[Elamur Dictionary](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/biblical-hebrew/%D7%9B%D7%9C%D7%91-2/)

[dictionaries](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [Biblical Hebrew](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/biblical-hebrew/) / [כ](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/biblical-hebrew/kaf/)‎ / כֶּלֶב‎

# כֶּלֶב

Biblical Hebrew · Strong's H3611

**dog** — used 32 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

dog [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1499/3611/#m1)

### Brown–Driver–Briggs 1906

כֶּ֫לֶב: n.m. dog [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1499/3611/#m2)

**The whole BDB entry:** n.m. 1 S 24:15 dog (NH id.; Ph. כלב; Aramaic כַּלְבָּא, ܟܰܠܒܳܐ; Arabic كَلْبٌ; Ethiopic ከልብ: Assyrian kalbu DlHWB 328)—abs. כ׳ Ju 7:5 + 16 times, כָּ֑לֶב ψ 59:7, 15; pl. כְּלָבִים 1 K 14:11 + 12 times; cstr. כַּלְבֵי Jb 30:1; sf. כְּלָבֶיךָ ψ 68:24;—dog: lit. 1 K 14:11; 16:4; 21:19(×2), 23, 24; 22:38; 2 K 9:10, 36 (all of fierce, hungry dogs, devouring dead bodies and licking blood); cf. Je 15:3 and (לְשׁוֹךָ כְּלָבֶיךָ) ψ 68:24; eating torn flesh, Ex 22:30 (E), כַּלְבֵי צֹאנִי = my sheep-dogs, only Jb 30:1 (in both these with implied inferiority); dog-sacrifice was a heathen rite Is 66:3 (Di al.); v. especially RSSem i. 273 (291), 325 (343); in various sim. Ju 7:5; Pr 26:11, 17 ψ 59:7, 15; in proverbial sayings: לֹא יֶחֱרַץ־כ׳ לִשֹׁנוֹ Ex 11:7 (v. I. חרץ); לְכ׳ חַי הוּא טוֹב מִן־הָאַרְיֵה הַמֵּת Ec 9:4. applied, fig., to men, in contempt 1 S 17:43, so of psalmist’s enemies ψ 22:17, 21, or in excessive humility 2 K 8:13; still more emphatically כ׳ מֵת a dead dog, הַכּ׳ הַמֵּת 2 S 9:8; 16:8; also רֹאשׁ כ׳ 3:8; כְּלָבִים אִלְּמִים Is 56:10 (of misleading prophets), הַכּ׳ עַזֵּי נֶפֶשׁ v 11 (id.); כ׳ was name given to male temple-prostitutes Dt 23:19 (v. Dr; cf. קָדֵשׁ).

Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech agrees, 30 of its verses cited, 1 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (7 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech agrees, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 1 with the glosses (6 candidates)

## Glosses

MACULA's English glosses of the word in the text, with how often each is used: dogs (12); dog (6); a dog (5).

## In the verses

[Psalms 22:21](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PSA.22.21/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PSA.22.21/#tree)

הַצִּ֣ילָה מֵחֶ֣רֶב נַפְשִׁ֑י מִיַּד־כֶּ֝֗לֶב יְחִידָתִֽי׃

*Word for word:* deliver from.\[the\] sword life my from.\[the\] hand of.a.dog my.only \[life\]

*JPS 1917:* Deliver my soul from the sword; mine only one from the power of the dog.

[Psalms 59:7](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PSA.59.7/) · [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/PSA.59.7/#tree)

יָשׁ֣וּבוּ לָ֭עֶרֶב יֶהֱמ֥וּ כַכָּ֗לֶב וִיס֥וֹבְבוּ עִֽיר׃

*Word for word:* they.return to (the) evening they.growl like (the) dog and they.go.around \[the\].city

*JPS 1917:* They return at evening, they howl like a dog, and go round about the city.

## On Mova

- [This word in the Tanakh dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/tanakh/w/3611.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of its meanings](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1499/3611/): 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).