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אֹ֫רֶךְ

length

‘length’ is one of 2 main senses fuller range ↓

H753 Strong's Hebrew
ʼôrek Transliteration
/o'rek'/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 95 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.

ארך — transliterated ʼôrek — is a Hebrew noun carrying the sense “length.” It first appears in Genesis 6:15. With 90 verses in 12 books, it is a moderately common word in the Hebrew Bible. Its uses concentrate in Ezekiel (42% of all occurrences). It is not a single-sense word — see its full sense range. See the sense tree, 90-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
forever
Modern gloss
length
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 H753 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 →

90
distinct verses
The word appears in 90 distinct verses.
12 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 12 of 39 Old Testament books.
Genesis 6:15
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Genesis 6:15.
Zechariah 5:2
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Zechariah 5:2.
#437
by frequency
Top 500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 437 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 90 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 27 · 30%
  • Historical 14 · 16%
  • Wisdom 8 · 9%
  • Prophets 41 · 46%

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 90 distinct verses.

  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 47 verses · 52%
  • Torah (Pentateuch) 27 verses · 30%
  • Writings (Ketuvim) 16 verses · 18%

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: Length 50×, Long 16×, Was the length 9×
  • American Standard Version: Length 43×, Long 15×, Was the length 11×
  • Berean Standard Bible: Long 62×, Length 15×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: Length 58×, Length of 17×, Was 6×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H753 across 95 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Length” 50×
  • “Long” 16×
  • “Was the length” 9×
  • “Shall be the length” 7×
  • “Cubits long” 4×
  • “Ever” 2×

Plus 7 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 H753 across 94 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Length” 43×
  • “Long” 15×
  • “Was the length” 11×
  • “Shall be the length” 7×
  • “Cubits long” 4×
  • “Thereof” 2×

Plus 12 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 H753 across 91 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Long” 62×
  • “Length” 15×

Plus 14 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 4 further occurrences.

unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Renders H753 across 104 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Length” 58×
  • “Length of” 17×
  • “Was” 6×
  • “Was its length” 5×
  • “Long” 4×
  • “Length on each side” 2×
  • “Shall be” 2×

Plus 10 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 3 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.

  • a. length of ark Gn 6:15 (P), of land of Canaan 13:17 (J); most often of ark & other measurements in tabernacle & temple Ex 25:10, 17; 26:2, 8; 27:1, 9 + (22 times Ex, P), 1 K 6:2, 3, 20 + (13 times K & Ch), Ez 40:7, 11, 18 + (41 times Ez), etc. e.g. Genesis 6:15
  • b. of time א׳ יָמִים Dt 30:20; Jb 12:12; ψ 21:5; 23:6; 91:16; 93:5 Pr 3:2, 16; La 5:20. e.g. Deuteronomy 30:20
  • c. א׳ אַפַּיִם forbearance, self-restraint, Pr 25:15.—(Ez 31:7 𝔊 𝔖 Co read רֹב for אֹרֶךְ, cf. v 5 where Co del. vb. ארך; 41:22 read prob. אדנו 𝔊 Sm, or אדניו Co = base.) e.g. Proverbs 25:15

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.] length—only sg., א׳ abs. Ex 27:1 +; cstr. Gn 6:15; אָרְכּוֹ Ex 25:10 +; אָרְכָּם 2 Ch 3:11; אָרְכָּן Ez 42:11, etc.—

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

Derived from ארך (ʼârak) (H748) — to be long.

Part of speech: Noun Masculine TWOT: 162a


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.

ארך

  • (√אר, cmp. ארג) to join, weave; whence to arrange, plan; v. ערך.—V. אֲרִיךְ II, אֲרוּכָה &c.

אָרֵךְ

  • , cmp. Schr. KAT p. 497 ארג; cmp. also גדל to plait,to be tall) to be [pointed, stretched,] long, tall.
    • 1. to prolong, be long in doing. Ber. I, 4 אמרו להַאֲרִיךְ they commended a lengthy benediction. Ib. 34ᵃ; cmp. אַרְכָן. Yoma 35ᵇ הֶאֱ׳ בתפלתו staid long in prayer.—הא׳ ימים to live long. Meg. 27ᵇ; a. fr.—Ber. 8ᵇ, a. fr. מַאֲרִיכִין ימיו his life will be prolonged.—פנים, הא׳ רוח to be long-suffering, forbearing. Y. Shebu. IV, beg. 35ᵇ; a. fr.—Y. Taan. II, 65ᵇ bot. when collecting debts (punishing) מאריך וגובה he is slow in collecting (punishes in long intervals, gives extension).
    • 2. to be long, last long. Num. R. s. 20, end הא׳ הברזל the point of the spear grew longer, v. infra; a. fr.
    • 3. [to lengthen the carrying pole,] to make heavy. Nidd. 16ᵇ כמה הֶאֱרַכְתָּ עלינו how heavy thou hast made our burden (through restrictive laws)!
    • to be prolonged, grow longer. Sifré Num. 131; Yalk. ib. 771; (Num. R. l. c. האריך).

אֲרַךְ

  • , v. אֲרִיךְ I

אֶרֶךְ

  • (b. h.) only with אַף, אֲפַּיִם long-suffering, forbearing. Y. Taan. II, 65ᵇ; a. fr.; v. אַף.

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 43 distinct written forms H753 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
אֹ֣רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Exodus 26:2 13
אֹ֔רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Exodus 27:9 9
אֹ֗רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 40:30 6
אֹ֚רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 40:33 5
אֹ֜רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Exodus 27:1 4
אָרְכּ/וֹ֙ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Exodus 25:23 4
אָרְכּ֔/וֹ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Ezekiel 40:21 4
אָרְכּ֖/וֹ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Exodus 28:16 4
אָרְכּ֗/וֹ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Exodus 25:10 3
אָרְכּ֜/וֹ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Exodus 30:2 3
וְ/אֹ֗רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 45:7 2
אָרְכָּ֔/הּ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Exodus 25:17 2
אֹ֑רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Exodus 27:11 2
אֹ֖רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 41:13 2
אֹ֨רֶךְ֙ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 40:7 2
בְּ/אֹ֖רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Exodus 26:13 2
לְ/אֹ֣רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Psalms 23:6 2
אָרְכּ/וֹ֩ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Exodus 37:25 1
אָרְכּ֛/וֹ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Exodus 39:9 1
אָרְכּ֞/וֹ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct 2 Chronicles 3:8 1
אָרְכָּ/הּ֙ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Zechariah 5:2 1
אָרְכָּ֑/הּ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Judges 3:16 1
אָרְכָּ֖/ם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct 2 Chronicles 3:11 1
אָרְכָּ֗/הּ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Deuteronomy 3:11 1
אָרְכָּֽ/הּ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Zechariah 2:2 1
אֹ֕רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Ezekiel 48:10 1
אֹ֥רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Psalms 21:4 1
אֹֽרֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Ezekiel 41:15 1
אֹרֶךְ֩ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 40:42 1
בְּ/אֹ֣רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Proverbs 25:15 1
בָּ/אֹ֔רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Exodus 27:11 1
בָּ/אֹ֜רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 48:18 1
הָ/אֹ֜רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 2 Chronicles 3:4 1
הָ/אֹ֡רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 2 Chronicles 3:3 1
וְ/אָרְכּ֖/וֹ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Ezekiel 41:12 1
וְ/אָרְכּ֣/וֹ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Ezekiel 41:22 1
וְ/אָרְכּ֥/וֹ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Ezekiel 41:22 1
וְ/אֹ֖רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Job 12:12 1
וְ/אֹ֜רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 48:8 1
וְ/אֹ֣רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Deuteronomy 30:20 1
כְּ/אָרְכָּ֖/ן Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Ezekiel 42:11 1
לְ/אָרְכָּ֖/הּ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Genesis 13:17 1
לְ/אֹ֥רֶךְ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Lamentations 5:20 1

Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H753, 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

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 7 — 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 88 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 90 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

Reading text

Shown beneath each verse's original-language words.

Old Testament
Old Testament edition

Read the OT as the Masoretic Hebrew (MT) or the Greek Septuagint (LXX).

English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

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