עֶ֫בֶד

servant

‘servant’ is one of 7 main senses fuller range ↓

H5650 Strong's Hebrew

ʻebed Transliteration

/eh'-bed/ Pronunciation

Usage in the Hebrew Bible 803 appearances

Definition — BDB

slave, servant - slave, servant, man-servant - subjects - servants, worshippers (of God) - servant (in special sense as prophets, Levites etc) - servant (of Israel) - servant (as form of address between equals)

Cite this entry

Strong's H5650 — עבד (ʻebed), "servant". Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB, 1906). Lemma, https://lemma.gebible.app/w/H5650.

Show BibTeX & RIS

BibTeX

@misc{lemma-H5650,
  author       = {Lemma},
  title        = {H5650 עבד (ʻebed) — servant},
  howpublished = {\url{https://lemma.gebible.app/w/H5650}},
  note         = {Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB, 1906). Lemma interlinear Bible study tool}
}

RIS

TY  - GEN
AU  - Lemma
TI  - H5650 — עבד (ʻebed), "servant"
PB  - Lemma
N1  - Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB, 1906)
UR  - https://lemma.gebible.app/w/H5650
ER  -

Compare with another word →

See every Construct-state word in the Hebrew Bible →

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.

Construct: A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Absolute: The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.

Masculine: Grammatically masculine.

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

Grammatical forms

Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct 339 times (42%)
Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct 335 times (42%)
Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 71 times (9%)
Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 58 times (7%)

Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (morphhb / Westminster Leningrad Codex — WLC text public domain, morphhb tagging CC BY 4.0), counted across 803 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.

Page 2 of 4 — showing verses 201–400 of 714 distinct verses where H5650 appears, across 31 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.

1 Samuel 55 verses

2 Samuel 85 verses

1 Kings 65 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.

“servant” is the headline sense of the Hebrew noun עבד (ʻebed). Carrying more than one sense, it rewards its full sense range. With 714 verses in 31 books, it is one of the most common word in the Hebrew Bible. Scripture first uses it in Genesis 9:25. From the same root come עבד, מעבד and עבד. See the sense tree, 714-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890

[idiom] bondage

Modern gloss

servant

About this word

Strong's H5650 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 →

714: distinct verses; The word appears in 714 distinct verses.
31 / 39: OT books; The word appears in 31 of 39 Old Testament books.
Genesis 9:25: first appearance; The earliest occurrence is in Genesis 9:25.
Malachi 4:4: last appearance; The latest occurrence is in Malachi 4:4.
#58: by frequency; Top 100 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 58 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 714 occurrences in the concordance →

Most concentrated in

2 Samuel 85 verses 12%
Genesis 78 verses 11%
1 Kings 65 verses 9%

By section of the Old Testament

Pentateuch 164 · 23%
Historical 381 · 53%
Wisdom 79 · 11%
Prophets 90 · 13%

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 714 distinct verses.

Prophets (Nevi'im) 371 verses · 52%
Writings (Ketuvim) 179 verses · 25%
Torah (Pentateuch) 164 verses · 23%

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: Servant 284×, Servants 253×, All his servants 16×
American Standard Version: Servant 252×, Servants 192×, 's servants 36×
Berean Standard Bible: Servant 296×, Servants 257×, Officials 31×
unfoldingWord Literal Text: Servant 278×, Servants 244×, Servants of 82×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H5650 across 799 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

“Servant” 284×
“Servants” 253×
“All his servants” 16×
“Bondmen” 11×
“Bondage” 10×
“Manservant” 9×
“Menservants” 9×
“Servant's” 7×
“I am thy servant” 6×
“Behold my servants” 5×
“All the servants” 4×
“Servants'” 4×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 115 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 1 further occurrence.

American Standard Version Public Domain

Renders H5650 across 796 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

“Servant” 252×
“Servants” 192×
“'s servants” 36×
“All his servants” 16×
“Bondage” 13×
“Behold” 12×
“Man-servant” 10×
“Men-servants” 10×
“'s servant” 8×
“I am thy servant” 6×
“Became servants” 5×
“Bondmen” 5×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 140 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 H5650 across 788 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

“Servant” 296×
“Servants” 257×
“Officials” 31×
“Slaves” 22×
“Menservants” 20×
“Slave” 16×
“Slavery” 15×
“Manservant” 9×
“Officers” 7×
“Subject” 7×
“Am your servant” 4×
“Are my servant” 4×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 58 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 12 further occurrences.

unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Renders H5650 across 799 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

“Servant” 278×
“Servants” 244×
“Servants of” 82×
“Servant of” 37×
“Slaves” 28×
“Slave” 21×
“Male servant” 11×
“Male servants” 8×
“And” 4×
“The” 4×
“Am your servant” 3×
“Are my servant” 3×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 42 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.

עבד I slave, servant (on format. LagBN 77)

1. slave, servant of household Gn 39:17, 19; 41:12; 50:2; Ex 21:2 +; man-servant, ‖ אמה Ex 20:10 Lv 25:6; Dt 5:14; Jb 31:13 +; ‖ שׁפחה Gn 12:16; 32:6; Je 34:11; Is 14:2 +; + אדון Dt 23:16; Is 24:2; Mal 1:6 +; מִקְנַת כֶּסֶף Ex 12:44 or יְלִיד בַּיִת Je 2:14; עֶבֶד עֲבָדִים servant of servants, humblest servant, Gn 9:25; †בֵּית עֲבָדִים house of slaves, especially Israel in Egypt Ex 13:3, 14; 20:2 (RD) Dt 5:6; 6:12; 7:8; 8:14; 13:6, 11 Jos 24:17; Ju 6:8 Je 34:13; Mi 6:4; †וזכרת כי עבד היית מצרים (ארץ)ב and thou shalt remember that thou wast a slave in (the land of) Egypt Dt 5:15; 15:15; 16:12; 24:18, 22; king of Babylon is slave to י׳ Je 25:9; 27:6; 43:10; the borrower to the lender Pr 22:7; fig. of beast Jb 40:28; of things Gn 47:19. e.g. Genesis 39:17
2. Subjects, of chief Gn 26:15, 19, 25, 32; 27:37; 32:17(×2) +; of king 21:25 Ex 7:28, 29; 1 K 9:27; Dt 29:1 +; vassal kings 2 S 10:19; tributary nations 8:2, 6, 14 = 1 Ch 18:2, 6, 13; specif. officers of king 1 S 19:1; 21:8; 2 S 11:13; Pr 14:35 +; עַבְדֵי פַרְעֹה Gn 40:20; 41:10; ע׳ שָׁאוּל 1 S 16:17; 18:22; 28:7; ע׳ הַמֶּלֶךְ 1 K 1:47 Est 3:3 +; עֶבֶד הַמֶּלֶךְ 2 K 22:12 = 2 Ch 34:20 (a court official); opp. שַׂר Pr 19:10; Ec 10:7; מֶלֶךְ Pr 30:22; ambassadors Nu 22:18 2 S 10:2; soldiers of army 1 S 17:8; 25:10; 2 S 2:12, + officers of army 1 S 29:3; 1 K 11:26; 2 K 25:8; Is 36:9. e.g. Genesis 26:15
3. Servants, worshippers, of God: †עַבְדֵי יהוה 2 K 9:7; 10:23; Is 54:17, cf. Gn 50:17; Is 56:6; עֲבָדָיו Dt 32:36 = ψ 135:14, Is 65:15; 66:14 ψ 34:23; 69:37 Ne 2:20; ‖ עַמּוֹ ψ 105:25 cf. Dt 32:43; עֲבָדַי Is 65:8, 9, 13(×3), 14; עֲבָדֶיךָ 1 K 8:23; Is 63:17 (‖ שִׁבְטֵי נחלתך), ψ 89:51; 90:13, 16; 102:15, 29; 119:91, 79:2, 10 (‖ חֲסִידֶיךָ); delivered from Egypt Lv 25:42, 55(×2); 26:13 (P); עַבְדְּךָ ψ 119:125; 143:2, ‖ בֶּן־אֲמָתֶ֑ךָ 86:16; 116:16(×2); specif. angels Jb 4:18; and ancient worthies, patriarchs Ex 32:13 (J) Dt 9:27; Abraham Gn 26:24 (J) ψ 105:6, 42; Isaac Gn 24:14 (J); Jacob, Israel Ez 28:25; 37:25 1 Ch 16:13; Moses †Ex 14:31; Jos 18:7 (J) Nu 12:7, 8 (E) Dt 34:5 (?) Jos 1:1, 2, 7, 13, 15; 8:31, 33; 9:24; 11:12, 15; 12:6(×2); 13:8; 14:7; 22:2, 4, 5 (all D), 1 K 8:53, 56; 2 K 18:12; 21:8; 1 Ch 6:34; 2 Ch 1:3; 24:6, 9; Ne 1:8; 9:14; 10:30 ψ 105:26 Mal 3:22 Dn 9:11; Joshua †Jos 24:29 (E) Ju 2:8; Caleb †Nu 14:24 (J); Job †Jb 1:8; 2:3; 42:7, 8(×3); David 2 S 3:18; 7:5, 8, 26 + 27 times; Hezekiah †2 Ch 32:16; Zerubbabel †Hag 2:23; Eliakim †Is 22:20.—The צֶמַח Zc 3:8 cf. 6:12 is also servant of י׳ as Messianic builder of temple (see BrMP 442 ff.). e.g. 2 Kings 9:7
4. servant of י׳, in a special sense: of Levitical singers using benedictions in temple ψ 113:1; 134:1; 135:1; usually of prophets, עֲבָדַי הַנְּבִיאִים my servants the prophets 2 K 9:7; 17:13; Je 7:25; 26:5; 29:19; 35:15; 44:4; Ez 38:17; Zc 1:6; עֲבָדָיו הַנְּבִיאִים 2 K 17:23; 21:10; 24:2; Je 25:4; Am 3:7; Dn 9:10; עֲבָדֶיךָ הנביאים Ezr 9:11; Dn 9:6; specif. Ahia 1 K 14:18; 15:29; Elijah 2 K 9:36; 10:10; Jonah 2 K 14:25; Isaiah Is 20:3; עַבְדּוֹ, ‖ מלאכיו 44:26; as one calling to fear י׳ 50:10. e.g. Psalms 113:1
5. Israel as a people is servant of י׳: יִשְׂרָאֵל Is 41:8, 9; 44:21(×2); 49:3 ψ 136:22; יעקב Is 44:1, 2; 45:4; 48:20; Je 30:10; 46:27, 28; עַבְדִּי = עֶבֶד יהוה, ‖ מַלְאָכִי, as having a mission to the nations Is 42:19(×2); and chosen as witness of י׳ 43:10. But there is also an ideal servant chosen and endowed with the divine Spirit to be a covenant of Israel and a light of the nations Is 42:1 (cf. v 2–6); formed to bring back Jacob, raise up the tribes, and become salvation to the end of the earth 49:5, 6, 7; bearing the sins of all as a lamb and a trespass-offering, and yet prospering and justifying many as interposing martyr 52:13; 53:11: many understand of ideal Israel, contr. with the actual; al. of personif. ‖ with Zion the wife and mother, disting. from unworthy Israel as Zion from her apostate children; al. of ideal prophetic writer; al. of ideal prophetic person; al. (especially in Is 53) of an actual proph. known to writer and his readers; [in any case it is Messianic, v. Mt 8:16, 17; 12:16–21 Lk 4:17–22 Phil 2:5–11]; see De Is ii. 174 DaExpos. 1884, 358 ff. Di Du Che al. on Is 42, 53, Dr Is 168 ff. BrMP 345 ff., also GieBeitr. 146 ff. Berthol Is 53. e.g. Isaiah 41:8
6. In polite address of equals or superiors the Hebrews used עַבְדְּךָ thy servant = 1 pers. sing., I, Gn 18:3; 1 S 20:7, 8(×2) 2 K 8:13 +; עֲבָדֶיךָ thy servants = we Gn 42:11; Is 36:11; also עַבְדּוֹ his servant = I, 1 S 26:18, 19; 2 S 14:22; 24:21 +; also in addressing God, especially in prayer Ex 4:10; Nu 11:11; Ju 15:18; 1 S 3:9, 10; 25:39; 2 S 24:10 ψ 19:12, 14; 27:9; 31:17; 35:27; 69:18; 109:28; 143:2 +. e.g. Genesis 18:3
7. Phrases are: †עבד (היה), c. לְ pers., become servant to Gn 9:26, 27; 44:10, 16, 17, 33; 47:19, 25 (J) Dt 6:21; 15:17; 2 S 8:14; 2 K 17:3; 24:1; 1 Ch 18:2, 6, 13; 2 Ch 10:7; Pr 11:29; 12:9; 22:7; †היה לעבד, c. לְ pers., Gn 44:9 (J) 50:18 (E) 1 S 8:17; 17:9(×2); 27:12 2 S 8:2, 6; Je 34:16; †כבשׁ לעבדים 2 Ch 28:10 Ne 5:5; Je 34:11; לקח לע׳ Gn 43:18 (J) 2 K 4:1; Jb 40:28. e.g. Genesis 9:26

עבד II m. (servant of God = עַבְדְּאֵל)

1. father of Gaal Ju 9:26, 28, 30, 31, 35 (GFM, after HollenbThLz 1891, 371 [cf. BuIb. 1892, 63] עֹבֵד, as 𝔊L; v. also GrayProp. N. 184, 272); 𝔊 Ιωβηλ, A 𝔊L Αβεδ. e.g. Judges 9:26
2. a companion of Ezra Ezr 8:6; 𝔊 Ωβηθ, 𝔊L Αμιναδαβ.—For list of Arabic names beginning with عبد v. NöZMG xli (1887), 724 ff., cf. also id.ib. xlii (1888), 486 WeHeid. 2, 2 ff. e.g. Ezra 8:6

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. slave, servant (on format. LagBN 77);—ע׳ Gn 9:25 +, עָ֑בֶד 44:10 +; sf. עַבְדִּי 26:24 +; עַבְדְּךָ 19:19 +; עַבְדֶּ֫ךָ 18:3 +; pl. עֲבָדִים 9:25 +, עַבְדֵי 21:25 +; sf. עֲבָדַי Lv 25:42 +, עַבְדֵיכֶם Jos 9:11 +, etc.;—

II. n.pr.m. (servant of God = עַבְדְּאֵל);—

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

Derived from עבד (ʻâbad) (H5647) — to serve.

Part of speech: Noun Masculine TWOT: 1553a

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.

עֲבַד I

(corresp. to h. עָשָׂה)
1. to do, labor; to make; to act. Targ. Gen. I, 7. Ib. XXXI, 26; a. v. fr.—Ber. 60ᵇ לעולם … כל דעביד רחמנא לטב Ms. M. (ed. לטב עביד; v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note 3) man should train himself always to say, Whatever the Merciful One does, is for good; Yalk. Job 893 כל … לטב עביד. Tem. 4ᵇ אי עביד מהני, v. הֲנִי. Yeb. 37ᵃ מי עָבוּד רבנן תקנתא וכ׳ (not עביד) have the Rabbis adopted special measures for priests &c.? Ib. עַבְדִּינָן כרבנן we act (decide) in accordance with the opinion of the Rabbis. Keth. 60ᵇ לא עַבְדֵי נשי דחנקן וכ׳ women will not do such a thing as strangling their children. Kidd. 50ᵃ לא ע׳ אינש דמשוי וכ׳ a man will not declare himself a wrongdoer; a. v. fr.
2. to do, fare, prosper. Lev. R. s. 5, end מה את עָבֵיד how art thou?; ומה ארעא עֲבִידָא and how does the field fare?; מה תורין עַבְדִין how are the oxen? Ib. ע׳ לב טב he assumes cheerfulness. Gen. R. s. 13 כל שיחתן … עַבְדַּת ארעא all the talk of people turns on the land (material prosperity): ‘the land is doing well’ (crops promise to be good); ‘the land is not doing well’; a. fr.
3. to spend time. Y. Shebi. VIII, 38ᵇ top עביד טמיר במערתא וכ׳ he remained hidden in a cave &c.; ib. IX, 38ᵈ. Y. Shek. V, 48ᵈ top עַבְדַת טמירא וכ׳ she (the ass) remained hidden with them &c.; Gen. R. s. 60 עבדת גבון; a. fr.—Part. pass. עָבִיד; f. עֲבִידָא made, liable to, likely, used to. Y. Peah III, 17ᵈ bot. היך ע׳ how did it happen (i.e. in what case would it make a practical difference for the slave)? R. Hash. 22ᵇ, a. e. מילתא דע׳ לאיגלויי, v. גְּלֵי. Shebu. 46ᵃ, v. גְּזַם; a. fr.
- 1. to make, produce. Targ. O. Ex. XXXII, 10 אַעַבֵּיד ed. Berl. (oth. אַעֲבֵיד; Y. אֶעְבַּד). Ib. XXX, 37; a. fr.—Lev. R. s. 28, end, v. infra.
- 2. to cause to prosper. Gen. R. s. 13 כל תפלתן … מרי תַעֲבִיד ארעא יכ׳ all the prayers of men turn on the earth (mundane affairs): Lord, make the land (crop) thrive, make the land prosper; a. e.
- 3. to work through. Part. pass. מְעַבַּד, מְעַבְּדָא. B. Mets. 116ᵇ טינא דמע׳ thoroughly kneaded clay.
- to be done; to be made, become. Targ. Gen. XXIX, 26. Targ. Koh. VIII, 4. Targ. Ps. LXII, 4; a. fr.—Lam. R. to II, 2 בעית לאִיעַבְדָּא וכ׳ (not לאיבדא, לעיבדא) dost thou want to be made a senator? Lev. R. s. 28, end מאן דעַבֵּיד … אתע׳ וכ׳ he who made the comes …, is now to become a bather &c.; Esth. R. to VI, 10 האי גברא מְעַבֵּיד … עביד בלן (corr. acc.); a. fr. [Zeb. 75ᵇ דאיעבד, read: דאיערוב, v. עֲרַב I.]—V. דִּיעֲבַד.

עָבַד

(b. h.) [to work]
1. to serve, work for. Gitt. IV, 5 עוֹבֵד את רבו וכ׳ works one day for his master, and one for himself; a. fr. Esp. to do priestly service. Ḥull. 24ᵇ אחיו הכהנים … לַעֲבוֹד וכ׳ his brother priests allow him not to serve, until he is twenty years of age.
2. to prepare; to till the ground; to dress (hides). Gen. R. s. 22 קין עובד אדמה Cain the tiller of the ground. Y. Ab. Zar. II, 41ᵇ bot. גוי עוֹבְדָן; Tosef. ib. IV (V), 10 עוֹבְדוֹ, v. דָּבַב I; (Bab. ib. 33ᵃ עיבדן). Y. Sabb. I, 4ᵇ top נתן כלים … ומצאו עובד בו וכ׳ if one gave a gentile garments to wash, and found him working at them on the Sabbath; a. fr.—Part. pass. עָבוּד, pl. עֲבוּדִין dressed, v. infra.
3. (v. עֲבוֹדָה) to use esp. for idolatrous purposes; to worship. Tem. VI, 1, v. infra. Ab. Zar. III, 7 (defining אשרה) כל שעוֹבְדִין אותה a tree which is itself worshipped (not one at which idolatrous rites are performed). Ib. הואיל … הן עובדין since they worship merely the image (under the tree). Snh. VII, 6 העובד ע"ז אחד העובד וכ׳ he who worships an idol, whether he goes through the regular forms of that particular worship (v. ib. 60ᵇ), or sacrifices &c. Ab. Zar. III, 5 העכומ"ז העובדין וכ׳ as to idolaters that worship mountains and hills (as deities), they (the territories) may be used, but what is on them is forbidden. Ib. 45ᵇ אילן … ולבסוף עֲבָדוֹ if one planted a tree and afterwards made it a subject of worship. Ib. 46ᵃ ועוֹבְדֵיהֶן בסייף and those (Jews) who worship them are put to death by the sword; Tosef. ib. VI (VII), 8. Sabb. 56ᵇ אילמלי לא … ולא עָבְדוּ ישראל ע"א had David not listened to evil gossip (against Mephibosheth), … Israel would not have worshipped idols (under Jeroboam). Ib. 105ᵇ עד שיאמר לו עֲבוֹד ע"ז until he (the tempter) finally tells him, worship idols; Tosef. B. Kam. IX, 31. Ḥull. 13ᵇ נכרים שבח"ל לאו עוֹבְדֵי ע"א הן gentiles outside of Palestine must not be considered as idolaters; a. v. fr.
- 1. to be prepared, dressed. Tosef. B. Kam. l. c. עורות שאינן נֶעֱבָדִין ed. Zuck. (oth. ed. עֲבוּדִין) undressed hides; a. e.
- 2. to be used, esp. for illicit purposes; to be worshipped. Tem. l. c. המוקצה והנ׳ the animal designated for idolatrous purposes and the one used; expl. כל שעובדין אותו whatever they may use it for ((e.g. yoking the ox, shearing the sheep for the benefit of idolatrous temples). Ib. 28ᵃ נעבדה בהן עבירה an illicit act has been done with them (by coupling them); ib. לא נֵתְעַבְּדָה בה עבירה no sinful act has been done with it (by which to unfit it for the altar). Ab. Zar. 46ᵇ יש נ׳ במחובר אצל גבוה does the law forbidding the use in divine worship of objects which have been used for idolatrous purposes include things fixed in the ground? Ib. יש שינוי בנ׳ does change of form restore to legitimate use objects otherwise forbidden on account of their use in connection with idolatry? a. fr.
- same, v. supra.
- to enslave, oppress. Yalk. Ex. 162 הֶעֱבִידוֹ בכל וכ׳ he (Esau) oppressed him with all sorts of troubles.
- to prepare, esp. to dress hides. Sabb. VII, 2 (among the labors forbidden on the Sabbath) והמְעַבֵּד את עורו dressing the hide of the deer (to fit it for parchment). Ib. 75ᵇ חייב משום מעבד is guilty of a Sabbath offence coming under the category of tanning. Gitt. 54ᵇ גוילין … לא עִיבַּדְתִּין לשמן I did not prepare the parchment sheets with the proper intention; a. fr.

עֶבֶד

preced. wds.) slave, servant. Kidd. 20ᵃ הקונה ע׳ עברי וכ׳ he who buys a Hebrew slave, has, so to say, bought a master over himself. Sabb. 89ᵃ כלום יש ע׳ שנותן וכ׳ dare a servant salute his master (first)? Snh. 58ᵇ (ref. to Prov. XII, 11) אם … כע׳ לאדמה וכ׳ if a man makes himself a slave to the soil, he will be satisfied with bread &c. Kidd. I, 3 ע׳ כנעני נקנה וכ׳ a Canaanite (gentile) slave is acquired by money, by deed &c. Ib. III, 13 ממזר … הולד ע׳ if a bastard marries a slave, the child is a slave; הרי זה ע׳ ממזר the child is a bastard slave (subject to the disabilities of both). Shebu. 47ᵇ ע׳ מלך כמלך a king’s officer is like a king (the inferior person is raised by association with a superior); a. v. fr.—Pl. עֲבָדִים. Kidd. 22ᵇ (ref. to Lev. XXV, 55) כי לי … ולא ע׳ לע׳ ‘the children of Israel are my servants’, but they must not make themselves servants of servants (of human beings). Ab. I, 3 אל תהיו כע׳ וכ׳ be not like the servants that wait upon their master for the sake of getting their fare (reward), v. פְּרָס; a. fr. e.g. Proverbs 12:11

עֲבַד

1. same. Targ. Gen. IX, 25 (O. ed. Berl. עַבַד; ed. Vien. עֶבֶד). Ib. 26; a. fr.—Gen. R. s. 86 ע׳ זבין … ע׳ לתרויהון a slave (Potiphar) buys, the son of a handmaid (the Ishmaelite) sells, and the free man (Joseph) is the slave of both; Koh. R. to X, 7. Gitt. 13ᵃ, a. e. ע׳ בהפקרא וכ׳, v. הֶפְקֵרָא; a. fr.—[Y. Ber. IV, 7ᶜ נפק ע׳, read: עוּבְדָּא.]—Pl. עַבְדִּין, עַבְדַּיָּא, עַבְדֵּי. Targ. Gen. XXIV, 25. Targ. Is. LIV, 17. Targ. Prov. XII, 9; a. fr.—B. Kam. 97ᵃ הוה תקיף ע׳ דאינשי וכ׳ used to seize slaves of men against whom he had a claim &c. Kidd. 70ᵃ רגיל דקרי אינשי ע׳ he is in the habit of calling people slaves; a. fr.
2. worshipper. Ned. 62ᵇ ע׳ דנורא fire-worshipper (Geber); 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 257 distinct written forms H5650 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
עַבְדֵ֣י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Esther 4:11	25
עַבְדְּ/ךָ֔	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Deuteronomy 3:24	21
עֲבָדָ֖י/ו	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Amos 3:7	19
עַבְדֶּ֑/ךָ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Exodus 4:10	19
עֲבָדָ֔י/ו	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Exodus 5:21	18
עֶֽבֶד	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Daniel 9:11	17
עֶ֥בֶד	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Exodus 12:44	16
עַבְדֶּֽ/ךָ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Genesis 18:3	16
עַבְדְּ/ךָ֖	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Ecclesiastes 7:21	15
עַבְדְּ/ךָ֙	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Daniel 9:17	15
עֲבָדָי/ו֙	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Exodus 12:30	14
עַבְדֵ֥י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Esther 3:3	14
עֲבָדָ֑י/ו	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Exodus 7:20	12
עֶ֣בֶד	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Deuteronomy 15:17	11
עַבְדּ֑/וֹ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Genesis 33:14	11
עַבְדְּ/ךָ֥	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Deuteronomy 5:14	11
עַבְדִּ֔/י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Ezekiel 37:25	11
עֲבָדִ֖ים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Ecclesiastes 10:7	10
עֲבָדֶ֣י/ךָ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Daniel 9:6	10
עֲבָדֶ֨י/ךָ֙	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Exodus 8:3	10
עַבְדִּ֣/י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Ezekiel 34:23	10
עֲבָדֶ֔י/ךָ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Genesis 44:16	9
עַבְדֵ֤י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Genesis 50:7	9
עַבְדְּ/ךָ֛	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	1 Kings 8:28	9
עֲבָדִֽים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Deuteronomy 5:6	8
עֲבָדֶ֖י/ךָ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Daniel 1:12	8
עֲבָדַ֣/י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	2 Kings 9:7	8
עֲבָדָ֥י/ו	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Daniel 9:10	8
עַבְדְּ/ךָ֣	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Genesis 19:19	8
לַ/עֲבָדִ֖ים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Genesis 43:18	7
עֲבָדִ֣ים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Ecclesiastes 2:7	7
עֲבָדֶ֑י/ךָ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Exodus 8:4	7
עֲבָדָֽי/ו	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Genesis 40:20	7
וַ/עֲבָדָ֖י/ו	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Genesis 14:15	6
לְ/עַבְדֶּ֑/ךָ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	1 Samuel 20:7	6
עֲבָדֶֽי/ךָ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Daniel 1:13	6
עַבְדֵ֨י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Esther 3:2	6
עַבְדֵֽי	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Exodus 11:3	6
עַבְדּ֔/וֹ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	1 Chronicles 16:13	6
עַבְדִּ֑/י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	1 Kings 11:38	6
עַבְדּֽ/וֹ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Exodus 14:31	6
לַ/עֲבָדֶ֔י/ךָ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Deuteronomy 9:27	5
עֲבָדִ֔ים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Deuteronomy 7:8	5
עַבְדְּ/ךָ֤	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Exodus 20:10	5
עַבְדִּֽ/י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Genesis 26:24	5
עֶ֖בֶד	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Deuteronomy 23:15	4
עֶ֤בֶד	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Deuteronomy 5:15	4
לְ/עֶ֣בֶד	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Isaiah 49:5	4
לְ/עַבְדִּ֣/י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Ezekiel 37:25	4
לַ/עֲבָדִ֑ים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	1 Chronicles 21:3	4
לַ/עֲבָדִֽים	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute	Genesis 44:9	4
מֵ/עַבְדֵ֣י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	2 Kings 10:23	4
עֲבָדֶ֗י/ךָ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	Exodus 32:13	4
עֲבָדַ֛/י	Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct	1 Kings 22:49	4
עַבְדּ֖/וֹ	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	1 Chronicles 2:35	4
עַבְדְּ/ךָ֜	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	2 Kings 5:17	4
הָ/עֶ֖בֶד	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Genesis 24:17	3
וְ/עֶ֣בֶד	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute	Genesis 32:5	3
וְ/עַבְדְּ/ךָ֣	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	Deuteronomy 12:18	3
לְ/עַבְדְּ/ךָ֙	Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct	1 Kings 8:24	3

The 60 most common forms are shown; 197 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.

Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H5650, 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

עבד ʻâbad H5647 to serve

Shares the same root

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 18 — not the complete family. 10 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 637 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 714 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.

עֶ֫בֶד

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

Where this word appears

Grammatical forms

1 Samuel 55 verses

2 Samuel 85 verses

1 Kings 65 verses

About this entry