Word study

Calf

4 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: calf, calves. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.

At a glance

How often each original word is translated “calf” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • עֵגֶל êgelcalftranslated this way 34 times of its 35 uses · Strong’s H5695Noun  ·  Translated: calf 20, calves 11, young bull 1, calf idols 1

    Exodus 32:4 He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

    Leviticus 9:3 Then speak to the Israelites and say, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, a calf and a lamb — both a year old and without blemish — for a burnt offering,

    Full study and all 35 verses →
  • בֵּן bênsontranslated this way 5 times of its 4,587 uses · Strong’s H1121Noun  ·  Translated: son 1,843, sons 892, Israelites 422, descendants 358

    Genesis 18:7 Meanwhile, Abraham ran to the herd, selected a tender and choice calf, and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it.

    Genesis 18:8 Then Abraham brought curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and he set them before the men and stood by them under the tree as they ate.

    Full study and all 3,473 verses →
  • מְרִיא merîfatling, fatlingstranslated this way 4 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H4806Noun  ·  Translated: fattened calves 3, fattened calf 1, well-fed cattle 1, fatling 1

    2 Samuel 6:13 When those carrying the ark of the LORD had advanced six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf.

    1 Kings 1:9 And Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened calves near the stone of Zoheleth, which is next to En-rogel. He invited all his royal brothers and all the men of Judah who were servants of the king.

    Full study and all 8 verses →
  • שֶׁגֶר shegeroffspring, youngtranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H7698Noun  ·  Translated: calves 3, young 1

    Deuteronomy 28:4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, as well as the produce of your land and the offspring of your livestock — the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

    Deuteronomy 28:18 The fruit of your womb will be cursed, as well as the produce of your land, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks.

    Full study and all 4 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • μόσχος móschosa calftranslated this way 6 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s G3448Noun  ·  Translated: calf 4, calves 2

    Luke 15:23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us feast and celebrate.

    Hebrews 9:12 He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.

    Full study and all 6 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
  2. Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.

What the Bible says about calf: passages by topic →

Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.