echad · one

What it means

echad (אֶחָד) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “one”.

Only, the same. Also "first" in a series.

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 number one; just one and no more.
2. Literally "one": all of them, one by one.
3. Used as "a" or "some", to introduce someone.
4. Literally "one": day one of the month.
5. United as one: "YHWH is one".

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

One. BDB: one; also “first”. It is related to the verb אָחַד, “unite”.

• The number one; the first of a series Genesis 1:5
• One alone, a single one Genesis 1:9Genesis 11:1
• Unity of several: “one flesh”, “one people”, the dwelling “became one” Genesis 2:24Genesis 11:6Exodus 36:13
• What is said of YHWH: “YHWH {is} one” Deuteronomy 6:4

How we translate it

“One” 745 times, “each” 50, “first” 40, “another” 26, “other” 21, “once” 16. With “one… another” it marks reciprocity (“one to another”, Exodus 36:13). In Genesis 1:5 the number is kept: “one day”. In Deuteronomy 6:4 this edition translates “YHWH our Elohim, YHWH {is} one”, with a note on the two possible readings of the Hebrew.

How it is translated

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

• one ×745
• each ×50
• first ×40
• another ×26
• other ×21
• once ×16
• a ×15
• eleven ×10
• single ×7
• certain ×6
• others ×34

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×47
• Exodus×99
• Leviticus×49
• Numbers×179
• Deuteronomy×26
• Joshua×60
• Judges×27
• Ruth×2
• 1 Samuel×43
• 2 Samuel×35
• 1 Kings×63
• 2 Kings×33
• 1 Chronicles×13
• 2 Chronicles×29
• Ezra×12
• Nehemiah×11
• Esther×5
• Job×14
• Psalms×9
• Proverbs×2
• Ecclesiastes×19
• Song of Songs×4
• Isaiah×20
• Jeremiah×14
• Ezekiel×107
• Daniel×19
• Hosea×1
• Amos×5
• Obadiah×1
• Jonah×1
• Zephaniah×1
• Haggai×3
• Zechariah×13
• Malachi×4

• Genesis 1:5

  And Elohim called the light “Day,” and the darkness he called “Night.” And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

• Genesis 1:9

  And Elohim said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry ground appear.” And it was so.

• Genesis 2:11

  The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that goes around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

• 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 2:24

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

• Genesis 3:22

  And YHWH Elohim said, “Look, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, so that he does not reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever—”

• Genesis 4:19

  And Lamech took for himself two wives; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the second Zillah.

• Genesis 8:5

  And the waters kept on decreasing until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared.

• Genesis 8:13

  And it happened in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, that the waters dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and look, the face of the ground had dried.

• Genesis 10:25

  And to Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and the name of his brother was Joktan.

• Genesis 11:1

  All the earth had one language and the same words.

• Genesis 11:6

  And YHWH said, “Look, they are one people, and they all have one language, and this is what they have begun to do; and now nothing that they plan to do will be out of reach for them.

• Genesis 19:9

  But they said, “Step aside!” And they said, “This one came to reside as an alien, and he keeps acting as judge! Now we will do worse to you than to them.” And they pressed hard against the man, against Lot, and came near to break the door.

• Genesis 21:15

  When the water in the skin was used up, she threw the child under one of the bushes.

• Genesis 22:2

  He said, “Take, please, your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him up there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I will tell you.”

• Genesis 26:10

  Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”

• Genesis 27:38

  Esau said to his father, “Have you only one blessing, my father? Bless me, me too, my father!” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

• Genesis 27:44

  and stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away,

• Genesis 27:45

  until your brother’s anger turns away from you and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?”

• Genesis 29:20

  So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they were in his eyes like a few days because of his love for her.

• Genesis 32:8

  For he said, “If Esau comes to the one camp and strikes it, then the camp that is left will escape.”

• Genesis 32:22

  He rose that night and took his two wives, his two slave women, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.

• Genesis 33:13

  He said to him, “My lord knows that the children are tender, and the flocks and the cattle that are nursing their young are in my care; if they are driven hard one day, all the flock will die.

• Genesis 34:16

  Then we will give our daughters to you, and your daughters we will take for ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people.

• Genesis 34:22

  Only on this condition will the men consent to us to dwell with us, to become one people: when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised.

• Genesis 37:9

  He dreamed yet another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream: look, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down before me.”

• Genesis 37:20

  Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns, and we will say, ‘A fierce animal devoured him.’ Then we will see what will become of his dreams.”

• Genesis 40:5

  And the two of them dreamed a dream, each his own dream, in one night, each according to the interpretation of his dream: the cupbearer and the baker who belonged to the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison.

• Genesis 41:5

  He fell asleep and dreamed a second time, and look, seven ears of grain were coming up on one stalk, plump and good.

• Genesis 41:11

  We dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; each according to the interpretation of his dream we dreamed.

• Genesis 41:22

  I saw in my dream, and look, seven ears coming up on one stalk, full and good.

• Genesis 41:25

  Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dream of Pharaoh is one. What Elohim is about to do he has declared to Pharaoh.

• Genesis 41:26

  The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the dream is one.

• Genesis 42:11

  All of us are sons of one man; we are honest men; your servants have not been spies.”

• Genesis 42:13

  They said, “Your servants are twelve, we are brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and look, the youngest is with our father today, and the one is no more.”

• Genesis 42:16

  Send one of you, and let him get your brother, while you are kept in prison, so that your words may be tested, whether the truth is with you; and if not, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.”

• Genesis 42:19

  If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be held prisoner in the house where you are held, and you go, take grain for the hunger of your households.

• Genesis 42:27

  One of them opened his sack to give fodder to his donkey at the lodging place, and he saw his silver, and look, it was in the mouth of his bag.

• Genesis 42:32

  We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; the one is no more, and the youngest is today with our father in the land of Canaan.’

• Genesis 42:33

  Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the hunger of your households and go.

And 930 more times.