שׁוֹר
ox
‘ox’ 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 Absolute-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
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Every verse where H7794 appears in the Book of Exodus — 15 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.
Exodus
- Exodus 20:17 וְ/שׁוֹר֣/וֹ conj + n c ms cs + sfx pers 3ms "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."
- Exodus 21:28 שׁ֥וֹר הַ/שּׁ֗וֹר הַ/שּׁ֖וֹר n c ms ptcl def.art + n c ms ptcl def.art + n c ms "If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible.
- Exodus 21:29 שׁוֹר֩ הַ/שּׁוֹר֙ n c ms ptcl def.art + n c ms But if the bull had a habit of goring in the past, and it has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death.
- Exodus 21:32 הַ/שּׁ֖וֹר וְ/הַ/שּׁ֖וֹר ptcl def.art + n c ms conj + ptcl def.art + n c ms If the bull gores a man-servant or a maid-servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.
- Exodus 21:33 שּׁ֖וֹר n c ms "If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn't cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it,
- Exodus 21:35 שֽׁוֹר שׁ֥וֹר הַ/שּׁ֤וֹר n c ms cs n c ms cs ptcl def.art + n c ms "If one man's bull injures another's, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live bull, and divide its price; and they shall also divide the dead animal.
- Exodus 21:36 שׁ֣וֹר שׁוֹר֙ הַ/שּׁ֔וֹר n c ms n c ms ptcl def.art + n c ms Or if it is known that the bull was in the habit of goring in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall surely pay bull for bull, and the dead animal shall be his own.
- Exodus 22:1 שׁ֣וֹר הַ/שּׁ֔וֹר n c ms ptcl def.art + n c ms "If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it, or sells it; he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.
- Exodus 22:4 מִ/שּׁ֧וֹר prep + n c ms If the stolen property is found in his hand alive, whether it is ox, donkey, or sheep, he shall pay double.
- Exodus 22:9 שׁ֡וֹר n c ms For every matter of trespass, whether it be for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any kind of lost thing, about which one says, 'This is mine,' the cause of both parties shall come before God. He whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor.
- Exodus 22:10 שׁ֥וֹר n c ms "If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and it dies or is injured, or driven away, no man seeing it;
- Exodus 22:30 לְ/שֹׁרְ/ךָ֖ prep + n c ms cs + sfx pers 2ms You shall do likewise with your oxen and with your sheep. Seven days it shall be with its mother, then on the eighth day you shall give it me.
- Exodus 23:4 שׁ֧וֹר n c ms cs "If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.
- Exodus 23:12 שֽׁוֹרְ/ךָ֙ n c ms cs + sfx pers 2ms "Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your handmaid, and the alien may be refreshed.
- Exodus 34:19 שׁ֥וֹר n c ms All that opens the womb is mine; and all your cattle that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep.
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.
At its core, שור (shôwr) means “ox.” The King James Version’s older “bullock” has given way to “ox” in modern versions, as the renderings breakdown shows. It appears 69 verses across 17 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its moderately common vocabulary. Scripture first uses it in Genesis 32:5. Ranging over 2 senses, it is not a single-sense word. Each statement above links to its evidence; the full detail follows below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H7794 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 →
- 69
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 69 distinct verses.
- 17 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 17 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #506
- by frequency
- Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 506 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 69 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Exodus 15 verses 22%
- Deuteronomy 12 verses 17%
- Leviticus 10 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 69 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 43 verses · 62%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 17 verses · 25%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 9 verses · 13%
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: Ox 46×, Bullock 10×, Oxen 7×
- American Standard Version: Ox 45×, Oxen 6×, Bullock 5×
- Berean Standard Bible: Ox 53×, Oxen 11×, Bull 3×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Ox 58×, Ox of 7×, Bull 4×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H7794 across 78 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 12 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 H7794 across 79 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 11 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 H7794 across 77 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
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 2 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H7794 across 83 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 12 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in BDB
The 2 senses BDB distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
- ox, bull, a head of cattle
- for plowing, for food, as sacrifice
Word origin
n.m. Ne 5:18 a head of cattle, bullock, ox, etc. (often + חֲמוֹר, שֶׂה, etc.);—שׁ׳ abs. Is 1:3 +, cstr. Ex 21:35 +, sf. שׁוֹרוֹ 20:17 +, etc.; pl. שְׁוָרִים Ho 12:12;—usually a single head of cattle, without emphasis on sex (opp. בָּקָר coll. Ex 21:37; Nu 7:3): as property, spoil of war, etc. Ex 20:17 (E; Gi v 14) = Dt 5:18, cf. Dt 5:14; Ex 21:33 (E) ‖ Dt 22:4; Ex 21:37(×2) (‖ בָּקָר of five head), 22:3, 8, 9, 29; 23:12 (all E), Dt 22:1; Gn 49:6 (poem in J), Dt 28:31; Ju 6:4; 1 S 12:3; Jb 24:3; as licking up (לָחַךְ) grass Nu 22:4 (J), feeding ψ 106:20 (in ref. to golden calf), cf. Is 7:25; 32:20; lowing Jb 6:5; as intelligent Is 1:3, vicious (goring נָגַח) Ex 21:28(×3) + 11 times Ex 21 (E); used in ploughing Dt 22:10, threshing 25:4, cf. Pr 14:4; drawing wagon Nu 7:3 (P; opp. בָּקָר coll.); פְּנֵי שׁ׳ Ez 1:10; specif. of male †Jb 21:10 (opp. פָּרָה), of female †Lv 22:28 (H), perhaps also Nu 18:17 (P), appar. generic Dt 15:19; 33:17 (poem, fig.); rarely coll. Gn 32:6 (+ צֹאן), Ex 34:19—cf. Lv 27:26 (P)—Jos 6:21; 7:24 (all J), 1 S 15:3; 22:19; †as slaughtered Pr 7:22, for food 1 S 14:34(×2) (but v b read (אֶת־)אֲשֶׁר with 𝔊 Th We Dr al.), 1 K 1:19, 25; Dt 14:4; Lv 17:3 (H), cf. Ne 5:18 (שׁ׳ אֶחָר), Pr 15:17; for †sacrifice Ju 6:25 (פַּר־הַשּׁ׳, text strange, cf. GFM), ψ 69:32 (שׁוֹר פָּר, but join פָּר to v b Bae), 2 S 6:13; Ho 12:12; Lv 9:4, 18 (P), 22:23, 27 (H), Nu 15:11 (P), Dt 17:1; 18:3, cf. Lv 7:23; 9:19; מִשּׁוֹר זֶבַח Lv 4:10 (P); illicit sacrifice Is 66:3.
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from שור (shûwr) (H7788) — to travel.
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.
שְׁוָורִים
- , pl. of שׁוֹר.
שְׁוַר
- , v. שְׁוַור, שַׁוָּור.
שׁוּר I
- to sing; Polel שׁוֹרֵר, v. שִׁיר I.
שׁוּר II
- מִדְבַּר ש׳ desert of Shur (caravan road), v. כּוּב, a. next. w.
שׁוּר III
- 1. wall, fortification, stronghold. Gen. R. s. 98 (ref. to שׁוֹר, Gen. XLIX, 6; v. Targ. O. a. Y. 1) עקרתון שׁוּרָן של גרים you have uprooted the stronghold (reliance) of proselytes (by dealing faithlessly with the Shechemites); בשביל … עקרתם שורן וכ׳ in order to gratify your passion, you have uprooted &c. e.g. Genesis 49:6
- 2. protected habitation, civilized condition (cmp. יִשּׁוּב), opp. מדבר. Ex. R. s. 24 (play on מדבר שור, Ex. XV, 22) עד שלא יצאו … נעשה העולם ש׳ before Israel went out of Egypt, the world was a desert (lawless); when they went forth, the world became civilized; עד שלא קיבלו … ש׳ before Israel received the Law, the world was a desert; when they received it, the world became &c. e.g. Exodus 15:22
שׁוּר
- 1. wall, fortification. Targ. O. Gen. XLIX, 6 (Y. I שׁוֹר; v. preced.). Targ. Lam. II, 8. Targ. Prov. XXV, 28; a. fr.—Lam. R. to II, 8 (expl. חל וחומה, ib.) ש׳ ובר ש׳ the large circumvallation and the smaller wall; Pes. 86ᵃ; Y. ib. VII, 35ᵇ bot. Y. B. Bath. II, 13ᵇ bot. ש׳ דחמץ the wall of Emesa; M.M. Kat. 26ᵃ ש׳ דלודקיא the wall of Laodicea; a. fr.—Pl. שׁוּרִין, שׁוּרַיָּא. Targ. Ex. XIV, 22. Targ. II Kings XXV, 4. Targ. O. Deut. XXVIII, 52; a. fr.
- 2. (v. שׁוּרָה) line, road. Y. Keth. VII, 31ᶜ, v. פּוּתְיָא.—V. שׁוּרְתָא.
שׁוֹר I
- , Fl. to Levy Talm. Dict. IV, p. 680) ox. B. Kam. 65ᵇ ש׳ בן יומו קרוי ש׳ an ox on the day of his birth is called shor (by ref. to Lev. XXII, 27). Ib. I, 1 הש׳ damage done by an ox (Ex. XXI, 28; XXII, 4). Ib. IV, 7 ש׳ המדבר the ox of the desert (aurochs, being ownerless). Kil. VIII, 6; Ḥull. 80ᵃ בר(ה) ש׳ wild ox, aurochs; a. fr.—Erub. 53ᵇ (in enigmatic speech) ש׳ משפט (not במשפט) = תור דין = תְּרָדִין, v. תְּרָדָא I.—Pl. שְׁוָורִים, שְׁוָורִין, שְׁוָר׳. Gen. R. s. 75 (ref. to Gen. XXXII, 6) משור אחד יצאו ש׳ הרבה from the one ox (which I originally possessed) many oxen went forth. B. Kam. III, 8. Y. Gitt. IX, 46ᵈ bot.; a. fr. e.g. Leviticus 22:27
שׁוֹר II
- chain, cord, esp. umbilical cord. Lev. R. s. 5 ואני חותכת את שׁוֹרְךָ and I shall cut thy umbilical cord (with which thou art attached to me); Yalk. Job 908 טבורך).
שִׁיר I
- denom. of next w.) to sing. Ber. 14ᵇ ושַׁרְנוּ לך and we sang (praises) unto thee. Snh. 91ᵇ (ref. to Ex. XV, 1) שָׁר לא נאמר אלא יָשִׁיר it does not read, ‘he sang’; but, ‘he shall sing’; Mekh. B’shall., Shir., s. 1; a. e. e.g. Exodus 15:1
- ) שׁוֹרֵר same. Num. R. s. 3 (play on ב̇כ̇וש̇ר̇ות, Ps. LXVIII, 7) אותן שהיו ב̇וכ̇ין … מְ֗ש̇ו̇רְ֗רִין עכשיו those who formerly wept …, were now singing. Ib. ועבד מְשׁוֹרֵר וכ׳ and the slave sings, because he is relieved &c. B. Bath. 120ᵃ מְשׁוֹרְרִים לפניה went singing (bridal songs) before her; a. fr.—[Midr. Till. to Ps. CXVI באין ושוררין, read: ושׁוֹרִין, v. שָׁרָה II.]—מְשׁוֹרֵר singer, esp. Temple singer (Levite). Arakh. 11ᵇ מ׳ ששיער ומשוער ששורר if one designated as a singer acts as gate-guard, or a gate-guard acts as singer; a. fr.—Pl. מְשׁוֹרְרִים, מְשׁוֹרְרִין. Ib. שאתה מן המ׳ וכ׳ for thou belongest to the singers, and not to the gate-guards; a. fr. e.g. Psalms 68:7
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 47 distinct written forms H7794 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 H7794, 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 7 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 67 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 69 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 32:5
- Exodus 20:17
- Leviticus 4:10
- Numbers 7:3
- Deuteronomy 5:14
- Joshua 6:21
- Judges 6:4
- 1 Samuel 12:3
- 2 Samuel 6:13
- 1 Kings 1:19
- Job 6:5
- Psalms 106:20
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.
