אַרְגָּמָן
purple
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
- 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.
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
Every verse where H713 appears — 38 distinct verses across 9 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.
Exodus 26 verses
- Exodus 25:4 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֛ן conj + n c ms blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats' hair,
- Exodus 26:1 וְ/אַרְגָּמָן֙ conj + n c ms "Moreover you shall make the tent with ten curtains; of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim. The work of the skillful workman you shall make them.
- Exodus 26:31 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֛ן conj + n c ms "You shall make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cherubim. The work of the skillful workman shall it be made.
- Exodus 26:36 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֛ן conj + n c ms "You shall make a screen for the door of the Tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer.
- Exodus 27:16 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֜ן conj + n c ms For the gate of the court shall be a screen of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer; their pillars four, and their sockets four.
- Exodus 28:5 הָֽ/אַרְגָּמָ֑ן ptcl def.art + n c ms They shall take the gold, and the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and the fine linen.
- Exodus 28:6 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֜ן conj + n c ms "They shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the skillful workman.
- Exodus 28:8 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֛ן conj + n c ms The skillfully woven band, which is on it, that is on him, shall be like its work and of the same piece; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.
- Exodus 28:15 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֜ן conj + n c ms "You shall make a breastplate of judgment, the work of the skillful workman; like the work of the ephod you shall make it; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, shall you make it.
- Exodus 28:33 וְ/אַרְגָּמָן֙ conj + n c ms On its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, around its hem; and bells of gold between them round about:
- Exodus 35:6 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֛ן conj + n c ms blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats' hair,
- Exodus 35:23 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֛ן conj + n c ms Everyone, with whom was found blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats' hair, rams' skins dyed red, and sea cow hides, brought them.
- Exodus 35:25 הָֽ/אַרְגָּמָ֔ן ptcl def.art + n c ms All the women who were wise-hearted spun with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, the blue, the purple, the scarlet, and the fine linen.
- Exodus 35:35 וּ/בָֽ/אַרְגָּמָ֗ן conj + prep det + n c ms He has filled them with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of workmanship, of the engraver, of the skillful workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of those who do any workmanship, and of those who make skillful works.
- Exodus 36:8 וְ/אַרְגָּמָן֙ conj + n c ms All the wise-hearted men among those who did the work made the tent with ten curtains; of fine twined linen, blue, purple, and scarlet, with cherubim, the work of the skillful workman, they made them.
- Exodus 36:35 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֛ן conj + n c ms He made the veil of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubim. He made it the work of a skillful workman.
- Exodus 36:37 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֛ן conj + n c ms He made a screen for the door of the tent, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of an embroiderer;
- Exodus 38:18 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֛ן conj + n c ms The screen for the gate of the court was the work of the embroiderer, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen. Twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits, like to the hangings of the court.
- Exodus 38:23 וּ/בָֽ/אַרְגָּמָ֔ן conj + prep det + n c ms With him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a skillful workman, and an embroiderer in blue, in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen.
- Exodus 39:1 וְ/הָֽ/אַרְגָּמָן֙ conj + ptcl def.art + n c ms Of the blue, purple, and scarlet, they made finely worked garments, for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron; as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Exodus 39:2 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֛ן conj + n c ms He made the ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen.
- Exodus 39:3 הָֽ/אַרְגָּמָ֔ן ptcl def.art + n c ms They beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, in the purple, in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, the work of the skillful workman.
- Exodus 39:5 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֛ן conj + n c ms The skillfully woven band that was on it, with which to fasten it on, was of the same piece, like its work; of gold, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen; as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Exodus 39:8 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֛ן conj + n c ms He made the breastplate, the work of a skillful workman, like the work of the ephod; of gold, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen.
- Exodus 39:24 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֖ן conj + n c ms They made on the skirts of the robe pomegranates of blue, purple, scarlet, and twined linen.
- Exodus 39:29 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֛ן conj + n c ms and the sash of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, the work of the embroiderer, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
Numbers 1 verse
Judges 1 verse
2 Chronicles 2 verses
- 2 Chronicles 2:14 בָּ/אַרְגָּמָ֤ן prep det + n c ms the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan; and his father was a man of Tyre, skillful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson, also to engrave any manner of engraving, and to devise any device; that there may be [a place] appointed to him with your skillful men, and with the skillful men of my lord David your father.
- 2 Chronicles 3:14 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֖ן conj + n c ms He made the veil of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and worked cherubim thereon.
Esther 2 verses
- Esther 1:6 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֔ן conj + n c ms [There were hangings of] white [cloth], [of] green, and [of] blue, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the couches were of gold and silver, on a pavement of red, and white, and yellow, and black marble.
- Esther 8:15 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֑ן conj + n c ms Mordecai went forth from the presence of the king in royal clothing of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a robe of fine linen and purple: and the city of Shushan shouted and was glad.
Proverbs 1 verse
Song of Solomon 2 verses
- Song of Solomon 3:10 אַרְגָּמָ֑ן n c ms He made its pillars of silver, Its bottom of gold, its seat of purple, Its midst being paved with love, From the daughters of Jerusalem.
- Song of Solomon 7:5 כָּ/אַרְגָּמָ֑ן prep det + n c ms Your head on you is like Carmel, The hair of your head like purple; The king is held captive in its tresses.
Jeremiah 1 verse
Ezekiel 2 verses
- Ezekiel 27:7 וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֛ן conj + n c ms Of fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was your sail, that it might be to you for an ensign; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was your awning.
- Ezekiel 27:16 אַרְגָּמָ֨ן n c ms Syria was your merchant by reason of the multitude of your handiworks: they traded for your wares with emeralds, purple, and embroidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and rubies.
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.
ארגמן (ʼargâmân) is a Hebrew noun most often rendered “purple.” It clusters heavily in Exodus, which alone accounts for 68% of its uses. It turns up in 38 verses across 9 books, a moderately common footprint. It first appears in Exodus 25:4. From the same root come ארגון. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H713 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 →
- 38
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 38 distinct verses.
- 9 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 9 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #947
- by frequency
- Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 947 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 38 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Exodus 26 verses 68%
- 2 Chronicles 2 verses 5%
- Esther 2 verses 5%
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 38 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 27 verses · 71%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 7 verses · 18%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 4 verses · 11%
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).
- King James Version: Purple 37×
- American Standard Version: Purple 36×
- Berean Standard Bible: Purple 37×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Purple 35×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H713 across 38 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H713 across 38 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 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 H713 across 38 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears 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 H713 across 38 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 3 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 4 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.
- 1. purple thread, cf. especially Ex 35:25; 39:3; Est 1:6; e.g. Exodus 35:25
- a. mostly Ex (P) with ref. to the hangings of tabernacle, the ephod, etc.; seld. alone; c. תְּכֵלֶת, violet (q.v.), תּוֹלַעַת שָׁנִי, (מָשְׁזָר) שֵׁשׁ, (also עִזִּים) Ex 25:4; 26:1, 31, 36; 27:16; 35:6, 25, 35; 36:8, 35, 37; 38:18, 23; 39:24 (on text v. Di) v 29; with these + זָהָב 28:5, 6, 8, 15; 39:2, 3, 5, 8; om. שֵׁשׁ מ׳ 28:33; 39:1; also of temple-hangings, with תְּכֵלֶת, בּוּץ & כַּרְמִיל 2 Ch 3:14; cf. 2:13 (v. also 2:6 v. sub אַרְגְּוָן). e.g. Exodus 25:4
- b. as indicating wealth & luxury of Tyre, c. שֵׁשׁ, רִקְמָה, תְּכֵלֶת Ez 27:7; c. רִקְמָה & בּוּץ v 16 (as articles of commerce); also in Persia, c. בּוּץ Est 1:6. e.g. Ezekiel 27:7
- 2. purple cloth, chiefly of garments, בֶּגֶד א׳ Nu 4:13; Ju 8:26; וְתַכְרִיךְ בּוּץ וְא׳ Est 8:15, שֵׁשׁ וְא׳ לְבוּשָׁהּ Pr 31:22; תְּכֵלֶת וְא׳ לְבוּשָׁם Je 10:9; also מֶרְכָּבוֹ א׳ Ct 3:10; in simile, of woman’s hair Ct 7:6. e.g. Numbers 4:13
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
n.[m.] purple, red-purple, i.e. purple thread & cloth (Assyrian argamannu COT Ex 25:4, Arabic أَرْجَوَانٌ, Aramaic ܐܰܪܓܘܳܢܳܐ, cf. אַרְגְּוָן supr.; etym. dub.; possibly Skr. râgaman, adj. red, reddish, from râga, red colour, so Benary cf. Thes Add 111 RobGes; vid. MV; Thes earlier, from רגם; but prob. loan-word, cf. also LagBN 205; Pers. ارغوان is also cited by PS)—form always as above—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: of foreign origin
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.
אַרְגָּמָן
- (b. h.); purple-dye, purple garment. Sabb. 90ᵃ. Kel. XXVII, 12; a. fr.; cmp. אַרְגְּוָון.
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 18 distinct written forms H713 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֛ן | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 25:4 | 14 |
| וְ/אַרְגָּמָן֙ | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 26:1 | 4 |
| וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֜ן | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 27:16 | 3 |
| הָֽ/אַרְגָּמָ֔ן | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 35:25 | 2 |
| וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֖ן | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 39:24 | 2 |
| אַרְגָּמָ֑ן | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Song of Solomon 3:10 | 1 |
| אַרְגָּמָ֨ן | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Ezekiel 27:16 | 1 |
| אַרְגָּמָֽן | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Numbers 4:13 | 1 |
| בָּ/אַרְגָּמָ֤ן | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | 2 Chronicles 2:14 | 1 |
| הָ/אַרְגָּמָ֗ן | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Judges 8:26 | 1 |
| הָֽ/אַרְגָּמָ֑ן | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 28:5 | 1 |
| וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֑ן | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Esther 8:15 | 1 |
| וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֔ן | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Esther 1:6 | 1 |
| וְ/אַרְגָּמָ֣ן | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Proverbs 31:22 | 1 |
| וְ/הָֽ/אַרְגָּמָן֙ | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 39:1 | 1 |
| וּ/בָֽ/אַרְגָּמָ֔ן | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 38:23 | 1 |
| וּ/בָֽ/אַרְגָּמָ֗ן | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 35:35 | 1 |
| כָּ/אַרְגָּמָ֑ן | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Song of Solomon 7:5 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H713, 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
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 36 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 38 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
- Exodus 25:4
- Numbers 4:13
- Judges 8:26
- 2 Chronicles 2:14
- Esther 1:6
- Proverbs 31:22
- Song of Solomon 3:10
- Jeremiah 10:9
- Ezekiel 27:7
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.
