Word study
Male
13 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: male, males. 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 “male” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- זָכָר zâkârmaletranslated this way 55 times of its 80 uses · Strong’s H2145Noun · Translated: male 44, men 13, males 9, man 8Full study and all 78 verses →
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Exodus 12:5 Your lamb must be an unblemished year-old male, and you may take it from the sheep or the goats.
- כֶּבֶשׂ kebeslambtranslated this way 50 times of its 99 uses · Strong’s H3532Noun · Translated: male lambs 35, lambs 26, lamb 20, male lamb 15Full study and all 99 verses →
Leviticus 14:10 On the eighth day he is to bring two unblemished male lambs, an unblemished ewe lamb a year old, a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with olive oil, and one log of olive oil.
Numbers 6:12 He must rededicate his time of separation to the LORD and bring a year-old male lamb as a guilt offering. But the preceding days shall not be counted, because his separation was defiled.
- שָׂעִיר sâîrhe-goat, bucktranslated this way 35 times of its 58 uses · Strong’s H8163Noun · Translated: male goat 32, goat 10, goats 3, hairy 2Full study and all 57 verses →
Leviticus 4:23 When he becomes aware of the sin he has committed, he must bring an unblemished male goat as his offering.
Numbers 7:16 one male goat for a sin offering;
- עַתּוּד attûdhe-goattranslated this way 16 times of its 29 uses · Strong’s H6260Noun · Translated: male goats 14, goats 10, males 2, rulers 1Full study and all 29 verses →
Genesis 31:10 When the flocks were breeding, I saw in a dream that the streaked, spotted, and speckled males were mating with the females.
Numbers 7:17 and a peace offering of two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Nahshon son of Amminadab.
- שָׁתַן shâthanurinatetranslated this way 5 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H8366Verb · Translated: male 4, single male 1Full study and all 5 verses →
1 Samuel 25:34 Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, then surely no male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by morning light.”
1 Kings 14:10 Because of all this, behold, I am bringing disaster on the house of Jeroboam: I will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both slave and free, in Israel; I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns up dung until it is gone!
- קָדֵשׁ qâdêshtemple-prostitutetranslated this way 5 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H6945Adjective · Translated: male shrine prostitutes 5, shrine prostitute 1Full study and all 6 verses →
1 Kings 14:24 There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land. They imitated all the abominations of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
2 Kings 23:7 He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the house of the LORD, where the women had woven tapestries for Asherah.
- שִׁיר shîrsingtranslated this way 4 times of its 83 uses · Strong’s H7891Verb · Translated: sing 31, singers 25, sang 4, male 3Full study and all 76 verses →
2 Chronicles 35:25 Then Jeremiah lamented over Josiah, and to this day all the male and female singers recite laments over Josiah. They established them as a statute for Israel, and indeed they are written in the Book of Laments.
Ezra 2:65 in addition to their 7,337 menservants and maidservants, as well as their 200 male and female singers.
- בְּכוֹר bekôrfirst-borntranslated this way 3 times of its 117 uses · Strong’s H1060Noun · Translated: firstborn 102, firstborn son 4, firstborn male 3, well as the firstborn 2Full study and all 98 verses →
Exodus 12:12 On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn male, both man and beast, and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.
Numbers 18:15 The firstborn of every womb, whether man or beast, that is offered to the LORD belongs to you. But you must surely redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals.
- בֵּן bênsontranslated this way 3 times of its 4,587 uses · Strong’s H1121Noun · Translated: son 1,843, sons 892, Israelites 422, descendants 358Full study and all 3,473 verses →
- זָכוּר zâkûrmaletranslated this way 3 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H2138Noun · Translated: males 2, men 1, male 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Exodus 23:17 Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD.
Deuteronomy 20:13 When the LORD your God has delivered it into your hand, you must put every male to the sword.
- אִישׁ îshmantranslated this way 2 times of its 1,399 uses · Strong’s H376Noun · Translated: man 650, men 198, one 79, each 79Full study and all 1,278 verses →
Genesis 7:2 You are to take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate; a pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate;
- תַּיִשׁ tayishhe-goattranslated this way 2 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H8495Noun · Translated: male goats 2, goats 1, he-goat 1Full study and all 4 verses →
Genesis 30:35 That very day Laban removed all the streaked or spotted male goats and every speckled or spotted female goat— every one that had any white on it— and every dark-colored lamb, and he placed them under the care of his sons.
Genesis 32:14 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams,
- צָפִיר tsâphîrhe-goattranslated this way 2 times of its 5 uses · Strong’s H6842Noun · Translated: male goats 2, goat 2, Thus the goat 1Full study and all 5 verses →
2 Chronicles 29:21 They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. And the king commanded the priests, the descendants of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the LORD.
Ezra 8:35 Then the exiles who had returned from captivity sacrificed burnt offerings to the God of Israel: 12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, and a sin offering of 12 male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the LORD.
Greek words (New Testament)
- ἄῤῥην árrhēnmaletranslated this way 6 times of its 9 uses · Strong’s G730Noun · Translated: male 5, men 3, male child 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Matthew 19:4 Jesus answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’
Mark 10:6 However, from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’
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.