עָקֵב
ʻâqêb · H6119 · Hebrew · 14 occurrences
Meanings
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heel, hoof
The back part of the foot of humans and animals below the ankle
ExamplesGenesis 3:15 And I will make enemies Of you and the woman, And of your offspring and her Descendant; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise Him on the heel.”
Genesis 25:26 Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so he was named Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them.
Genesis 49:17 “Dan shall be a serpent in the way, A horned viper in the path, That bites the horse’s heels, So that its rider falls backward.
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to cheat?, to deceive?, to supplant?, to slander?
Meaning unsure; literally: to enlarge (one's) heel; hence, possibly: action by which humans take advantage of other humans, often by bending the truth
ExamplesPsalm 41:9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me.
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deceiver, persecutor, enemy
Person who takes advantage of other people
ExamplesPsalm 49:5 Why should I fear in days of adversity, When the injustice of those who betray me surrounds me,
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genitals
Literally: heels; hence: euphemistic expression denoting the reproductive organs
ExamplesJeremiah 13:22 “If you say in your heart, ‘Why have these things happened to me?’ Because of the magnitude of your wrongdoing Your skirts have been removed And your heels have suffered violence.
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footprint, track
Literally: heels; hence: the impressions left by a foot or shoe on the ground
ExamplesPsalm 77:19 Your way was in the sea And Your paths in the mighty waters, And Your footprints were not known.
Song of Solomon 1:8 “If you yourself do not know, Most beautiful among women, Go out on the trail of the flock, And pasture your young goats By the tents of the shepherds.
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footstep, behavior
Literally: heels; hence: action by which humans put one foot before the other in order to move forward; used figuratively to denote someone's journey through life
ExamplesPsalm 56:6 They attack, they lurk, They watch my steps, As they have waited to take my life.
Psalm 89:51 With which Your enemies have taunted, LORD, With which they have taunted the footsteps of Your anointed.
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rearguard
Literally: heel (of an army); hence: soldiers at the rear of a body of troops
ExamplesGenesis 49:19 “As for Gad, a band of raiders shall attack him, But he will attack at their heels.
Joshua 8:13 So they stationed the people, all the army that was on the north side of the city, and its rear guard on the west side of the city, and Joshua spent that night in the midst of the valley.
How it’s used In 6 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
Whose, or of whatGenitive or possessive
10 occurrences in 8 groups
- סוּסhorse 2
- יmy 2
- מָשִׁיחַanointed (one) 1
- עֵשָׂוEsau 1
- צֹאןflock, small cattle, sheep and goats 1
- ךָyour 1
Named alongside itApposition
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- עַםpeople 1
What it doesIt is the subject
3 occurrences in 3 groups
- הָלַםto strike 1
- חָמַסto harm 1
- יָדַעto know 1
What is done to itIt is the object
5 occurrences in 5 groups
- גָּדַלto be great, to grow up, to magnify 1
- גּוּדto raid 1
- חָרַףto reproach 1
- נָשַׁךְto bite 1
- שָׁמַרto keep, to guard, to observe 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
3 occurrences in 1 groups
- בin/on/with 6
In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- עָוֺןiniquity 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.
In the other Testament 1 word
- πτέρνα ptérna · G4418 · heel, to turn against, to oppose
- Greek πτέρνα renders Hebrew עָקֵב in its core anatomical sense of 'heel,' particularly in passages involving striking/bruising the heel (Genesis 3:15, etc.), establishing direct translation equivalence for this body-part meaning.
Semantic domains 5 entries
- Unfaithful002001002027
- עָקֵב shares its root with the verb for supplanting or betraying, reflected in Jacob's own naming after grasping his brother's heel at birth in Genesis 25:26.
- Enemies001001003002
- This lexeme's genuine tagged occurrences (Genesis 3:15, "you shall bruise Him on the heel"; Genesis 49:19, "Gad... will attack at their heels") describe the physical heel, including in a hostile, attacking sense; this Enemies domain code reflects the genuinely-attested hostile/attacking use of "heel" in these martial contexts.
- Impact002001001024
- עָקֵב is used of a striking blow delivered at the heel, as in the crushing bruise inflicted in Genesis 3:15 and the horse bitten at the heels in Genesis 49:17.
- Act002002002001
- The word's broader range of senses for a footstep or trace of one's passing ties it to an association with taking action, though this facet is not directly illustrated among the sampled citations, which focus on the heel as a body part or military position.
- Soldiers001001003013
- עָקֵב also denotes a rearguard force in a military context, illustrated at Genesis 49:19 ("a band of raiders shall attack him, but he will attack at their heels" — the heel/rear position of a pursuing or defending military force), a genuine martial sense distinct from the plain anatomical "heel" of Genesis 3:15.
Word family 6 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H6119. aqeb I. עָקֵב noun masculine heel, footprint, hinderpart (Arabic heel, figurative…
I. עָקֵב noun masculine heel, footprint, hinderpart (Arabic heel, figurative end (of a month), mark, sign, trace; Aramaic עִקְבָּא, hell, footprint, figurative trace, mark (compare Wisdom 2:4 ᵑ6 Ecclus 13:26 HCT ᵑ6), also end, extremity); — ׳ע absolute Gen 3:15 +, construct עֲקֵב Gen 25:26, plural construct עִקָבֵי Son 1:8, עִקְּבֵי Gen 49:17; Jdg 5:22, עִקְּבוֺת Psa 77:20; Psa 89:52, etc.; —
a. heel, of man, Gen 25:26 אָחִיו בַּעֲקֵב אֹחֶזֶת וְיָדוֺ, as object of attack from behind, Gen 3:15 עָקֵב תְּשׁוּפֶנּוּ וְאַתָּה, Job 18:9 בְּע ׳יאֹחֵז מַּח, Jer 13:22 עֲקֵבָ֑יִךְ נֶחְמְסוּ are treated violently, i.e. are rudely exposed (|| שׁוּלַיִךְ נִגְלוּ); as instrument of attack, Psa 41:10 עָ עָלַי ׳הִגְדִּיל hath made great the heel against me, i.e. given me insidiously a great fall (figurative for taken some cruel advantage of me; compare ὑποσκελίζω); of an animal, Gen 49:17 סוּם עִקְּבֵי הַנּשֵׁח, Jdg 5:22
b. mark of heel, footprint, Son 1:8 הַצּאֹן בְּעִקְבֵי צְאִילָֿח, Psa 56:7 עֲקֵבַי יִשְׁמְרוּ they mark my footprints, i.e. watch me insidiously wherever I go Psa 89:52 מְשִׁיחֶ֑ךָ עִקְּבוֺת ֵהרְפוּ אֲשֶׁר i.e. followed him mockingly, of ׳י (figurative) Psa 77:20 נוֺדָ֑עוּ לֹא עִקְּבוֺתֶיךָ thy footprints were not known (the waters closing over them).
c hinder-part, rear (of a troop of men), Gen 49:19 עָקֵב׃ יָגוּב וְהוּא (read אָשֵׁר ׃ עֲקֵבָם) he will troop on their rear, Jos 8:13 עֲקֵבָם (compare Di).
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain
Topical studies with this word 5 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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