עָדַר
to help
‘to help’ is one of 3 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
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Niphal
- Usually the simple passive or reflexive of the Qal (“he was written”).
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”).
- Piel
- An intensive or resultative active stem.
Form
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
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”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Every verse where H5737 appears in the Book of 1 Samuel — 1 distinct verse. 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
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, עדר (ʻădar) means “to help.” Its uses cluster heavily in Isaiah (50% of all occurrences). Spanning 10 verses in 6 books, it ranks among the uncommon words of the Hebrew Bible. It first appears in 1 Samuel 30:19. As a verb its force shifts by stem, across 2 stems (Niphal, Piel, and more). 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 H5737 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 →
- 10
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 10 distinct verses.
- 6 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 6 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #2,342
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 2,342 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 10 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 10 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 9 verses · 90%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 1 verse · 10%
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†: Faileth 2×
- American Standard Version†: Could order 2×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Arrayed 1×, Cultivated 1×, Fail 1×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Be hoed 1×, He is 1×, Is 1×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H5737 across 11† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 9 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 H5737 across 11† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 9 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 H5737 across 11† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H5737 across 15† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings.
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.
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 2 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.
עדר I help
עדר II hoe, it, shall not be hoed, used to be hoed with the hoe
עדר III be lacking, fail
Niphal
- . not anything was lacking to them
Piel
- . they left nothing lacking.
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. [ עָדַר ] vb. prob. (si vera l.) help
II. [ עָדַר ] vb. hoe;— Niph. Is 5:6 it (the vineyard) shall not be hoed; 7:25 which used to be hoed with the hoe
III. [ עָדַר ] vb. Niph. be lacking, fail
— 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.
עָדַר
- 1. to strip.—Part. pass. עָדוּר; f. עֲדוּרָה, v. אָדַר.
- 2. to pluck, clear (of weeds); to hoe; to pick (figs, cmp. אָרָה); [b. h. also: to sift an army, to discharge the unfit &c., to muster out, v. I Chr. XII, 34; 39]. Neg. II, 4; Sifra Thazr., Neg., Par. 3, ch. IV כעוֹדֵר in the position of one hoeing; כעודר בבית הסתרים the position of one hoeing is required for the examination of the posteriors. Tosef. Maasr. II, 14 פועלים שהיו עוֹדְרִין בתאנים laborers engaged in picking figs; B. Mets. 89ᵇ (Ar. אורין, v. אָרָה). Ib. לַעֲדוֹר ולקשקש וכ׳ Rashi (ed. לעַדֵּר, Pi.) to hoe and to cover up the roots of olive trees. B. Kam. 119ᵇ עוֹדְרֵי ירקות engaged in thinning vegetables (cmp. דָּלַל); a. fr. e.g. 1 Chronicles 12:34
- same. Tosef. Maasr. II, 13 מְעַדְּרִין בשדה engaged in hoeing a field. Gen. R. s. 82 better is he who rents one field ומזבלה ומְעַדְּרָהּ וכ׳ and manures and hoes it &c. Y. Maasr. III, end, 51ᵃ והוא שעי׳ רובה provided he broke the ground of the larger portion of the court; a. fr.—[Tosef. Makhsh. I, 3 מעודר, ed. Zuck. מעודרון, v. עוּד.]
- 1. to be hoed, to be prepared for tillage. Y. l. c. והיא שתהא נעדרת provided the ground of the court has been broken (before sowing). Ib. 50ᵈ bot. חצר שהיא נעדרת ונזרעת R. S. to Maasr. III, 9 (ed. only נעדרת) a court which has been hoed up and planted with seeds; a. e.
- 2. to be cast out, rejected, banished. Sot. IX, 15 (49ᵇ) והאמת תהא נעדרת and Truth shall be banished (fr. Is. LIX, 15); Snh. 97ᵃ; Cant. R. to II, 13; v. עֵדֶר. e.g. Isaiah 59:15
- 3. to withdraw one’s self, fail. Lev. R. s. 31; Midr. Till. to Ps. XIX; Yalk. ib. 673 (expl. Zeph. III, 5), v. פְּסַק. e.g. Zephaniah 3:5
עֲדַר I
- , to hoe; (of chickens) to pick. Lev. R. s. 25 זיל עֲדוֹר וכ׳ go and pick in thy own dunghill; Yalk. Job 925.
- same. Lev. R. l. c. ומְעַדְּרָה קדמיהון (not ומעדרנה) and she (the mother) picks for them; Yalk. l. c. (not ומעררה).
עֲדַר II
- = h. עָזַר, to help. Targ. Prov. XIII, 12 דמשרי למְעַדְרֵיה (ed. Lag. a. oth. דמשדי) who begins to help himself (v. Pesh. a. LXX).
- to be helped. Ib. XVIII, 19 דמִתְעֲדַר (oth. ed. דמתעוי; v. Pesh. a. LXX).
עֵדֶר
- enclosure, pen, fold; herd, flock. Ohol. VIII, 1 ע׳ בהמה וכ׳ clean or unclean beasts closely penned; Tosef. ib. IX, 1; [Ar. s. v. אדר, ed. Koh. s. v. אדורה, I, p. 39ᵃ, explains our w.: hide, v. עָדַר 1, a. עָדַד]. Yoma 34ᵇ; 70ᵇ; Meg. 28ᵃ אחד מיוחד שבעֶדְרוֹ ‘one’ (Num. XXVIII, 4) means one singled out (the best) of its fold. Bekh. 24ᵃ הנכנס לתוך עדרו וכ׳ if one enters his pen at night. Naz. V, 3 תצא ותרעה בע׳ let it go and be fed in the fold (as a profane animal). Yoma 61ᵇ, sq. וכי עדרו משלח … וכי עדרו שורף shall one send off his whole flock (of goats)?… shall one burn &c.?; a. fr.—Pl. עֲדָרִים, עֲדָרִין. Ex. R. s. 1 באין ע׳ ע׳ וכ׳ they came to their homes in flocks; א"ת עדי עדיים אלא עֶדְרֵי ע׳ read not (Ez. XVI, 7) ʿădi ʿădayim (choice attractions) but ‘edré ʿădarim (flocks after flocks). Cant. R. to II, 13 (ref. to Is. LIX, 5) להיכן הולכת … ויושבת ע׳ ע׳ במדבר whither does banished Truth go (v. עָדַר)? She goes and sits down in groups (of eremites) in the desert; Snh. 97ᵃ; Yalk. Is. 357; a. fr.—Tosef. Eduy. III, 2 נוחרין היו עֲדָרוֹת וכ׳ they stabbed entire herds in the camp. (v., however, עָרוֹד).—מִגְדַּל עֵדֶר (b. h.) pr. n. pl. Migdal Eder (Fold Tower), between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Shek. VII, 4; Kidd. 55ᵃ e.g. Numbers 28:4
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 9 distinct written forms H5737 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.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| נֶעְדָּ֔ר | Verb, Niphal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | 2 Samuel 17:22 | 2 |
| וְ/לַ/עֲדֹ֖ר | Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct | 1 Chronicles 12:33 | 1 |
| יְעַדְּר֖וּ | Verb, Piel, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural | 1 Kings 4:27 | 1 |
| יֵעָ֣דֵר֔וּ/ן | Verb, Niphal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural | Isaiah 7:25 | 1 |
| יֵעָדֵ֔ר | Verb, Niphal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | Isaiah 5:6 | 1 |
| נֶעְדֶּ֔רֶת | Verb, Niphal, Participle Active, Feminine, Singular, Absolute | Isaiah 59:15 | 1 |
| נֶעְדַּר | Verb, Niphal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | 1 Samuel 30:19 | 1 |
| נֶעְדָּ֔רָה | Verb, Niphal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular | Isaiah 34:16 | 1 |
| נֶעְדָּֽר | Verb, Niphal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | Isaiah 40:26 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H5737, 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 9 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 10 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.
