אַף
nose
also: nostril, face fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Absolute-state word in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Particle
- A short function word — article, negation, interrogative, the sign of the direct object, and the like.
- 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
- Singular
- One.
- Dual
- Exactly two — for natural pairs and some measures of time.
3 verses where H639 appears in the Construct state in the Book of 2 Chronicles. 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.
2 Chronicles
- 2 Chronicles 25:10 אַפָּ֤/ם אָֽף n c ms cs + sfx pers 3mp n c ms Then Amaziah separated them, [to wit], the army that had come to him out of Ephraim, to go home again: therefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in fierce anger.
- 2 Chronicles 29:10 אַפּֽ/וֹ n c ms cs + sfx pers 3ms Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel, that his fierce anger may turn away from us.
- 2 Chronicles 30:8 אַפּֽ/וֹ n c ms cs + sfx pers 3ms Now don't you be stiff-necked, as your fathers were; but yield yourselves to Yahweh, and enter into his sanctuary, which he has sanctified forever, and serve Yahweh your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you.
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.
“nose” is the headline sense of the Hebrew noun אף (ʼaph). Where the King James Version says “anger,” newer translations reach for “nose” (unfoldingWord Literal Text); the renderings breakdown has the detail. It appears 269 verses across 32 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its common vocabulary. First canonically at Genesis 2:7, it enters the text early. Beyond “nose” it also covers “nostril” and “face” — see its full sense range. See the sense tree, 269-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H639 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 →
- 269
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 269 distinct verses.
- 32 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 32 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #179
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 179 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 269 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 269 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 119 verses · 44%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 99 verses · 37%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 51 verses · 19%
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†: Anger 139×, Wrath 35×, Face 13×
- American Standard Version†: Anger 120×, Wrath 23×, 's anger 13×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Anger 159×, Facedown 14×, Nostrils 11×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Nose 145×, Nose of 41×, Nostrils 29×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H639 across 273† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 49 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 H639 across 271† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 65 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 H639 across 243† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 31 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 33 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H639 across 278† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 23 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.
אף I
- 1. nostril, as organ of breathing Gn 2:7; 7:22; Jb 27:3 cf. Nu 11:20; 2 S 22:9 = ψ 18:9 cf. Is 65:5; Is 2:22; La 4:20; Ez 38:18 (del. Co) Am 4:10; רוּחַ אַפֶּיךָ (of י׳) i.e. wind Ex 15:8; cf. נִשְׁמַת רוּחַ אַפּוֹ 2 S 22:16 = ψ 18:16 (vid. also sub 3); nose sg. Ct 7:5, 9; Ez 8:17; 23:25; Pr 30:33 (where play upon diff. meaning of אַף & אַפַּיִם): (a) as organ of smelling Dt 33:10 ψ 115:6; (b) as place of ring for ornament Gn 24:47; Is 3:21 Ez 16:12; (c) as place of ring or hook for captive 2 K 19:28 = Is 37:29; for beasts, e.g. swine Pr 11:22; hippopot. Jb 40:24; crocod. v 26. e.g. Genesis 2:7
- 2. Du face (especially in phrase אַפַּיִם אַרְצָה) Gn 19:1; 42:6; 48:12 Nu 22:31; 1 S 20:41; 24:9; 25:41; 28:14; 2 S 14:4, 33; 18:28; 24:20; 1 K 1:23, 31; Is 49:23; 1 Ch 21:21; 2 Ch 7:3; 20:18; Ne 8:6 also Gn 3:19; גֹּבַהּ אַפּוֹ pride of his countenance ψ 10:4; לְאַפֵּי before, loc. sense (cf. לִפְנֵי) 1 S 25:23; אַפָּ֑יִם 1 S 1:5 read אֶפֶס 𝔊 We Dr (q.v.) e.g. Genesis 19:1
- 3. mostly anger, human Gn 27:45; 49:6, 7 + (45 times); oftener divine Ex 32:12; Dt 9:19; 2 K 24:20 + (177 times); often subj. חָרָה (וַיִּ֫חַר etc.) his anger was kindled Gn 30:2; 39:19; Ex 4:14; 22:23; 32:10, 11 +; in various combinations, especially חֲרוֹן אַף fierceness of anger Ex 32:12; Nu 25:4; 32:14 +; cf. חֳרִי־אַף 1 S 20:34; בַּעַל־אַף Pr 22:24 given to anger; אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם slow to anger Ex 34:6; Nu 14:18; Ne 9:17 + 7 times of God; Pr 14:29; 15:18; 16:32 of man; אֹרֶךְ א׳ 25:15. e.g. Genesis 27:45
אף II conj. denoting addition, especially of something greater, also, yea (so Ph. Aramaic ܐܳܦ, אַף, אוֹף
- 1. very rare in plain prose (in which גַּם is more usual): Gn 40:16 (with pron., as rather often) I also in my dream, Nu 16:14 Dt 2:11, 20 2 S 20:14 (v. Dr) 2 K 2:14 Est 5:12; more freq. in poetry, especially as introducing emphatically a new thought Dt 33:3, 20, 28 1 S 2:7 ψ 16:6, 7, 9; 18:49; 65:14 they shout for joy, yea, they sing! 68:9, 17; 74:16; 89:28; 93:1 Pr 22:19; 23:28 +; or in more elevated prose style, Lv 26:16, 24, 28, 41; and 25 times in the impassioned rhetoric of Is 2 (40:24–48:15), e.q. 40:24; 41:10, 26; 42:13; 43:7, 19; 46:11 yea, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it! 48:12, 15. Implying something surprising or unexpected, even, indeed Jb 14:3; 15:4. וְאַף and also Lv 26:39, 40, 42, 44 Dt 15:17 Hb 2:15 ψ 68:19 1 Ch 8:32 = 9:38 2 Ch 12:5 Ne 2:18; 13:15; and even Jb 19:4 וְאַף־אָמְנָם שָׁגִיתִי and even indeed (if) I have erred … With הֲ, הַאַף indeed …? really …? †Gn 18:13, 23 wilt thou indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? v 24 Am 2:11 Jb 34:17; 40:8. In contrast to a preceding thought (expressed or implied) but, nay ψ 44:10; 58:3; cf. Ju 5:29. e.g. Genesis 40:16
- 2. (Equally in prose and poetry) with ref. to a preceding sentence, yea, à fortiori, the more so (= how much more! after an affirm. clause; = how much less! after a neg. one): †2 S 4:10 f. when one told me, Saul is dead … I took hold of him and slew him … אַף כִּי־אֲנָשִׁים רְשָׁעִים הָרְגוּ וג׳ à fortiori, how much more (should I do so), when wicked men have slain a righteous person, etc.! Ez 14:21 (Ew Hi) 15:5 Pr 21:27 (in all these passages כִּי = when) Jb 4:19. So וְאַף †1 S 23:3 2 K 5:13 … וְאַף כִּי־אָמַר אֵלֶיךָ and the more (= and how much rather), when he hath said to thee, etc. More commonly in this sense strengthened by כִּי (q.v.), v. infr. e.g. 2 Samuel 4:10
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. Gn 30:2 nostril, nose, face, anger (Assyrian appu, face Floodiii. 27, 29 cf. Hpt KAT2Gloss, Arabic أَنْفٌ, Ethiopic አንፍ nose; Aramaic ܐܰܦܶܐ, אַנְפִּין face)—abs. ψ 78:21 +; cstr. Gn 27:45 +; sf. אַפִּי Ex 22:23 +, etc.; du. אַפַּיִם Pr 14:17 +; אַפָּיו Gn 2:7 + etc.;—In Hex JE (Jos 7:1 P? 23:16 D?).
III. conj. denoting addition, especially of something greater, also, yea (so Ph. Aramaic ܐܳܦ, אַף, אוֹף; cf. فَ ).
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from אנף (ʼânaph) (H599) — to be angry.
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.
אַף I
- also, too. Keth. 6ᵇ; a. fr. אף הוא the same. Aboth II, 6.—אף על פי (abbr. אע"פ) prop. even following the dictation of; אף על גב (abbr. אע"ג) prop. even on the top of, = notwithstanding, although (the former mostly in Mishnah, the latter in Gemara). Keth. V, 1 אע"פ שאמרו וכ׳ although the Rabbis have said; a. fr.—Meg. 3ᵃ אע"ג דאיהו לא חזא although he does not see it; a. v. fr.—אף על פי כן nevertheless. Snh. 98ᵃ; a. fr.—Chald. same. Targ. O. Num. XVI, 13; a. e. V. אוּף.
אַף II
- v. אָנַף) prop. breath, hence
- 1. nose. Midr. Till. to Ps. XVIII, 5 (interpret, ăfafuni, ib.) הגיעו הצרות עד א׳ the troubles have risen up to the nose.
- 2. panting, anger.—Du. אַפַּיִם. Y. Taan. II, 65ᵇ bot. ארך אף … ארך אפים וכ׳, it does not read (Jonah IV, 2), Slow of anger but of angers, which means that He is long suffering both to the righteous and the wicked; a. fr. e.g. Jonah 4:2
- 3. pr. n. m. Af, allegorical name of the angel administering justice., allegorical name of the angel administering justice. Ex. R. s. 41 end; s. 44; Deut. R. s. 3.—
- *4. overheated condition, wearines. Maksh. III, 8 בשעת האף when the animal is overheated, Var. יַחַף q. v.
אַף III
- , only in du. אַפַּיִם face (cheeks).
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 121 distinct written forms H639 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; 61 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H639, 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.
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 5 — not the complete family. 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 247 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 269 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 2:7
- Exodus 4:14
- Numbers 11:1
- Deuteronomy 6:15
- Joshua 7:1
- Judges 2:14
- 1 Samuel 1:5
- 2 Samuel 6:7
- 1 Kings 1:23
- 2 Kings 13:3
- 1 Chronicles 13:10
- 2 Chronicles 7:3
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.
