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קֶ֫שֶׁת

bow

‘bow’ is one of 5 main senses fuller range ↓

H7198 Strong's Hebrew
qesheth Transliteration
/keh'-sheth/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 76 appearances

Compare with another word →

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.

קשת — transliterated qesheth — is a Hebrew noun carrying the sense “bow.” It is not a single-sense word — see its full sense range. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 74 verses — moderately common. It first appears in Genesis 9:13. Related forms include קשה, מקשה and קשה. See the sense tree, 74-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
[idiom] arch
Modern gloss
bow
Strong's 1890 sometimes compressed multiple senses — or homonymous roots — under one number, and used 19th-century English phrasing that no longer carries the same connotation. The modern gloss reflects current BDB scholarship; open the Lexicon Entry tab for the full sense breakdown. Download share card

About this word

Strong's H7198 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 →

74
distinct verses
The word appears in 74 distinct verses.
19 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 19 of 39 Old Testament books.
Genesis 9:13
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Genesis 9:13.
Zechariah 10:4
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Zechariah 10:4.
#523
by frequency
Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 523 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 74 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 7 · 9%
  • Historical 22 · 30%
  • Wisdom 13 · 18%
  • Prophets 32 · 43%

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 74 distinct verses.

  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 42 verses · 57%
  • Writings (Ketuvim) 25 verses · 34%
  • Torah (Pentateuch) 7 verses · 9%

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: Bow 52×, Bows 11×, Archers 2×
  • American Standard Version: Bow 50×, Bows 11×, Archers 2×
  • Berean Standard Bible: Bow 43×, Bows 11×, Rainbow 3×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: Bow 49×, Bows 9×, Bow of 5×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H7198 across 71 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Bow” 52×
  • “Bows” 11×
  • “Archers” 2×

Plus 6 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 6 further occurrences.

American Standard Version Public Domain

Renders H7198 across 71 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Bow” 50×
  • “Bows” 11×
  • “Archers” 2×

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 H7198 across 65 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Bow” 43×
  • “Bows” 11×
  • “Rainbow” 3×
  • “Arrow” 2×
  • “Or bow” 2×

Plus 4 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 11 further occurrences.

unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Renders H7198 across 75 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Bow” 49×
  • “Bows” 9×
  • “Bow of” 5×
  • “Rainbow” 4×
  • “A” 2×

Plus 6 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.


7 senses and sub-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 7 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. bow:
    • a. for hunting Gn 27:3 (J; + תְּלִי). e.g. Genesis 27:3
    • b. battle: + (or ‖) חֶרֶב, Gn 48:22; Jos 24:12 (both E), Ho 1:7; 2:20 1 S 18:4 (+ חֲגֹרוֹ), 2 S 1:22; 2 K 6:22; Is 41:2 Ne 4:7 (+ רָמְחֵיחֶם), Zc 9:13 (fig. of Judah as י׳’s bow), ψ 37:15 (fig.), 44:7 (+ or ‖ חֶרֶב also infr.); + (or ‖) חִזִּים Is 7:24; 2 K 13:15(×2); Ez 39:3, 9; 1 Ch 12:2a; cf. רִשְׁפֵי ק׳ ψ 76:4 = arrow (+ מָגֵן וְחֶרֶב) so בֶּן ק׳ Jb 41:20 (cf. La 3:13; Jb 5:7); + חֲנִית ψ 46:10, + כִּידוֹן Je 6:23; 50:42; + various weapons Ne 4:10; 2 Ch 26:14; alone Is 13:18 (context corrupt), 22:3; Je 51:56; Hb 3:9 (of י׳ as warrior); ק׳ מִלְחָמָה Zc 9:10; 10:4; in sim. כְּק׳ רְמִיָּה like a bow of deception Ho 7:16 ψ 78:57 (i.e. one that misses its aim; al. slack bow). e.g. Genesis 48:22
    • c. ק׳ coll. = bow(-men), archers Is 21:17. e.g. Isaiah 21:17
    • d. phrases are: הַמּוֹרִים אֲנָשִׁים בַּקּ׳ 1 S 31:3 archers, bowmen (but dub.; Dr Kit Löhr tr., א׳ הַמּ׳; We Bu del. א׳, as ‖ 1 Ch 10:3; HPS Now del. א׳ בַּקּ׳), הַמּוֹרִים בַּקּ׳ 1 Ch 10:3; מְטַחֲוֵי ק׳ Gn 21:16 (v. [טָחָה]), רמֵה ק׳ Je 4:29, cf. perhaps Gn 21:21 v. קַשַּׁת, ‖ נשְׁקֵי ק׳ (v. II. נָשַׁק) 1 Ch 12:2 b; 2 Ch 17:17, נוֹ׳ רוֹמֵי ק׳ ψ 78:9; תֹּפֵשׂ הַקּ׳ Am 2:15 one grasping the bow, (v. Je 46:9 infr.) v. also מִלֵּא יָדוֹ בַקּ׳ 2 K 9:24, הַרְכֵּב יָֽדְךָ עַל־הַקּ׳ 13:16; דָּרַךְ ק׳ bend (lit. tread) the bow, Is 5:28 (pt. pass), 21:15 (id.; ‖ חֶרֶב), Je 50:14, 29; 51:3; 1 Ch 5:18; 8:40; 2 Ch 14:7; ψ 37:14 (‖ חֶרֶב), in fig. 11:2 (‖ חֵץ), and, of God, La 2:4; 3:12 ψ 7:13 (‖ חֶרֶב); תֹּפְשֵׂי דֹּרְכֵי ק׳ Je 46:9; cf. (fig.) וַיַּדְרְכוּ אֶת־לְשׁוֹנָם קַשְׁתָּם Je 9:2; also וְנִחֲתָה ק׳ נְחוּשָׁה ψ 18:35 = 2 S 22:35 (read וְנִחֲתָה for וְנִחַת); מָשַׁךְ בַּקּ׳ draw the bow 1 K 22:34 = 2 Ch 18:33; Is 66:19. e.g. 1 Samuel 31:3
    • e. bow (passing over into) fig. of might, Gn 49:24 (poem), 1 S 2:4; Ho 1:5; Je 49:35; Jb 29:20 (cf. ψ 37:15, b. supr.). f. ק׳ נְחוּשָׁה fig. of divine judgment Jb 20:24 (‖ נֵשֶׁק בַּרְזֶל). e.g. Genesis 49:24
  • 2. rainbow: כְּמַרְאֵה הַקּ׳ אֲשֶׁר יִהְיֶה בֶעָנָן בְּיוֹם הַגֶּשֶׁם Ez 1:28; Gn 9:13, 14, 16 (P).—וַיֹּאמֶד לְלַמֵּד בְּנֵי־יְהוּדָה קָ֑שֶׁת 2 S 1:18 is corrupt; 𝔊 al. om.; We Now think misplaced gloss on v 6; v. further HPS. e.g. Ezekiel 1:28

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.f. Gn 9:14 (appar. m. 2 S 1:22 but v. AlbrZAW xvi (1896) 91) bow (orig. √ perhaps קושׁ, meaning unknown; NH id.; Assyrian ḳaštu; Ethiopic ቀስት: Arabic قَوْسٌ, pl. قُسِىٌّ, قِسِىٌّ, etc.; 𝔗 קַשְׁתָּא and (ט for ת after ק) קוּשְׁטָא (rare), all bow, קַשָּׁתָא bowman; Syriac ܩܶܫܬܳܐ bow, ܩܰܫܳܬܳܐ bowman; Old Aramaic קשת bow, Mand. כשטא (Frä 206); Palm. קשטא bowman);—abs. ק׳ Ho 1:7 +, קָ֑שֶׁת Je 46:9 +; cstr. קֶ֫שֶׁת Ho 1:5 +; sf. קַשְׁתִּי Gn 48:22 +, etc.; pl. abs. קְשָׁתוֹת 2 Ch 26:14 +; sf. קַשְּׁתֹתָיו (Ges§ 20 h) Is 5:28, קַשְּׁתוֹתָם Je 51:56 ψ 37:15, קַשְּׁתֹתֵיהֶם Ne 4:7 (קַשְׁתֹּתָיו etc., van d. H. [except ψ 37:15]);—

— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.

Derived from קשה (qâshâh) (H7185) — to be hard.

Part of speech: Noun Feminine TWOT: 2093


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.

קְשַׁת

  • (v. קְשַׁט) to shoot. Targ. Ez. XXI, 26. Targ. Y. II, Ex. XV, 4; a. e.
    • same. Targ. Is. XXXVII, 33 יַקְשִׁית ed. Wil. (ed. Lag. יִקְשַׁת); Targ. II Kings XIX, 32.
    • to be shot forth. Targ. Y. II, Ex. XIX, 13 (v. קְשַׁט).

קֶשֶׁת

  • c. (b. h.; preced.) bow; rainbow. Erub. 55ᵃ עיר העשויה כק׳ a town built in the shape of a bow; ib. עשויה כמין ק׳. Ber. 59ᵃ הרואה את הק׳ בענן he who sees a rainbow in the clouds. Ḥag. 16ᵃ. Gen. R. s. 35; a. fr.—Pl. קְשָתוֹת. Lam. R. introd. (R. Joḥ. 1) (ref. to Is. XXII, 3) שהיו מתירין גידי קַשְׁתּוֹתָם וכ׳ they loosened the strings of their bows and tied them with them; Yalk. Is. 289. Sifré Deut. 18 עקרבים כק׳ scorpions as large as bows; Yalk. ib. 803; a. e.—Trnsf. membrum virile, potentia virilis. Sot. 36ᵇ; Y. Hor. II, 46ᵈ; a. e. e.g. Isaiah 22:3

קֶשֶׁת ²

  • 1. bow; rainbow. Targ. Is. XXI, 15. Targ. Gen. XXI, 16. Ib. IX, 13; a. fr.—Pl. קַשְׁתִּין, קַשְׁתָּן, קַשְׁתָּתָא, קַשְׁוָותָא. Targ. Is. VII, 24. Targ. II Chr. XXVI, 14. Targ. I Sam. II, 4 קַשְׁתַּת constr. (followed by ד־). Targ. Y. Gen. XXI, 20. Targ. Ps. XXXVII, 14, sq.; a. e.
  • 2. the curved side of the stomach, opp. to יִתְרָא. Ḥull. 50ᵃ דאק׳ the fat covering the curved &c.

קַשָּׁת

  • preced.) archer; esp. ק׳ (מזל) Sagittarius, a sign of the Zodiac. Gen. R. s. 98. Pesik. R. s. 20; Yalk. Ex. 418; a. e.—Pl. קַשָּׁתִים, קַשָּׁתִין. Lam. R. to II, 2, a. e., v. קַשָּׁט.

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 48 distinct written forms H7198 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
קֶ֣שֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute 2 Kings 13:15 10
קֶ֔שֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Genesis 21:16 4
קֶ֗שֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute 1 Chronicles 8:40 4
קָ֑שֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute 2 Samuel 1:18 4
קֶ֥שֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute 2 Chronicles 17:17 3
בַּ/קָּ֑שֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute 1 Chronicles 10:3 3
קֶ֚שֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Zechariah 9:13 2
בַּ/קֶּ֨שֶׁת֙ Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute 1 Kings 22:34 2
הַ/קֶּ֖שֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Genesis 9:14 2
כְּ/קֶ֣שֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Hosea 7:16 2
קֶֽשֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct 2 Samuel 22:35 2
קַשְׁתּ֔/וֹ Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Genesis 49:24 2
בְ/קַשְׁתִּ֣/י Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Psalms 44:6 1
בְ/קַשְׁתֶּֽ/ךָ Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Joshua 24:12 1
בַ/קֶּ֗שֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute 2 Kings 9:24 1
בְּ/קֶ֣שֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 39:9 1
בְּ/קֶ֤שֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Hosea 1:7 1
הַ/קֶּ֔שֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute 2 Kings 13:16 1
הַ/קֶּ֡שֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 1:28 1
הַ/קֶּ֨שֶׁת֙ Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Amos 2:15 1
וְ/הַ/קְּשָׁת֖וֹת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute Nehemiah 4:16 1
וְ/קֶ֨שֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Hosea 2:18 1
וְ/קַשְׁתֶּ֑/ךָ Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Genesis 27:3 1
וְ/קַשְּׁתֹתֵי/הֶֽם Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct Nehemiah 4:13 1
וְ֝/קַשְׁתִּ֗/י Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Job 29:20 1
וְ֝/קַשְּׁתוֹתָ֗/ם Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct Psalms 37:15 1
וּ/בְ/קַשְׁתִּֽ/י Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Genesis 48:22 1
וּ/בַ/קֶּ֖שֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Isaiah 7:24 1
וּ/קְשָׁת֑וֹת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 26:14 1
וּ/קְשָׁת֖וֹת Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute Isaiah 13:18 1
וּֽ/בְ/קַשְׁתְּ/ךָ֖ Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct 2 Kings 6:22 1
מִ/קֶּ֣שֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Isaiah 22:3 1
קֶ֖שֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Isaiah 66:19 1
קֶ֛שֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Isaiah 21:17 1
קֶ֜שֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Jeremiah 50:29 1
קַ֫שְׁתָּ֥/ם Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Psalms 37:14 1
קַשְׁת/וֹ֙ Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Lamentations 3:12 1
קַשְׁתּ֖/וֹ Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct 1 Samuel 18:4 1
קַשְׁתּ֜/וֹ Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Lamentations 2:4 1
קַשְׁתּ֥/וֹ Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Psalms 7:12 1
קַשְׁתְּ/ךָ֖ Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Ezekiel 39:3 1
קַשְׁתִּ֕/י Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Genesis 9:13 1
קַשְׁתֶּ֔/ךָ Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Habakkuk 3:9 1
קַשְׁתָּ֣/ם Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Jeremiah 9:3 1
קַשְׁתּֽ/וֹ Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct Isaiah 41:2 1
קַשְּׁתֹתָ֖י/ו Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct Isaiah 5:28 1
קַשְּׁתוֹתָ֑/ם Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Construct Jeremiah 51:56 1
קָֽשֶׁת Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Jeremiah 46:9 1

Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H7198, 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

Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 6 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.


Septuagint verse parallels

This word appears in 63 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 74 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.

Reading settings

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