עָקֵב
heel
also: rear, footprint, hinder part, hoof 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
- 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.
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
- Singular
- One.
4 distinct verses where H6119 appears in the Absolute state, across 3 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.
Genesis 2 verses
Job 1 verse
Psalms 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.
“heel” is the headline sense of the Hebrew noun עקב (ʻâqêb). Beyond “heel” it also covers “rear”, “footprint”, and “hinder part” — see its full sense range. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 13 verses — uncommon. More than a quarter of its appearances fall in Genesis. Its earliest occurrence is Genesis 3:15. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H6119 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 →
- 13
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 13 distinct verses.
- 7 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 7 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #2,001
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 2,001 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 13 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 13 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 6 verses · 46%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 4 verses · 31%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 3 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†: Heel 4×, Footsteps 3×, Heels 2×
- American Standard Version†: Footsteps 3×, Heel 2×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Heel 4×, Heels 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Heel 4×, Heels 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H6119 across 13† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 4 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 H6119 across 13† 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.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H6119 across 13† 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.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H6119 across 13† 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.
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.
עקב I heel, footprint, hinderpart (Arabic عَقِبٌ heel, fig. end (of a month), عِقْبَةٌ mark, sign, trace
- a. heel, of man, Gn 25:26 וְיָדוֹ אֹחֶזֶת בַּעֲקֵב אָחִיו, as obj. of attack from behind, 3:15 וְאַתָּה תְּשׁוּפֶנּוּ עָקֵב, Jb 18:9 יֹאחֵז בְּע׳ פַּח, Je 13:22 נֶחְמְסוּ עֲקֵבָ֑יִךְ are treated violently, i.e. are rudely exposed (‖ נִגְלוּ שׁוּלַיִךְ); as instrument of attack, ψ 41:10 הִגְדִּיל עָלַי עָ׳ hath made great the heel against me, i.e. given me insidiously great fall (fig. for, taken some cruel advantage of me; cf. ὑποσκελίζω); of an animal, Gn 49:17 הַנּשֵׁךְ עִקְּבֵי סוּס, Ju 5:22. e.g. Genesis 25:26
- b. mark of heel, footprint, Ct 1:8) צְאִי־לָךְ בְּעִקְבֵי הַצֹּאן, ψ 56:7 יִשְׁמְרוּ עַקִבַי they mark my footprints, i.e. watch me insidiously wherever I go, 89:52 אֲשֶׁר חֵֽרְפוּ עִקְּבוֹת מְשִׁיחֶ֑ךָ i.e. followed him mockingly, of י׳ (fig.) ψ 77:20 עִקְּבוֹתֶיךָ לֹא נוֹדָ֑עו thy footprints were not known (the waters closing over them). e.g. Song of Solomon 1:8
- c. hinder-part, rear (of a troop of men), Gn 49:19 וְהוּא יָגוּד עָקֵב׃ (read עֲקִבָם׃ אָשֵׁר) he will troop on their rear, Jos 8:13 עֲקֵבוֹ (cf. Di). e.g. Joshua 8:13
עקב II verb. overreacher, ψ 49
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. heel, footprint, hinderpart (Arabic عَقِبٌ heel, fig. end (of a month), عِقْبَةٌ mark, sign, trace; Aramaic עִקְבָּא, ܥܩܶܒ heel, footprint, fig. trace, mark (cf. Wsd 2:4 𝔖, Ecclus 13:26 ℌ 𝔖), also end, extremity);—ע׳ abs. Gn 3:15 +, cstr. עֲקֵב 25:26, pl. cstr. עִקְבֵי Ct 1:8, עִקְּבֵי Gn 49:17; Ju 5:22, עִקְּבוֹת ψ 77:20; 89:52, etc.;—
II. adj. verb. overreacher, ψ 49:6 עֲוֹן עֲקֵבַי יְסֻבֵנִי i.e. of those who would take some insidious advantage of me.
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from עקב (ʻâqab) (H6117) — to supplant.
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.
עָקַב
- 1. to trace, follow. Shebu. 47ᵇ עוֹקֵב אחר ניאף, v. נָאַף. Macc. 10ᵃ (expl. עקבה, Hos. VI, 8) שהיו עוֹקְבִין להרוג וכ׳ they followed up (their victims) to commit murder; Yalk. Hos. 523; Yalk. Josh. 30; Yalk. Num. 787. e.g. Hosea 6:8
- 2. to go beyond, supersede; (b. h. to supplant). Sot. 16ᵃ בשלשה מקימות הלכה עוֹקֶבֶת מקרא in three instances the practice goes beyond the Biblical text (Ar. Var. עוֹקֶמֶת, עוֹקפֶת). Ib. כי קא חשיב עוקבת ועוקרת וכ׳ he (R. Joh.) counts such cases only where the practice goes beyond and overthrows (the text), whereas in this case עוקבת ומוספת the practice goes beyond and adds to (the text).
עֲקַב
- Pa. עַקֵּב to trace, espy. Targ. Prov. XXIII, 30 מְעַקְּבִין ed. Lag. (ed. Wil. מְעַקְּבֵי; oth. ed. מעקבא, corr. acc.).
עָקֵב
- , to be curved)
- 1. heel. Y. Ber. I, 2ᶜ top; Sabb. 62ᵇ, v. גּוּדָל. Deut. R. s. 3 אני דורך גיתה … בעֲקֵב רגלי I shall tread Edom’s vat with the heel of my foot (v. Is. LXIII, 1 sq.). Yeb. XII, 1 סנדל שיש לו ע׳ a sandal which has a sole with a covering for the heel. Gen. R. s. 22 מתלא בעֲקֵיבוֹ swinging his heel (dandy-like); Yalk. Prov. 961 מתלה בעֲקֵיבָיו (pl.). Zeb. VI, 3 (63ᵇ) יורדין על הע׳ (Mish. ed. חוזרים לע׳, v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note 200); Succ. 48ᵇ חוזרין על הע׳ they turn around on their heels, i.e. go back the same way. Yalk. Jer. 272 דשו בע׳ trod with the heel, i.e. ignored it wilfully. Midr. Till. to Ps. IV, 7, שׁוּף II. Midr. Till. to Ps. XCII, v. שׁוּף I; a. fr. e.g. Isaiah 63:1
- 2. (cmp. עֲגָבָה) haunch with thigh, posteriors. Ned. 20ᵃ המסתכל בעֲקֵבָהּ של אשה, expl. ib. במקום הטנופת שהוא מכוון כנגד ע׳ (Ar. במקום התורפה) he who gazes at the posteriors which correspond (in shape and position) to the heel. Naz. 51ᵃ רקב הבא מן הע׳ decayed matter that seems to come from the posteriors, Rashi (Tosaf.: the heel).
- 3. rear-guard. Sot. VIII, 6 (44ᵃ) עקבו של עם (Y. a. Bab. ed. עקיבו) the rear of the people.—Pl. עֲקֵבִים, עֲקֵבִין. Snh. 108ᵇ הוא מביא לכם מבין עִקְבֵי רגליכם he will bring you (the flood) from under your heels. Tanḥ. Ekeb 1 מצות … ומשליכין אותן תחת עִקְבֵיהֶן minor laws which people disregard and throw under their heels. Naz. 22ᵇ הריני נזירה בעִיקְבַיִךְ I will be a Nazarite following thy heels (example); הריני בעיקביך I will follow thy example; a. e.—עִקְּבוֹת foot-steps. Sot. IX, 15 (49ᵇ) (in Chald. dict.) בע׳ משיחא (borrowed fr. Ps. LXXXIX, 52) in the footsteps of (events paving the way to) the Messiah.—[Snh. l. c. ועקב שמו, v. עָקוֹב]. e.g. Psalms 89:52
עֵקֶב
- preced.) rear, consequence; (conj.) in consequence of; (homilet.) end, future world. Deut. R. s. 3 (play on עקב, Deut. VII, 12) אבל שכרן בע׳ אני וכ׳ (not שכרו) but their full reward I shall give you in the end (after death); Yalk. ib. 847 שכר הקרן בע׳ וכ׳. Deut. R. l. c. אני מייסר אתכם עד הע׳ I shall try you to the end (of your lives); עד שתשמרו … עד הע׳ until you shall observe my commandments to the end. e.g. Deuteronomy 7:12
עֵקֶב ²
- ch., v. next w.
עָקוֹב
- (עָקַב) [crooked, tricky,] aḳob, a thing believed to prevent (or absorb) rain. Snh. 108ᵇ יש לנו … ע׳ שמו Ar. (ed. ועקב) we have something, its name is ʿa.; Yalk. Job 906 ועקב; v. עָקוֹשׁ. Cmp. אִלִּיתָא.
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 10 distinct written forms H6119 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| עָקֵֽב | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Genesis 3:15 | 3 |
| עִקְּבֵי | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct | Genesis 49:17 | 2 |
| בְּ/עִקְבֵ֣י | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct | Song of Solomon 1:8 | 1 |
| בְּ/עָקֵ֣ב | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Job 18:9 | 1 |
| בַּ/עֲקֵ֣ב | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct | Genesis 25:26 | 1 |
| וְ֝/עִקְּבוֹתֶ֗י/ךָ | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct | Psalms 77:19 | 1 |
| עֲקֵב֖/וֹ | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct | Joshua 8:13 | 1 |
| עֲקֵבַ֣/י | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct | Psalms 56:6 | 1 |
| עֲקֵבָֽיִ/ךְ | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct | Jeremiah 13:22 | 1 |
| עִקְּב֥וֹת | Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Construct | Psalms 89:51 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H6119, 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
- עקב ʻêqeb H6118 consequence
- עקב ʻâqêb H6120 supplanter
- עקב ʻâqôb H6121 deceitful
- עקבה ʻoqbâh H6122 craftiness
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 8 — not the complete family. 2 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 11 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 13 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.
