Word study
Herd
5 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: herds, herd, herding. 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 “herd” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- בָּקָר bâqârcattle, herd, oxtranslated this way 45 times of its 142 uses · Strong’s H1241Noun · Translated: oxen 49, herds 32, cattle 25, herd 12Full study and all 135 verses →
Genesis 13:5 Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.
Exodus 9:3 then the hand of the LORD will bring a severe plague on your livestock in the field— on your horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks.
- מִקְנֶה miqnehcattletranslated this way 6 times of its 69 uses · Strong’s H4735Noun · Translated: livestock 45, cattle 5, flocks 3, herds 3Full study and all 61 verses →
Genesis 26:14 He owned so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him.
Numbers 20:19 “We will stay on the main road,” the Israelites replied, “and if we or our herds drink your water, we will pay for it. There will be no problem; only let us pass through on foot.”
- עֵדֶר êderflock, herdtranslated this way 6 times of its 36 uses · Strong’s H5739Noun · Translated: flocks 13, flock 8, like a flock 6, herds 6Full study and all 33 verses →
Genesis 32:16 He entrusted them to his servants in separate herds and told them, “Go on ahead of me, and keep some distance between the herds.”
Proverbs 27:23 Be sure to know the state of your flocks, and pay close attention to your herds;
- אֶלֶף elephcattletranslated this way 4 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H504Noun · Translated: herds 4, oxen 3Full study and all 7 verses →
Deuteronomy 7:13 He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your womb and the produce of your land— your grain, new wine, and oil, the young of your herds and the lambs of your flocks— in the land that He swore to your fathers to give you.
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.
- בְּהֵמָה behêmâhbeast, animal, cattletranslated this way 3 times of its 186 uses · Strong’s H929Noun · Translated: livestock 45, beast 43, animal 32, animals 21Full study and all 171 verses →
Numbers 31:9 The Israelites captured the Midianite women and their children, and they plundered all their herds, flocks, and goods.
Psalm 107:38 He blesses them, and they multiply greatly; He does not let their herds diminish.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἀγέλη agélēa flock, herdtranslated this way 7 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s G34Noun · Translated: herd 7Full study and all 7 verses →
Matthew 8:30 In the distance a large herd of pigs was feeding.
Mark 5:11 There on the nearby hillside a large herd of pigs was feeding.
How to study a word well
- 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.
- 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.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- 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.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- 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.
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.