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שָׁלֹשׁ

three

H7969 Strong's Hebrew
shâlôwsh Transliteration
/shaw-loshe'/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 431 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.

The Hebrew noun שלוש centers on the idea of “three.” Debuting at Genesis 5:22, it then recurs through the corpus. It appears 381 verses across 25 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its common vocabulary. It shares a root with שלושים, שליש and שלישי. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
fork
Modern gloss
three
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 H7969 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 →

381
distinct verses
The word appears in 381 distinct verses.
25 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 25 of 39 Old Testament books.
Genesis 5:22
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Genesis 5:22.
Zechariah 11:8
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Zechariah 11:8.
#114
by frequency
Top 250 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 114 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 381 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 100 · 26%
  • Historical 219 · 57%
  • Wisdom 14 · 4%
  • Prophets 48 · 13%

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 381 distinct verses.

  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 153 verses · 40%
  • Writings (Ketuvim) 128 verses · 34%
  • Torah (Pentateuch) 100 verses · 26%

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: Three 288×, Were three 11×, Thirteenth 10×
  • American Standard Version: Three 269×, Thirteenth 9×, Thirteen 8×
  • Berean Standard Bible: Three 223×, Third 10×, Thirteenth 10×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: Three 228×, Were 31×, And 11×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H7969 across 424 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Three” 288×
  • “Were three” 11×
  • “Thirteenth” 10×
  • “Thirteen” 8×
  • “Third” 7×
  • “Within three” 7×
  • “Or three” 5×
  • “First three” 4×
  • “Were thirteen” 4×
  • “About three” 3×
  • “Against three” 3×
  • “Are three” 3×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 43 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 6 further occurrences.

American Standard Version Public Domain

Renders H7969 across 424 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Three” 269×
  • “Thirteenth” 9×
  • “Thirteen” 8×
  • “Were three” 8×
  • “Third” 7×
  • “Thereof” 6×
  • “Are three” 5×
  • “Or three” 5×
  • “Was three” 5×
  • “Every three” 4×
  • “First three” 4×
  • “Were thirteen” 4×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 57 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 H7969 across 343 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Three” 223×
  • “Third” 10×
  • “Thirteenth” 10×
  • “Thirteen” 8×
  • “Three-tenths” 7×
  • “Three-day” 6×
  • “Were three” 5×
  • “Are three” 4×
  • “Twenty-third” 4×
  • “About three” 3×
  • “And” 3×
  • “Every three” 3×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 33 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 86 further occurrences.

unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Renders H7969 across 369 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Three” 228×
  • “Were” 31×
  • “And” 11×
  • “Thirteenth” 8×
  • “Three of” 8×
  • “Third” 6×
  • “Were three” 6×
  • “Years” 5×
  • “Among the three” 4×
  • “Three things” 4×
  • “Was” 4×
  • “About” 3×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 27 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 79 further occurrences.


Senses in BDB

The 1 sense 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.

  1. three, triad

Word origin

Origin: a primitive number

Part of speech: Noun TWOT: 2403a


Forms in the corpus

The 122 distinct written forms H7969 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
שְׁלֹ֥שׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Daniel 12:12 30
שְׁלֹ֣שֶׁת Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Construct Exodus 8:27 25
שְׁלֹשָׁ֣ה Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Exodus 25:32 25
שְׁלֹ֥שֶׁת Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Construct Daniel 10:3 20
שָׁלֹ֣שׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Deuteronomy 4:41 19
שְׁלֹשׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 4:5 16
שְׁלֹשָֽׁה Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Deuteronomy 19:15 15
שָׁלֹ֥שׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Deuteronomy 19:7 13
שְׁלֹשָׁ֥ה Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Daniel 10:2 12
וּ/שְׁלֹשָׁ֣ה Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Exodus 25:33 11
וּ/שְׁלֹשָֽׁה Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Ezra 2:11 11
שְׁלֹשָׁה֙ Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Amos 1:3 11
שְׁלֹ֣שׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Genesis 45:22 8
שְׁלֹשָׁ֤ה Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Amos 4:7 8
וּ/שְׁלֹ֣שֶׁת Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Construct Exodus 38:26 6
וּ/שְׁלֹשָׁה֙ Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Exodus 25:32 6
שְׁלֹ֤שֶׁת Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Construct Esther 4:16 6
שְׁלֹ֨שֶׁת Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Construct Exodus 5:3 6
וּ/שְׁלֹ֥שׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Genesis 5:23 5
שְׁלֹ֖שֶׁת Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Construct 1 Chronicles 11:19 5
שְׁלֹ֤שׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Genesis 9:28 5
שְׁלֹשָׁ֑ה Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 48:32 5
שְׁלֹשָׁ֨ה Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Daniel 11:2 5
שָׁל֣וֹשׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Deuteronomy 16:16 5
שָׁלֹ֤שׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 40:48 5
בִּ/שְׁלוֹשָׁ֥ה Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Esther 3:13 4
וְ/שָׁלֹ֥שׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Exodus 27:1 4
וּ/שְׁלֹשׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Genesis 14:4 4
לִ/שְׁלֹ֣שֶׁת Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Construct Exodus 19:15 4
שְׁלֹשָׁ֔ה Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Exodus 27:14 4
וּ/שְׁלֹ֣שׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Daniel 8:14 3
לִ/שְׁלֹשָׁ֤ה Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 1 Chronicles 25:20 3
שְׁלֹ֨שֶׁת֙ Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Construct Genesis 40:12 3
שְׁלֹֽשֶׁת Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Construct Exodus 15:22 3
שְׁלֹשָׁ֖ה Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 1 Kings 6:36 3
שְׁלֹשָׁ֧ה Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Numbers 1:43 3
שָׁלֹ֔שׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute 1 Kings 15:28 3
בִּ/שְׁלוֹשָׁ֨ה Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Esther 3:12 2
הַ/שְּׁלֹשָׁ֔ה Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 2 Samuel 23:18 2
הַ/שְּׁלֹשָׁ֖ה Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 2 Samuel 23:19 2
הַ/שְּׁלוֹשָׁ֖ה Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 1 Chronicles 11:21 2
וְ/שָׁל֥וֹשׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Job 1:2 2
וְ/שָׁלֹ֖שׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute 1 Kings 2:11 2
וְ/שָׁלֹשׁ֙ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute 2 Kings 13:1 2
וְ/שָׁלוֹשׁ֙ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute 1 Chronicles 2:22 2
וּ/שְׁלֹ֧שֶׁת Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Construct Genesis 7:13 2
וּ/שְׁלֹשָׁ֥ה Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 1 Samuel 30:12 2
כִּ/שְׁלֹ֥שֶׁת Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Construct Exodus 32:28 2
לִ/שְׁלֹ֨שֶׁת֙ Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Construct 2 Kings 3:10 2
שְׁלֹ֧שׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Genesis 6:15 2
שְׁלֹ֧שֶׁת Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Construct 1 Chronicles 29:4 2
שְׁלֹשָׁ֛ה Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Genesis 40:16 2
שְׁלוֹשָׁ֖ה Adjective, Cardinal number, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 48:31 2
שָׁל֑וֹשׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Daniel 1:5 2
שָׁל֔וֹשׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Daniel 1:1 2
שָׁל֥וֹשׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Deuteronomy 19:2 2
שָׁל֧וֹשׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Ezekiel 41:6 2
שָׁלֹ֧שׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Exodus 6:18 2
שָׁלֽוֹשׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute 1 Chronicles 25:5 2
בְּ/שָׁלֹ֤שׁ Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Isaiah 16:14 1

The 60 most common forms are shown; 62 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.


Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H7969, 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

Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 5 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.


Septuagint verse parallels

This word appears in 360 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 381 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

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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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