עֵ֫זֶר
helper
‘helper’ is one of 2 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Construct-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
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
Grammatical forms
- Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct 16 times (73%)
- Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 6 times (27%)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (morphhb / Westminster Leningrad Codex — WLC text public domain, morphhb tagging CC BY 4.0), counted across 22 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where H5828 appears — 21 distinct verses across 8 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.
Genesis 2 verses
- Genesis 2:18 עֵ֖זֶר n c ms Yahweh God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."
- Genesis 2:20 עֵ֖זֶר n c ms The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every animal of the field; but for man there was not found a helper suitable for him.
Exodus 1 verse
Deuteronomy 3 verses
- Deuteronomy 33:7 וְ/עֵ֥זֶר conj + n c ms This is [the blessing] of Judah: and he said, Hear, Yahweh, the voice of Judah, Bring him in to his people. With his hands he contended for himself; You shall be a help against his adversaries.
- Deuteronomy 33:26 בְ/עֶזְרֶ֔/ךָ prep + n c ms cs + sfx pers 2ms There is none like God, Jeshurun, Who rides on the heavens for your help, In his excellency on the skies.
- Deuteronomy 33:29 עֶזְרֶ֔/ךָ n c ms cs + sfx pers 2ms Happy are you, Israel: Who is like you, a people saved by Yahweh, The shield of your help, The sword of your excellency! Your enemies shall submit themselves to you; You shall tread on their high places.
Psalms 11 verses
- Psalms 20:2 עֶזְרְ/ךָ֥ n c ms cs + sfx pers 2ms Send you help from the sanctuary, Grant you support from Zion,
- Psalms 33:20 עֶזְרֵ֖/נוּ n c ms cs + sfx pers 1cp Our soul has waited for Yahweh. He is our help and our shield.
- Psalms 70:5 עֶזְרִ֣/י n c ms cs + sfx pers 1cs But I am poor and needy. Come to me quickly, God. You are my help and my deliverer. Yahweh, don't delay.
- Psalms 89:19 עֵ֭זֶר n c ms Then you spoke in vision to your saints, And said, "I have bestowed strength on the warrior. I have exalted a young man from the people.
- Psalms 115:9 עֶזְרָ֖/ם n c ms cs + sfx pers 3mp Israel, trust in Yahweh! He is their help and their shield.
- Psalms 115:10 עֶזְרָ֖/ם n c ms cs + sfx pers 3mp House of Aaron, trust in Yahweh! He is their help and their shield.
- Psalms 115:11 עֶזְרָ֖/ם n c ms cs + sfx pers 3mp You who fear Yahweh, trust in Yahweh! He is their help and their shield.
- Psalms 121:1 עֶזְרִֽ/י n c ms cs + sfx pers 1cs I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?
- Psalms 121:2 עֶ֭זְרִ/י n c ms cs + sfx pers 1cs My help comes from Yahweh, Who made heaven and earth.
- Psalms 124:8 עֶ֭זְרֵ/נוּ n c ms cs + sfx pers 1cp Our help is in the name of Yahweh, Who made heaven and earth.
- Psalms 146:5 בְּ/עֶזְר֑/וֹ prep + n c ms cs + sfx pers 3ms Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in Yahweh, his God:
Isaiah 1 verse
Ezekiel 1 verse
Daniel 1 verse
Hosea 1 verse
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, עזר (ʻêzer) means “helper.” The word gravitates to Psalms (52%), then Deuteronomy and Genesis. It appears 21 verses across 8 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its uncommon vocabulary. Scripture first uses it in Genesis 2:18. Not a single-sense word: explore its full sense range. 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 H5828 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 →
- 21
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 21 distinct verses.
- 8 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 8 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #1,412
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 1,412 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 21 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Psalms 11 verses 52%
- Deuteronomy 3 verses 14%
- Genesis 2 verses 10%
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 21 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 12 verses · 57%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 6 verses · 29%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 3 verses · 14%
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†: Help 9×, He is their help 3×, Help meet 2×
- American Standard Version†: Help 8×, He is their help 3×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Help 8×, Is their help 3×, Helper 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Help 14×, A 3×, Helper 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H5828 across 21† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 7 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 H5828 across 21† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 10 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 H5828 across 21† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 8 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H5828 across 25† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 6 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 5 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.
עזר I
- 1. help, succour Is 30:5 (‖ הוֹעִיל, opp. בּשֶׁת, חֶרְפָּה), Dn 11:34; from י׳ ψ 20:3; 121:1, 2; 124:8; in 89:20 read; נֵזֶר for ע׳ Dy Gr Kau (עֹז Bi Che), cf. Hup; מָגֵן עֶזְר֑ךָ Dt 33:29) = י׳). e.g. Isaiah 30:5
- 2. concr. = one who helps (cf. i. עֶזְרָה 2) בְּע׳ (בְּ essent., v. ב I 7 b, Ges§ 119 h, i) Gn 2:18, 20 (J) + Ho 13:9 (read מִי בְע׳ Che We GuKau Now); coll. (without בְּ) Ez 12:14 (si vera l.; Co עֹזְרָיו); especially of י׳ ע׳ מִצָּרָיו Dt 33:7 (poem), ע׳ + מָגֵן ψ 33:20; 115:9, 10, 11, + מְפַלֵּט 70:6; בְּע׳ (v. supr.) Ex 18:4 (E), Dt 33:26 (poem), ψ 146:4. אֶבֶן הָעֵזֶר v. אֶבֶן (9). e.g. Genesis 2:18
עזר II m. (Ph. and OHeb. עזר Lzb338)
- 1. a wall-builder Ne 3:19, Αζουρ. e.g. Nehemiah 3:19
- 2. name in Judah 1 Ch 4:4, Αζηρ, Εζερ. e.g. 1 Chronicles 4:4
- 3. hero of David 1 Ch 12:10 (van d. H. v 9), Αζερ, etc. e.g. 1 Chronicles 12:10
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. ψ 121:1 help, succour;—ע׳ abs. Gn 2:18 +, sf. עֶזְרִי Ex 18:4, עֶזְרֹה Ez 12:14, etc.;—
II. n.pr.m. (Ph. and OHeb. עזר Lzb338);—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from עזר (ʻâzar) (H5826) — to help.
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.
עָזַר
- [to surround,] to help, protect. Yalk. Num. 759 (play on אל אלעזר, Num. XIX, 3) אל אל עוֹזֵר (give her, i.e. Rome, over) to the helping God (omitted in Pesik. Par., p. 41ᵃ; Pesik. R. s. 14). Yeb. 63ᵃ (ref. to Gen. II, 20) זכה עוֹזַרְתּוֹ וכ׳ if he deserves well, she is a help to him &c., v. next w.—Midr. Till. to Ps. CXXI אתם יודעים מי עוזר אתכם עושה וכ׳ do you know who is your helper? The maker of heaven and earth. Gen. R. s. 44 (ref. to Gen. XV, 2 דמשק אליעזר) שבשבילו רדפתי מלכים עד דמשק וַיְעַזְרֵנִי האל for his (Lot’s) sake I pursued the kings as far as Damascus, and God helped me; a. e. e.g. Numbers 19:3
עֵזֶר
- preced.) help; trnsf. (after Gen. II, 20) helpmate. Pirké d’R. El. ch. XII ועשאה ע׳ וכ׳ (not ועשתה) and he made her a help and placed her opposite him. Ib. משבנה לו ע׳ אשה when he had built for him a helpmate named ishshah. Ib. אם זכה תהיה לו ע׳ וכ׳ if he deserves well, she will be to him a help, if not, an opposition; Gen. R. s. 17, a. e., v. נֶגֶד. Yalk. Gen. 62 לאדם ולעֶזְרוֹ for Adam and his wife; Pirké d’R. El. ch. XX. Ib. ch. XXI אדם ועוזרו (corr. acc.); a. e. e.g. Genesis 2:20
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 19 distinct written forms H5828 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.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H5828, 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
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.
- יעזיר Yaʻăzêyr H3270 Jazer
- עזור ʻAzzûwr H5809 Azur
- עזר ʻEzer H5827 Ezer
- עזראל ʻĂzarʼêl H5832 Azarael
- עזריה ʻĂzaryâh H5838 Azariah
- עזר ʻÊzer H5829 Ezer
- עזרי ʻEzrîy H5836 Ezri
- עזריאל ʻAzrîyʼêl H5837 Azriel
- עזריקם ʻAzrîyqâm H5840 Azrikam
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 13 — not the complete family. 9 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 18 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 21 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 2:18
- Exodus 18:4
- Deuteronomy 33:7
- Psalms 20:2
- Isaiah 30:5
- Ezekiel 12:14
- Daniel 11:34
- Hosea 13:9
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.
