Word study
Ox
5 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: ox, oxen. 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 “ox” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- שׁוֹר shôrhead of cattletranslated this way 70 times of its 77 uses · Strong’s H7794Noun · Translated: ox 57, oxen 11, bull 3, cattle 2Full study and all 68 verses →
Genesis 32:5 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, menservants, and maidservants. I have sent this message to inform my master, so that I may find favor in your sight.’”
Exodus 20:17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
- בָּקָר bâqârcattle, herd, oxtranslated this way 54 times of its 142 uses · Strong’s H1241Noun · Translated: oxen 49, herds 32, cattle 25, herd 12Full study and all 135 verses →
Exodus 22:1 “If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters or sells it, he must repay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.
Numbers 7:3 They brought as their offering before the LORD six covered carts and twelve oxen — an ox from each leader and a cart from every two leaders — and presented them before the tabernacle.
- רְאֵם reêmwild oxtranslated this way 8 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H7214Noun · Translated: wild ox 3, like a wild ox 2, wild oxen 2, like that of a wild ox 1Full study and all 8 verses →
Numbers 23:22 God brought them out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox.
Deuteronomy 33:17 His majesty is like a firstborn bull, and his horns are like those of a wild ox. With them he will gore the nations, even to the ends of the earth. Such are the myriads of Ephraim, and such are the thousands of Manasseh.”
- תּוֹר tôrbullocktranslated this way 4 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H8450Noun · Translated: like an ox 4, bulls 2, many bulls 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Daniel 4:25 You will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field. You will feed on grass like an ox and be drenched with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.
Daniel 4:32 You will be driven away from mankind to live with the beasts of the field, and you will feed on grass like an ox. And seven times will pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.”
- אֶלֶף elephcattletranslated this way 3 times of its 7 uses · Strong’s H504Noun · Translated: herds 4, oxen 3Full study and all 7 verses →
Psalm 8:7 all sheep and oxen, and even the beasts of the field,
Proverbs 14:4 Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but an abundant harvest comes through the strength of the ox.
Greek words (New Testament)
- βοῦς boûsan oxtranslated this way 6 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s G1016Noun · Translated: ox 4, oxen 2, cattle 2Full study and all 7 verses →
Luke 13:15 “You hypocrites!” the Lord replied. “Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it to water?
1 Corinthians 9:9 For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned?
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.
What the Bible says about ox: 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.