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
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 2 Kings — 2 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.
2 Kings
- 2 Kings 12:9 אֲר֣וֹן n c bs But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of Yahweh: and the priests who kept the threshold put therein all the money that was brought into the house of Yahweh.
- 2 Kings 12:10 בָּֽ/אָר֑וֹן prep det + n c bs It was so, when they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king's scribe and the high priest came up, and they put up in bags and counted the money that was found in the house of Yahweh.
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.
