אֵשׁ
fire
‘fire’ is one of 6 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
- Both
- Attested as both masculine and feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
29 verses where H784 appears in the Absolute state in the Book of Leviticus. Filtered view — show all forms. 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.
Leviticus
- Leviticus 1:7 אֵ֖שׁ הָ/אֵֽשׁ n c bs ptcl def.art + n c bs The sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar, and lay wood in order on the fire;
- Leviticus 1:8 הָ/אֵ֔שׁ ptcl def.art + n c bs and Aaron's sons, the priests, shall lay the pieces, the head, and the fat in order on the wood that is on the fire which is on the altar;
- Leviticus 1:12 הָ/אֵ֔שׁ ptcl def.art + n c bs He shall cut it into its pieces, with its head and its fat. The priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is on the altar,
- Leviticus 1:17 הָ/אֵ֑שׁ ptcl def.art + n c bs He shall tear it by its wings, but shall not divide it apart. The priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh.
- Leviticus 2:14 בָּ/אֵשׁ֙ prep det + n c bs "'If you offer a meal offering of first fruits to Yahweh, you shall offer for the meal offering of your first fruits grain in the ear parched with fire, bruised grain of the fresh ear.
- Leviticus 3:5 הָ/אֵ֑שׁ ptcl def.art + n c bs Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar on the burnt offering, which is on the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Yahweh.
- Leviticus 4:12 בָּ/אֵ֑שׁ prep det + n c bs even the whole bull shall he carry forth outside the camp to a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire. Where the ashes are poured out it shall be burned.
- Leviticus 6:10 הָ/אֵ֛שׁ ptcl def.art + n c bs The priest shall put on his linen garment, and he shall put on his linen breeches upon his body; and he shall remove the ashes from where the fire has consumed the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar.
- Leviticus 6:12 וְ/הָ/אֵ֨שׁ conj + ptcl def.art + n c bs The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it, it shall not go out; and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning: and he shall lay the burnt offering in order upon it, and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings.
- Leviticus 6:13 אֵ֗שׁ n c bs Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.
- Leviticus 6:30 בָּ/אֵ֖שׁ prep det + n c bs No sin offering, of which any of the blood is brought into the Tent of Meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be eaten: it shall be burned with fire.
- Leviticus 7:17 בָּ/אֵ֖שׁ prep det + n c bs but what remains of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned with fire.
- Leviticus 7:19 בָּ/אֵ֖שׁ prep det + n c bs "'The flesh that touches any unclean thing shall not be eaten. It shall be burned with fire. As for the flesh, everyone who is clean may eat it;
- Leviticus 8:17 בָּ/אֵ֔שׁ prep det + n c bs But the bull, and its skin, and its flesh, and its dung, he burned with fire outside the camp; as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Leviticus 8:32 בָּ/אֵ֖שׁ prep det + n c bs What remains of the flesh and of the bread you shall burn with fire.
- Leviticus 9:11 בָּ/אֵ֔שׁ prep det + n c bs The flesh and the skin he burned with fire outside the camp.
- Leviticus 9:24 אֵשׁ֙ n c bs There came forth fire from before Yahweh, and consumed the burnt offering and the fat upon the altar: and when all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces.
- Leviticus 10:1 אֵ֔שׁ אֵ֣שׁ n c bs n c bs Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer, and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and offered strange fire before Yahweh, which he had not commanded them.
- Leviticus 10:2 אֵ֛שׁ n c bs And fire came forth from before Yahweh, and devoured them, and they died before Yahweh.
- Leviticus 13:24 אֵ֑שׁ n c bs "Or when the body has a burn from fire on its skin, and the raw flesh of the burn becomes a bright spot, reddish-white, or white,
- Leviticus 13:52 בָּ/אֵ֖שׁ prep det + n c bs He shall burn the garment, whether the warp or the woof, in wool or in linen, or anything of skin, in which the plague is: for it is a destructive mildew. It shall be burned in the fire.
- Leviticus 13:55 בָּ/אֵ֖שׁ prep det + n c bs Then the priest shall examine it, after the plague is washed; and, behold, if the plague hasn't changed its color, and the plague hasn't spread, it is unclean; you shall burn it in the fire. It is a mildewed spot, whether the bareness is inside or outside.
- Leviticus 13:57 בָּ/אֵ֣שׁ prep det + n c bs and if it appears again in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin, it is spreading. You shall burn with fire that in which the plague is.
- Leviticus 16:12 אֵ֞שׁ n c bs He shall take a censer full of coals of fire from off the altar before Yahweh, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil:
- Leviticus 16:13 הָ/אֵ֖שׁ ptcl def.art + n c bs and he shall put the incense on the fire before Yahweh, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony, so that he will not die.
- Leviticus 16:27 בָ/אֵ֔שׁ prep det + n c bs The bull for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried forth outside the camp; and they shall burn their skins, their flesh, and their dung with fire.
- Leviticus 19:6 בָּ/אֵ֖שׁ prep det + n c bs It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and on the next day: and if anything remains until the third day, it shall be burned with fire.
- Leviticus 20:14 בָּ/אֵ֞שׁ prep det + n c bs "'If a man takes a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burned with fire, both he and they; that there may be no wickedness among you.
- Leviticus 21:9 בָּ/אֵ֖שׁ prep det + n c bs "'The daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the prostitute, she profanes her father: she shall be burned with fire.
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 אש centers on the idea of “fire.” The lexicon spreads it across several senses; see its full sense range. Spanning 348 verses in 33 books, it ranks among the common words of the Hebrew Bible. Debuting at Genesis 15:17, it then recurs through the corpus. Sharing its root, it stands alongside אש, אש and אשדת. Dig into 348-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H784 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 →
- 348
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 348 distinct verses.
- 33 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 33 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #131
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 131 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 348 occurrences in the concordance →
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 348 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 189 verses · 54%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 99 verses · 28%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 60 verses · 17%
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: Fire 321×, Like fire 7×, Let fire 5×
- American Standard Version: Fire 292×, Like fire 7×, Fires 3×
- Berean Standard Bible: Fire 244×, Like fire 10×, Fiery 7×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Fire 307×, Fire of 8×, Like fire 6×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H784 across 378 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 32 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.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H784 across 379 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 55 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 H784 across 313 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 20 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 60 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H784 across 368 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 27 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 6 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. fire, of conflagration, e.g. in briers, endangering or destroying crops תֵּצֵא אֵשׁ וּמָֽצְאָה קֹצִים Ex 22:5 cf. 3:2 הַסְּנֶה בֹּעֵר בָּאֵשׁ (both E); more often of deliberate destruction by fire, especially שָׂרַף בָּאֵשׁ (בָּ c. qam. preton.) obj. golden calf Ex 32:20 (J), other idols Dt 7:5, 25, Asherim 12:3, chariots Jos 11:6, 9 2 K 23:11, house Ju 12:1; 14:15, tower 9:52, city-gates Ne 1:3; 2:3, 13, 17, city Jos 6:24 Ju 18:27 cf. Is 1:7 +; also שִׁלַּח אֵשׁ בְּ Am 1:4, 7, 10 +; שִׁלַּח אֶת־הָעִיר בָּאֵשׁ †Ju 1:8; 20:48 cf. 2 K 8:12; הִצִּית אֶת־הָעִיר בָּאֵשׁ Jos 8:8, 19 הצ׳ אֵשׁ ב׳ Je 17:27 +; cf. Ju 9:49 2 S 14:30, 31 (of field, cf. Ex 22:5 supr.). e.g. Exodus 22:5
- 2. of supernatural fire, attending theophany Ex 3:2; 19:18 (both JE) Dt 4:11, 12, 15, 33, 36 +; specif. עַמּוּד (הָ)אֵשׁ Ex 13:21, 22; 14:24 (all JE) Ne 9:12, 19 cf. Dt 1:33 (v. מַרְאֵה־אֵשׁ Nu 9:15, 16 P); of destructive fire from י׳ Nu 11:1, 2, 3 (J) 26:10 (P) Lv 10:2 (P); cf. א׳ אֹכֶלֶת in sim. of Yahweh’s glory Ex 24:17 (E) Dt 4:24; 9:3; v. also 1 K 18:24, 38 2 K 1:10(×2), 12(×2), 14 Jb 1:16 (perhaps lightning intended), cf. further of lightning Ex 9:23, 24 (JE) ψ 18:13, 14; 148:8 etc. e.g. Exodus 3:2
- 3. fire for cooking, roasting, parching, etc. צְלִי אֵשׁ roasted at a fire Ex 12:8, 9 (P) cf. Lv 2:14 2 Ch 35:13 Is 44:16, 19; of tinder for lighting fire Gn 22:6, 7 (E); of fire for melting (gold for the idolatrous calf) Ex 32:24; for refining Je 6:29, where read with Qr מֵאֵשׁ תַּם עֹפָֽרֶת; cf. Mal 3:2 (sim. of purifying work of messenger of cov’t). e.g. Exodus 12:8
- 4. especially of altar-fire Lv 1:7(×2); 6:2, 3, 5, 16 +; in offering incense Lv 10:1, also אֵשׁ זָרָה strange fire, i.e. an incense not commanded, offered presumptuously 10:1 Nu 3:4; 26:61; fire from י׳ consuming sacrifice (cf. 2 Lv 9:24 2 Ch 7:1, 3; of fire in child-sacrifice (usually (לְ) הֶעֱבִיר בֵּן בָּאֵשׁ) 2 K 16:3; 21:6 cf. 17:17; 23:10 2 Ch 33:6; also שׂרף בָּא׳ 2 K 17:31, בער בָּא׳ 2 Ch 28:3. e.g. Leviticus 1:7
- 5. fig. of Yahweh’s anger ψ 89:47 (sim.) cf. Na 1:6 La 2:4 אֵשׁ־עֶבְרָתִי Ez 21:36; 22:31; 38:19, אֵשׁ־קִנְאָתִי Ez 36:5; v. also Is 66:15 ψ 79:5 etc.; of word of י׳ Je 23:29; fig.of outbursting emotion ψ 39:4; of flagrant wickedness Is 9:17, etc. e.g. Psalms 89:47
- 6. in various combinations, לַפִּיד אֵשׁ Gn 15:17 (J) a torch of fire (cf. Di); לַבַּת־אֵשׁ Ex 3:2 flame of fire, לַהַב אֵשׁ Jo 2:5, לַפִּידֵי אֵשׁ (in sim.) Dn 10:6 cf. Zc 12:6, לַהֲבוֹת אֵשׁ ψ 29:7 לַהֲבֵי אֵשׁ Is 66:15 cf. א׳ לֶהָבוֹת ψ 105:32, נֹגַהּ א׳ לֶהָבָה Is 4:5 cf. Ho 7:6; שְׂבִיב אִשּׁוֹ spark of his fire Jb 18:5 cf. כִּידוֹדֵי אֵשׁ 41:11; תַּנּוּר אֵשׁ ψ 21:10 oven of fire, כִּיּוֹר אֵשׁ Zc 12:6; אוֹר אֵשׁ light of fire ψ 78:14; אֵשׁ לֹהֵט flaming fire ψ 104:4; לְשׁוֹן אֵשׁ Is 5:24 tongue of fire, גַּחֲלֵי אֵשׁ Ez 1:13 coals of fire, so 10:2, cf. רִשְׁפֵּי אֵשׁ Ct 8:6; on אַבְנֵי אֵשׁ Ez 28:14, 16 v. אֶבֶן; אֵשׁ דַּת Dt 33:2, lit. fire of a law, or fire was a law, but דָּת law is Pers. & late; read perhaps אֵשׁ [לַףִּ]דֹת cf. Ex 20:18 or אֵשׁ [יֹקֶ]דֶת cf. Is 65:5. e.g. Genesis 15:17
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. Ex 9:23 (m. Je 48:45; ψ 104·4; f. & m. Je 20:9; Jb 20:26) אֵשׁ ‘m.’ is dub.: Nu 16:18 read עָלֶיהָ for 2nd עֲלֵיהֶם (𝔊B); Je 20:9 v. Ges§ 132 d; 48:45 read (many MSS., Nu 21:28) יצאה; ψ 104:4 read perhaps (Ol) לֹהֵֽטָה׃ or (Kenn) וָלָֽהַט׃; Jb 20:26 v. Ges§ 145 u (or 121 b): cf. AlbrZAW xvi (1896), 63. fire (Assyrian išatu COTGloss, Syriac ܐܶܫܳܬܳܐ, እሳት deriv. from ii. אנשׁ,أَنَسَ, sociable, friendly element (MV Wetzst in De Psalmen, ed. 4, p. 888 LagBN 68 cf. انيسة, مانوسة), improb. especially in view of Assyrian; daghesh prob. secondary; cf. also Sta§ 189 b)—א׳ abs. Ex 9:24 +; cstr. Lv 6:2 + (seld.); †sf. אִשּׁוֹ Dt 4:36 Jb 18:5; אֶשְׁכֶם Is 50:11; אִשָּׁם Is 66:24;—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: a primitive word
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.
אֵשׁ
- c. (b. h.;
- 1. fire. Sabb. 11ᵃ; a. e. כא׳ לנעורת as destructive as fire to the flax. Sot. 48ᵇ כא׳ בנעורת like fire among flax, i.e. inflaming the senses. Gen. R. s. 39 מבול של א׳ (v. מַבּוּל) destruction by fire.—Num. R. s. 2 end א׳ הדיוטית fire from outside of the sanctuary; a. fr.—Pl. אִשֹּׁות. Yoma 21ᵇ; a. fr.
- 2. fever, א׳ של עצמות. Gitt. 70ᵃ
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 91 distinct written forms H784 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.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 31 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H784, 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.
Derived from this word
- אש ʼêsh H785 fire
- אש ʼish H786 there is
- אשדת ʼeshdâth H799 fiery law
- אשה ʼeshshâh H800 fire
- אשיש ʼâshîysh H808 foundation
- אתון ʼattûwn H861 furnace
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 321 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 348 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 15:17
- Exodus 3:2
- Leviticus 1:7
- Numbers 3:4
- Deuteronomy 1:33
- Joshua 6:24
- Judges 1:8
- 1 Samuel 30:1
- 2 Samuel 14:30
- 1 Kings 9:16
- 2 Kings 1:10
- 1 Chronicles 14:12
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.
