basar · flesh

What it means

basar (בָּשָׂר) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “flesh”.

The body, and the person as weak and mortal. "One flesh" is the union of husband and wife; "my flesh" can mean "my family". "All flesh" is every living being. In the Old Testament it does not mean something bad in itself.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. The body of a person or animal, the soft part covering the bones.
2. Meat to eat.
3. A relative: "my bone and my flesh".
4. Human beings, frail before God; "all flesh".

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Flesh: the body, and the person as frail and mortal. In the Old Testament it does not mean something bad in itself.

• The flesh of the body; “one flesh” Genesis 2:21Genesis 2:24
• “My bone and my flesh”: my relative Genesis 2:23Genesis 29:14
• “All flesh”: every living being Genesis 6:12Isaiah 40:6
• Meat to eat Exodus 16:12

How we translate it

“Flesh” 194 times, “meat” 44, “body” 30. This edition writes “flesh”, allows “body”, keeps the expression “all flesh”, and says “meat” where it is food (Exodus 16:12). With the same letters is written בָּשַׂר, “bring news”, which is another word.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• flesh ×194
• meat ×44
• body ×30
• close relative ×1
• close relatives ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×33
• Exodus×14
• Leviticus×61
• Numbers×17
• Deuteronomy×13
• Judges×6
• 1 Samuel×4
• 2 Samuel×3
• 1 Kings×4
• 2 Kings×6
• 1 Chronicles×1
• 2 Chronicles×1
• Nehemiah×2
• Job×18
• Psalms×16
• Proverbs×4
• Ecclesiastes×5
• Isaiah×17
• Jeremiah×10
• Lamentations×1
• Ezekiel×24
• Daniel×2
• Hosea×1
• Joel×1
• Micah×1
• Haggai×1
• Zechariah×4

• Genesis 2:21

  And YHWH Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall on the man, and he slept; and he took one of his sides and closed up the flesh in its place.

• Genesis 2:23

  And the man said, “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called Woman, because from Man this one was taken.”

• Genesis 2:24

  That is why a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.

• Genesis 6:3

  And YHWH said, “My spirit will not remain in the human being forever, for he also is flesh; and his days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

• Genesis 6:12

  And Elohim saw the earth, and look, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth.

• Genesis 6:13

  And Elohim said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and look, I am going to destroy them with the earth.

• Genesis 6:17

  And I, look, I am bringing the flood of waters on the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the spirit of life, from under the heavens; everything that is on the earth will perish.

• Genesis 6:19

  And of every living thing, of all flesh, two of every kind you shall bring into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.

• Genesis 7:15

  And they came to Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh in which is the spirit of life.

• Genesis 7:16

  And those that came, male and female of all flesh, came as Elohim had commanded him; and YHWH shut the door behind him.

• Genesis 7:21

  And all flesh that moved on the earth perished: birds, livestock, animals, and all the swarming things that swarm on the earth, and all human beings.

• Genesis 8:17

  Every animal that is with you, of all flesh, birds and livestock and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, bring out with you, and let them swarm on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

• Genesis 9:4

  Only flesh with its life, its blood, you shall not eat.

• Genesis 9:11

  And I will establish my covenant with you: and never again will all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

• Genesis 9:15

  that I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living being of all flesh; and the waters will never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.

• Genesis 9:16

  And the bow will be in the cloud, and I will see it to remember the eternal covenant between Elohim and every living being of all flesh that is on the earth.”

• Genesis 9:17

  And Elohim said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

• Genesis 17:11

  You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and you.

• Genesis 17:13

  He must surely be circumcised, the one born in your house and the one bought with your silver; and my covenant will be in your flesh as an eternal covenant.

• Genesis 17:14

  But an uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

• Genesis 17:23

  Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house and all those bought with his silver, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day, as Elohim had told him.

• Genesis 17:24

  Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

• Genesis 17:25

  And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

• Genesis 29:14

  Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” And he stayed with him a month.

• Genesis 37:27

  Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be on him, for he is our brother, our flesh.” And his brothers listened.

• Genesis 40:19

  Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head from upon you and hang you on a pole, and the birds will eat your flesh from upon you.”

• Genesis 41:2

  And look, from the Nile there came up seven cows, beautiful in appearance and fat in flesh, and they grazed in the reed grass.

• Genesis 41:3

  And look, seven other cows came up after them from the Nile, ugly in appearance and thin in flesh, and they stood beside the other cows on the bank of the Nile.

• Genesis 41:4

  The cows ugly in appearance and thin in flesh ate up the seven cows beautiful in appearance and fat. Then Pharaoh woke up.

• Genesis 41:18

  and look, from the Nile there came up seven cows, fat in flesh and beautiful in form, and they grazed in the reed grass.

• Genesis 41:19

  And look, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly in form and lean in flesh; I have never seen any like them in all the land of Egypt for ugliness.

• Exodus 4:7

  He said, “Put back your hand into your bosom.” So he put back his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out of his bosom, look, it had become again like his other flesh.

• Exodus 12:8

  They shall eat the meat that night, roasted in fire, and unleavened bread; with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

• Exodus 12:46

  In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not take any of the meat out of the house outside, and you shall not break a bone of it.

• Exodus 16:3

  The sons of Israel said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of YHWH in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full! But you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

• Exodus 16:8

  Moses said, “This will happen when YHWH gives you in the evening meat to eat and bread in the morning to the full, because YHWH has heard your grumblings that you grumble against him. As for us, what are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against YHWH.”

• Exodus 16:12

  “I have heard the grumblings of the sons of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am YHWH your Elohim.’ ”

• Exodus 21:28

  When an ox gores a man or a woman and the person dies, the ox shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall be clear.

• Exodus 22:31

  You shall be holy men to me; flesh torn by beasts in the field you shall not eat; to the dogs you shall throw it.

• Exodus 28:42

  Make for them linen undergarments to cover the flesh of their nakedness; from the hips to the thighs they shall reach.

And 230 more times.