4 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H5483 across 143† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 17 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
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 3 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.
סוס I [m.] swallow or swift (cypselus, TristrFFP 82 ff.) (𝔗 סוּסְיָא Is 38
סוס II
- 1. non-Isr.; chariot-horses of Canaanites Ju 5:22 (cf. v 28 4:3, 13; עִקְבֵי ס׳; ס׳ coll., as often), Jos 11:4, 6, 9 (JE); horses as property of Egyptians Gn 47:17; Ex 9:3 (both J), cf. Zc 14:15; merchandise of Tyre Ez 27:14; chariot-horses of Egypt [cf. Hom Il. ix. 384], Ex 14:9, 23 (P), 15:1, 21 (poem), v 19 (P; on all v. Di), Dt 11:4; Is 31:1, 3; Je 46:4, 9; Ez 17:15; of Aram 1 K 20:1 + 11 times K (1 K 20:20 ridden, for flight), Assyr. Is 5:28 + 3 times, Chaldeans Je 4:13 + 6 times; other nations Na 3:2; Je 50:42 + 5 times; as ridden 1 K 20:20 (v. supr.), Je 8:23; Ez 38:4, 15 + 13 times (late). e.g. Judges 5:22
- 2. in Isr.; chariot-horses of Absalom 2 S 15:1, especially of Sol., and later, 1 K 5:6, 8; 10:25, 28, 29, and ‖ Chr; 18:5 and (as war-equipment) 22:4 2 K 3:7; 9:33; 10:2 Pr 21:31; סוּסֵי אֵשׁ 2 K 2:11 (Elijah), cf. 6:17; consecr. to sun 2 K 23:11 (cf. RSSem. 275; 2nd ed. 293); sign of luxury and apostasy Am 4:10; Ho 1:7; 1:4 Is 2:7 Mi 5:9 Zc 9:10, cf. Dt 17:6, 16, but v. Zc 14:20; in vision Zc 6:2(×2), 3(×2), 6; ridden 2 K 9:18, 19; 18:23 = Is 36:8, Am 2:15 + 4 times Is Je; in vision Zc 1:8(×2); שַׁעַר הַסּ׳ Je 31:40; Ne 3:28, cf. 2 K 11:16 = 2 Ch 23:15; property of returned exiles Ezr 2:66 = Ne 7:68 van d. H. (om. Mass. Baer Ginsb q.v.); description of horse Jb 39:19; in various sim. and fig. Am 6:12; Je 5:8; 8:6; 12:5; Ez 23:20; Is 63:13; Jo 2:4; Pr 27:3 ψ 32:9; 147:10. e.g. 2 Samuel 15:1
- 3. chariot-horses of י׳ Hb 3:15 (fig. of clouds), cf. Zc 10:3.—Cf. also חֲצַר סוּסִים, and פָּרָשׁ, רֶכֶשׁ. e.g. Habakkuk 3:15
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.] swallow or swift (cypselus, TristrFFP 82 ff.) (𝔗 סוּסְיָא Is 38:14);—as twittering Is 38:14 (in sim.); 𝔊 χελιδών, 𝔙 pullus hirundinis; so Je 8:7 Kt (Qr סִיס wrongly; perhaps to distinguish from foll., so Gie), 𝔊 id., 𝔙 hirundo.
II. n.m. Ex 15:1 horse (NH סוּס, סוּסָה, Aramaic סוּסְיָא, ܣܽܘܣܝܳܐ, Mand. סוסיא, Sin. id., Lzb 328; Assyrian sisû (sîsû?) DlHWB 506; Tel Am. su-u[su] WklTA. 191, 24; prob. foreign word cf. NöM 147 Erman Ägypten 649; Eng. tr. 490);—ס׳ abs. 1 K 20:20 +; cstr. Ex 15:19 +; pl. סוּסִים Gn 47:17 +, סֻסִים 2 S 15:1; cstr. סוּסֵי 2 K 2:11; sf. סוּסַי 1 K 22:4; 2 K 3:7, סוּסֶיךָ Mi 5:9 + 4 times, סוּסָיו Is 5:28 +, סוּסֵיכֶם Am 4:10, סוּסֵיהֶם Jos 11:6 +;—horse:
I. Je 8:7 Qr v. I. סוּס.
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: from an unused root meaning to skip (properly, for joy)
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.
סוּס
- to be bright, glad, v. שׂוּשׂ.
סוּס ²
- v. Nöld. Mand. Gr. p. 147) horse. Pes. 113ᵇ. Succ. 26ᵇ שינת הס׳ the (short) sleep of the horse, v. נִשְׁמָא. Cant. R. to VIII, 9 אם ראית ס׳ פרסי וכ׳ when thou seest the Persian horse (Parthian cavalry) tied &c. Snh. II, 5 על סוּסוֹ on the king’s horse; a. fr.—[Gen. R. s. 95, end הס׳ לקבלי (read: לקבלך) the horse is before thee (has been surrendered), v. בּוּצְלָא.]—Pl. סוּסִים, סוּסִין. Snh. II, 4. Ib. 21ᵇ ס׳ הבטלנין, v. בַּטְלָן; a. fr.—Cant. R. to I, 9 ס׳ נקבות mares.—Fem. סוּסָה. Ib. Pirké d’R. El. ch. XLII; סוּסְיָא.—Pl. סוּסְיוֹת. Ex. R. s. 23, end ס׳ נקבות, v. supra.
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 H5483 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 H5483, 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 123 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 130 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 47:17
- Exodus 9:3
- Deuteronomy 11:4
- Joshua 11:4
- Judges 5:22
- 2 Samuel 15:1
- 1 Kings 10:25
- 2 Kings 2:11
- 2 Chronicles 1:16
- Ezra 2:66
- Esther 6:8
- Job 39:18
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.
