אֲרוֹן
ark
‘ark’ 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
- 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
- Both
- Attested as both masculine and feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
Every verse where H727 appears in the Book of 1 Samuel — 33 distinct verses. 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.
1 Samuel
- 1 Samuel 3:3 אֲר֥וֹן n c bs cs and the lamp of God hadn't yet gone out, and Samuel had laid down [to sleep], in the temple of Yahweh, where the ark of God was;
- 1 Samuel 4:3 אֲרוֹן֙ n c bs cs When the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Why has Yahweh struck us today before the Philistines? Let us get the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of Shiloh to us, that it may come among us, and save us out of the hand of our enemies.
- 1 Samuel 4:4 אֲר֧וֹן אֲרוֹן֙ n c bs cs n c bs cs So the people sent to Shiloh; and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of Yahweh of Hosts, who sits [above] the cherubim: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
- 1 Samuel 4:5 אֲר֤וֹן n c bs cs When the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.
- 1 Samuel 4:6 אֲר֣וֹן n c bs cs When the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What means the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? They understood that the ark of Yahweh was come into the camp.
- 1 Samuel 4:11 וַ/אֲר֥וֹן conj + n c bs cs The ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.
- 1 Samuel 4:13 אֲר֣וֹן n c bs cs When he came, behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching; for his heart trembled for the ark of God. When the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out.
- 1 Samuel 4:17 וַ/אֲר֥וֹן conj + n c bs cs He who brought the news answered, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there has been also a great slaughter among the people, and your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken.
- 1 Samuel 4:18 אֲר֣וֹן n c bs cs It happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that [Eli] fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck broke, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years.
- 1 Samuel 4:19 אֲר֣וֹן n c bs cs His daughter-in-law, Phinehas' wife, was with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the news that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and brought forth; for her pains came on her.
- 1 Samuel 4:21 אֲר֣וֹן n c bs cs She named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel; because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband.
- 1 Samuel 4:22 אֲר֥וֹן n c bs cs She said, The glory is departed from Israel; for the ark of God is taken.
- 1 Samuel 5:1 אֲר֣וֹן n c bs cs Now the Philistines had taken the ark of God, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
- 1 Samuel 5:2 אֲר֣וֹן n c bs cs The Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
- 1 Samuel 5:3 אֲר֣וֹן n c bs cs When they of Ashdod arose early on the next day, behold, Dagon was fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh. They took Dagon, and set him in his place again.
- 1 Samuel 5:4 אֲר֣וֹן n c bs cs When they arose early on the next day morning, behold, Dagon was fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands [lay] cut off on the threshold; only [the stump of] Dagon was left to him.
- 1 Samuel 5:7 אֲר֨וֹן n c bs cs When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us; for his hand is sore on us, and on Dagon our god.
- 1 Samuel 5:8 לַֽ/אֲרוֹן֙ אֲר֖וֹן אֲר֖וֹן prep + n c bs cs n c bs cs n c bs cs They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? They answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about to Gath. They carried the ark of the God of Israel [there].
- 1 Samuel 5:10 אֲר֥וֹן אֲר֤וֹן אֲרוֹן֙ n c bs cs n c bs cs n c bs cs So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. It happened, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people.
- 1 Samuel 5:11 אֲר֨וֹן n c bs cs They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to its own place, that it not kill us and our people. For there was a deadly confusion throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.
- 1 Samuel 6:1 אֲרוֹן n c bs cs The ark of Yahweh was in the country of the Philistines seven months.
- 1 Samuel 6:2 לַ/אֲר֣וֹן prep + n c bs cs The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, "What shall we do with the ark of Yahweh? Show us with which we shall send it to its place."
- 1 Samuel 6:3 אֲר֨וֹן n c bs cs They said, "If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, don't send it empty; but by all means return him a trespass-offering: then you shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you."
- 1 Samuel 6:8 אֲר֣וֹן n c bs cs and take the ark of Yahweh, and lay it on the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which you return him for a trespass-offering, in a coffer by the side of it; and send it away, that it may go.
- 1 Samuel 6:11 אֲר֥וֹן n c bs cs and they put the ark of Yahweh on the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their tumors.
- 1 Samuel 6:13 הָ֣/אָר֔וֹן ptcl def.art + n c bs They of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it.
- 1 Samuel 6:15 אֲר֣וֹן n c bs cs The Levites took down the ark of Yahweh, and the coffer that was with it, in which the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone: and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day to Yahweh.
- 1 Samuel 6:18 אֲר֣וֹן n c bs cs and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities and of country villages, even to the great stone, whereon they set down the ark of Yahweh, [which stone remains] to this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite.
- 1 Samuel 6:19 בַּ/אֲר֣וֹן prep + n c bs cs He struck of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of Yahweh, he struck of the people fifty thousand seventy men; and the people mourned, because Yahweh had struck the people with a great slaughter.
- 1 Samuel 6:21 אֲר֣וֹן n c bs cs They sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath Jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought back the ark of Yahweh; come you down, and bring it up to you.
- 1 Samuel 7:1 אֲר֣וֹן אֲר֥וֹן n c bs cs n c bs cs The men of Kiriath Jearim came, and fetched up the ark of Yahweh, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of Yahweh.
- 1 Samuel 7:2 הָֽ/אָרוֹן֙ ptcl def.art + n c bs It happened, from the day that the ark abode in Kiriath Jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after Yahweh.
- 1 Samuel 14:18 אֲר֣וֹן אֲר֧וֹן n c bs cs n c bs cs Saul said to Ahijah, Bring here the ark of God. For the ark of God was [there] at that time with the children of Israel.
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.
The Hebrew noun ארון centers on the idea of “ark.” Its English rendering has broadened — “ark” classically, “box of” (unfoldingWord Literal Text) in modern versions; see the renderings breakdown. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 174 verses — common. Its earliest occurrence is Genesis 50:26. The lexicon spreads it across several senses; see its full sense range. Dig into 174-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H727 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 →
- 174
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 174 distinct verses.
- 15 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 15 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #236
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 236 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 174 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- 1 Samuel 33 verses 19%
- 1 Chronicles 31 verses 18%
- Joshua 25 verses 14%
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 174 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 91 verses · 52%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 48 verses · 28%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 35 verses · 20%
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: Ark 168×, Chest 6×, Thence the ark 3×
- American Standard Version: Ark 157×, Chest 5×, Came to pass 3×
- Berean Standard Bible: Ark 181×, Chest 6×, It 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Box of 140×, Box 54×, Chest 4×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H727 across 202 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 21 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 H727 across 202 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 30 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 H727 across 195 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. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 7 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H727 across 208 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 5 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
12 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 12 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. chest, for money-offerings 2 K 12:10, 11 2 Ch 24:8, 10, 11(×2). e.g. 2 Kings 12:10
- 2. sarcophagus, mummy-case, of Joseph Gn 50:26 (E). e.g. Genesis 50:26
- 3. chest, ark in tabernacle & temple, containing tables of law, with cherubim above, the especially seat of י׳ among his people, only Hex (71 times) S (61 times) K (12 times) & Ch (48 times) + Ju 20:27 Je 3:16 ψ 132:8; used alone & in various combinations (cf. SeyringZAW 1891, 114 f.). e.g. Judges 20:27
- a. indef. אֲרוֹן עֲצֵי שִׁטִּים an ark of shittim-wood Ex 25:10; Dt 10:3 cf. v 1. e.g. Exodus 25:10
- b. def. הָא׳ Ex 25:14 + 54 times (Hex P, except Jos JE; S K Ch). e.g. Exodus 25:14
- c. א׳ יהוה Jos 4:11 + 32 times Jos (JED) S K Ch. e.g. Joshua 4:11
- d. א׳ אֱלֹהִים †1 S 3:3; 4:11; א׳ הָאֱלֹהִים 1 S 4:13 + 32 times S Ch (but 1 S 14:18(×2) read הָאֵפוֹד 𝔊 We Dr), cf. א׳ אֱלֹהֵינוּ †1 Ch 13:3. e.g. 1 Samuel 3:3
- e. א׳ אלהי יִשְׂרָאֵל 1 S 5:7 + 6 times S, term used only by Philistines; א׳ יהוה אלהי יִשְׂרָאֵל †1 Ch 15:12, 14; א׳ יהוה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם †Jos 4:5 (JE); א׳ אֲדֹנָי יהוה †1 K 2:26; א׳ יהוה אֲדוֹן כָּל־הָאָרֶץ †Jos 3:13 (JED) cf. אדון כל־הארץ [הברית] א׳ v 11, where הברית (c. art. is prob. interpol., v. Di, only once & late the long phrase א׳ האלהים יהוה יוֹשֵׁב הַכְּרוּבִים אֲשֶׁר נִקְרָא־שֵׁם 1 Ch 13:6. e.g. 1 Samuel 5:7
- f. in combination with בְּרִית, largely D & under D’s influence; ארון הַבְּרִית ark of the covenant †Jos 3:6(×2), 8; 4:9; 6:6 (all JED); א׳ בְּרִית יהוה Nu 10:33; 14:44 (both J) Dt 10:8; 31:9, 25; Jos 4:7, 18; 6:8; 8:33 Je 3:16 + 17 times S K Ch; once longer א׳ בְּרִית י׳ צְבָאוֹת ישֵׁב הַכְּרֻבִים †1 S 4:4; also א׳ בְּרִית הָאֱלֹהִים †Ju 20:27; 1 S 4:4; 2 S 15:24; 1 Ch 16:6; & א׳ בְּרִית י׳ אלהיכם Dt 31:26 Jos 3:3. e.g. Joshua 3:6
- g. אֲרוֹן הָעֵדוּת ark of the testimony, only in P, corresponding to א׳ בְּרִית (cf. Di on Ex 25:16), Ex 25:22 + 8 times Ex, †Nu 4:5; 7:89 Jos 4:16. e.g. Exodus 25:16
- h. †א׳ הַקֹּדֶשׁ 2 Ch 35:3. e.g. 2 Chronicles 35:3
- i. א׳ עֻזֶּךָ֑ the ark of thy strength 2 Ch 6:41 ψ 132:8.—(Cf. also tables given by Seyringl.c. & his theory as to earliest designation of ark.) e.g. 2 Chronicles 6:41
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
c. art. הָאָרוֹן, הָאָרֹן203 n.m. Ex 35, 12 (f. 1 S 4, 17; 2 Ch 8, 11) chest, ark (Ph. ארן, sarcophagus, Assyrian êrênu (& êrû) chest ZimBP 6, 22, Arabic إِرَانٌ chest, so Aramaic ܐܰܪܘܽܢܳܐ also Nab. ארנא, Vog p. 102, Ph. Mish. also pl. ארונות)—only sg.; abs. †אֲרוֹן 2 K 12:10 = 2 Ch 24:8; c. art. הָאָרוֹן Dt 10:2 + always except Ex Lv Nu where הָאָרֹן (Ex 25:14(×2) + 13 times Ex, Lv 16:2 Nu 3:31; 10:35); cstr. אֲרוֹן Ex 25:10 +, †אֲרֹן Ex 30:6 Nu 4:5; 7:89;—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from ארה (ʼârâh) (H717) — to pluck.
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.
אָרוֹן
- c. (b. h.; [joined together,] chest, box, coffin, freq. (= אֲרוֹן הַקּוֹדֶשׁ) the Holy Ark, in the tabernacle and the Temple, or in Synagogues. Yoma V, 1 הגיע לא׳ reached the place where the Ark stood during the First Temple. Y. Ber. IV, 8ᶜ top; Gen. R. s. 55 (allegorical etymologies).—Keth. 104ᵃ א׳ הקודש (figuratively) a good and learned man’s soul; v. אֶרְאֵל.—Kel. XII, 5 א׳ של גרוסות the grits-dealer’s chest. Y. Kil. IX, 32ᵇ top; Gen. R. s. 100 אֲרוֹנִי נקובה (נקופה) וכ׳ ותהא let my coffin be perforated at the bottom. Snh. 98ᵇ אין לך כל א׳ וא׳ וכ׳ there is no coffin in Palestine in which the Median horses do not eat straw (being used as cribs); a. fr.—Pl. אֲרוֹנוֹת. Sot. 13ᵃ; a. fr. [Y. Keth. VI, 30ᵈ bot. וארון, v. אֲרִי I.]
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 53 distinct written forms H727 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 H727, 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
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 170 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 174 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 50:26
- Exodus 25:10
- Leviticus 16:2
- Numbers 3:31
- Deuteronomy 10:1
- Joshua 3:3
- Judges 20:27
- 1 Samuel 3:3
- 2 Samuel 6:2
- 1 Kings 2:26
- 2 Kings 12:9
- 1 Chronicles 6:31
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.
