Bible Dictionaries
Lamb (Male)

Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words

Search for…

Enter query below:

or

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y

Prev Entry
Labor

Next Entry
Land

Resource Toolbox

Print Article

Additional Links

Dictionaries
• Lamb (Male)
Lexicons
• כֶּבֶשׂ

Kebeś (כֶּבֶשׂ, Strong's #3532), “lamb (male); kid.” The Akkadian cognate of this noun means “lamb,” whereas the Arabic cognate signifies “a young ram.” The word occurs 107 times in the Hebrew Old Testament, and especially in the Pentateuch.

The kebeś is a “young lamb” which is nearly always used for sacrificial purposes. The first usage in Exodus pertains to the Passover: “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats” (Exod. 12:5). The word gedi, “kid,” is a synonym for kebeś: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb [kebeś], and the leopard shall lie down with the kid [gedi]; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them” (Isa. 11:6). The traditional translation “lamb” leaves the gender uncertain. In Hebrew the word kebeś is masculine, whereas the kibshah, “young ewe lamb,” is feminine; cf. “And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves” (Gen. 21:28).

The Septuagint gives the following translations: amnos (“lamb”); probaton (“sheep”); and arnos (“lamb”). The KJV gives these senses: “lamb; sheep.”