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# כָּהַן

Biblical Hebrew · Strong's H3547

**act as priest** — used 23 times in the Hebrew Bible. Below: its meanings with their sources, MACULA's glosses, and 2 verses word for word and in JPS 1917.

## Meaning

### OpenScriptures lexical index

act as priest [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1499/3547/#m1)

### Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906

כָּהַן: vb. Pi.denom. act as priest [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1499/3547/#m2)

**The whole BDB entry:** vb. only Pi.denom. act as priest;—Pf. כִּהֵן Ex 40:13 1 Ch 5:36; 3 mpl. כִּהֲנוּ Ex 28:41; 40:15; Impf. 3 ms. יְכַהֵן Nu 3:4 + 2 times; pl. יְכַהֲנוּ 1 Ch 24:2; Inf. cstr. כַּהֵן Ex 29:1 + 11 times; sf. כַּהֲנוֹ Ex 28:1, 3, 4.— minister as a priest, abs. Ex 31:10; 35:19; 39:41 Lv 16:32 Nu 3:3, 4 (all P); כ׳ לִי minister to me (י׳) Ex 28:1, 3, 4, 41; 29:1, 44; 30:30; 40:13, 15 (all P), Ez 44:13 Ho 4:6; כ׳ ליהוה Lv 7:35 (P), 1 Ch 5:36; 24:2 2 Ch 11:14 (always of Aaron and his sons, except Ez 44:13 2 Ch 11:14, where Levites are forbidden to minister; and Ho 4:6 of Israel, whose national priesthood is taken away). be or become priest Dt 10:6 (E?). play the priest: כֶּחָתָן יְכַהֵן פְּאֵר Is 61:10 as a bridegroom (that) priests it with his turban, decks himself with a splendid turban such as the priests wore.

Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech agrees, 23 of its verses cited, 1 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (3 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech agrees, 2 words shared with the BDB entry, 1 with the glosses (2 candidates)

## Glosses

MACULA's English glosses of the word in the text, with how often each is used: serve as priests (9); to (3); he served as priest (2).

## In the verses

[Numbers 3:3](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.3.3/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/NUM.3.3/#tree)

אֵ֗לֶּה שְׁמוֹת֙ בְּנֵ֣י אַהֲרֹ֔ן הַכֹּהֲנִ֖ים הַמְּשֻׁחִ֑ים אֲשֶׁר־מִלֵּ֥א יָדָ֖ם לְכַהֵֽן׃

*Word for word:* these \[are\].the.names of.the.sons of.Aaron the priests (the) anointed whom he.filled hand their to serve.as.priests

*JPS 1917:* These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests that were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest's office.

[Exodus 30:30](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.30.30/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/EXO.30.30/#tree)

וְאֶת־אַהֲרֹ֥ן וְאֶת־בָּנָ֖יו תִּמְשָׁ֑ח וְקִדַּשְׁתָּ֥ אֹתָ֖ם לְכַהֵ֥ן לִֽי׃

*Word for word:* and (et) Aaron and (et) sons his you.will.anoint and you.will.consecrate them to serve.as.priests (to) me

*JPS 1917:* And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto Me in the priest's office.

## On Mova

- [This word in the Tanakh dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/3547.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of its meanings](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1499/3547/): every English meaning parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.

Sources. The words, their counts, glosses and the word-for-word renderings: MACULA Hebrew (the Westminster Leningrad Codex; Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0). Meanings: the OpenScriptures lexical index (CC BY 4.0), Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906 and Jastrow 1903 (public domain, via Sefaria); Targum Onkelos from Sefaria (public domain). Translation: JPS 1917 (public domain, from eBible.org).