כָּבֵד
kâbêd · H3515 · Hebrew · 41 occurrences
Meanings
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heavy
State in which an object has relatively much weight, which is often associated with slowness, functioning with difficulty, but also with importance, riches, status, etc
Examples1 Samuel 4:18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backward beside the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for he was old and heavy. And so he judged Israel for forty years.
2 Samuel 14:26 And when he cut the hair of his head (and it was at the end of every year that he cut it, because it was heavy on him, so he cut it), he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels by the king’s weight.
1 Kings 12:4 “Your father made our yoke hard; but now, lighten the hard labor imposed by your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”
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"heavy of tongue" > difficult language
Literally: heavy of tongue; hence: state in which people speak a language that others find hard to understand
ExamplesEzekiel 3:5 “For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech or difficult language, but to the house of Israel,
Ezekiel 3:6 nor to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. But I have sent you to the people who understand you;
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large
State in which an object is large in size
ExamplesExodus 19:16 So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud over the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.
Isaiah 32:2 Each will be like a refuge from the wind And a shelter from the storm, Like streams of water in a dry country, Like the shade of a huge rock in an exhausted land.
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to be heavy, to be serious, to be grievous, to be burdensome, to be strong
State in which an event is weighing heavily on the mind of those undergoing it
ExamplesGenesis 12:10 Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a time, because the famine was severe in the land.
Genesis 41:31 “So the abundance will be unknown in the land because of that subsequent famine; for it will be very severe.
Genesis 43:1 Now the famine was severe in the land.
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large, great, numerous
State in which a group of humans, animals, or objects is large in size
ExamplesGenesis 50:9 Chariots with teams of horses also went up with him; and it was a very great company.
Exodus 8:24 Then the LORD did so. And thick swarms of flies entered the house of Pharaoh and the houses of his servants, and the land was laid waste because of the swarms of flies in all the land of Egypt.
Exodus 10:14 The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled in all the territory of Egypt; they were very numerous. There had never been so many locusts, nor would there be so many again.
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to be rich
State in which humans have many assets, associated with honor and respect
ExamplesGenesis 13:2 Now Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold.
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"hands are heavy" > hands are weary
Literally: (one's) hands are heavy; hence: state in which one's hands become tired as a result of a certain activity which makes them seem heavy
ExamplesExodus 17:12 And Moses’ hands were heavy. So they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. So his hands were steady until the sun set.
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slow
Literally: to be heavy; hence: state in which part of the body, such as one's mouth or one's tongue, does not function well
ExamplesExodus 4:10 Then Moses said to the LORD, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
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to be stubborn
Literally: (one's) heart is heavy; hence: state in which humans are stubborn and unwilling to listen
ExamplesExodus 7:14 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn; he refuses to let the people go.
How it’s used In 2 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
What is done to itIt is the object
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- הָיָהto be, to become 1
What is said to be itIt is the predicate
12 occurrences in 8 groups
- רָעָבfamine, hunger 4
- אָנֹכִיI 2
- דָּבָרword, thing, matter 1
- הוּאhe, she, it 1
- יָדhand, power 1
- כַּעַסvexation 1
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Near synonyms 3 words
- קָשֶׁה qâsheh · H7186 · hard, harsh, savage
- Both words overlap in describing intensity, difficulty and hardness: כָּבֵד (kâbêd, H3515) covers "heavy, hard, grievous" and קָשֶׁה (qâsheh, H7186) covers "hard, grievous, cruel, stiff"; they are near-synonyms in contexts of burden, difficulty and severity, and both extend to unwillingness.
- כַּבִּיר kabbîyr · H3524 · mighty, powerful
- Both words describe intensification or largeness and quantity (strong, intense, much), and overlap in contexts of magnitude or strength.
- חָזָק châzâq · H2389 · strong, powerful, mighty
- Both words describe hardness, strength and intensity, and both extend to stubbornness and unwillingness.
In the other Testament 2 words
- βαρύς barýs · G926 · heavy, burdensome, troublous
- Greek βαρύς serves as the standard LXX rendering of Hebrew כָּבֵד in its core sense of 'heavy/weighty' (both literal and figurative burdens), with both terms extending metaphorically to 'grievous, burdensome, severe' in parallel semantic development.
- πολύς polýs · G4183 · many, a great deal of, a great number of
- πολύς (polýs, G4183) renders the quantitative/degree aspect of כָּבֵד (kâbêd, H3515) in contexts where Hebrew 'heavy' conveys 'much/many/great in quantity or intensity' rather than physical weight or difficulty; Greek πολύς is the standard term for abundance/multitude and naturally translates כָּבֵד when the latter extends from 'weighty' to 'numerous/severe/intense.'
Semantic domains 9 entries
- Heavy002001001032
- כָּבֵד describes physical heaviness, illustrated at Genesis 12:10 (famine "severe/heavy in the land") and Exodus 17:12 (Moses' hands "were heavy") — a genuine core sense of weight or burden.
- Complicated002001003004
- כָּבֵד describes something difficult or hard to bear, illustrated at Exodus 18:18 ("the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone") — a genuine sense of a burden complicated beyond one's own capacity.
- Large002001001037
- כָּבֵד describes something large in scale, illustrated at Numbers 20:20 (Edom came out "with a heavy force and a strong hand") — a genuine sense of a large body or mass.
- Intense002001003011
- כָּבֵד marks an intensified degree, illustrated at Genesis 41:31 (famine that "will be very severe/heavy") — a genuine sense of magnified intensity.
- Quantity002001001046
- כָּבֵד describes great quantity, illustrated at Genesis 50:9 ("it was a very great company" — literally, a very heavy company) and Exodus 12:38 (a "numerous" mixed multitude) — a genuine sense of abundant number.
- Rich002001001050
- כָּבֵד describes wealth or riches, illustrated at Genesis 13:2 ("Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold") — a genuine sense of substantial possessions.
- Strong002001001063
- כָּבֵד describes strength or might, illustrated at Numbers 20:20 (Edom's "heavy force and strong hand") — a genuine sense of formidable power.
- Unable002001001065
- כָּבֵד describes an incapacity to perform an action, illustrated at Exodus 4:10 ("I am slow of speech and slow of tongue" — literally, heavy of mouth and tongue) — a genuine sense of impaired ability.
- Unwilling002001002031
- כָּבֵד describes a stubborn, hardened unwillingness, illustrated at Exodus 7:14 ("Pharaoh's heart is stubborn/hardened; he refuses to let the people go") — a genuine sense of obstinate refusal.
Word family 7 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H3515. kabed כָּבֵד adjective heavy; — ׳כ Gen 41:31+ 34 t.; construct כְּבַד Exo 4:10…
כָּבֵד adjective heavy; — ׳כ Gen 41:31+ 34 t.; construct כְּבַד Exo 4:10 (twice in verse); כֶּבֶד Isa 1:4; plural כְּבֵדִים Exo 17:12; construct כִּבְדֵי Eze 3:5-6, —
1. a. heavy, a burden Psa 38:5; hands (weary of holding up) Exo 17:12 (E), hair of head 2Sa 14:26, a corpulent old man 1Sa 4:18; עָוֺן כֶבֶד עַם Isa 1:4 a people heavy with (the burden of) iniquity; a cloud charged with rain Exo 19:16 (E); a rock of large size Isa 32:2; oppressive, grievous, burdensome, a yoke 1Ki 12:4, 1Ki 12:11 2Ch 10:4, 2Ch 10:11; a famine Gen 12:10; Gen 41:31; Gen 43:1; Gen 47:4, Gen 47:13 (J); the vexation (כַּעַס) of a fool Pro 27:3; vehement, sore, of a mourning Gen 50:11(J).
b. massive, abundant, numerous, of a people עַם Num 20:20 (J) 1Ki 3:9; army חיל 2Ki 6:14; 2Ki 18:14 = Isa 36:2 insect swarm Exo 8:20 (J).
c. heavy, dull of speech and tongue Exo 4:10 (twice in verse) (JE); of the לֵב, hard Exo 7:14 (J).
d. hard, difficult, of a thing to be done Exo 18:18 (E) Num 11:14 (J); of a language to be understood Eze 3:5-6,.
2 in the usage of J מְאֹד כָּבֵד is frequent:
a. very oppressive, grievous, of hail Exo 9:18, Exo 9:24; murrain Exo 9:8; lamentation Gen 50:10.
b. very numerous, cattle Exo 12:38; army, מַחֲנֶה Gen 50:9; locusts Exo 10:14; so חַיִל 1Ki 10:2 2Ch 9:1.
c. very rich, במקנה in cattle Gen 13:2.
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain
Topical studies with this word 9 entries
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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