זֶרַע
zera · offspring, seed
Hebrew word · Strong’s number H2233 · appears 229 times in the Bible
What is the Strong number?
Strong’s number identifies this word: use it to find the same word in other study tools.What it means
zera (זֶרַע) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “offspring, seed”.
Seed. From there "offspring": the children and generations that come from someone. Also sowing and semen.
How to say it
ze·ra
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
- The time and work of putting seed in the field.
- What is sown to sprout: grains and seeds of plants.
- The fluid from a man that gives rise to a child.
- The children, grandchildren and whole line that come from someone.
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)
Word study
Seed; from there sowing and offspring, the children and generations that come from someone. BDB defines it as seed, and figuratively fruit, plant, sowing time, posterity. It comes from זָרַע, “sow” (H2232).
- The seed of plants Genesis 1:11Genesis 47:19
- Sowing Genesis 8:22
- A person's offspring Genesis 3:15Genesis 12:72 Samuel 7:12
- Semen Leviticus 15:16
How we translate it
“Offspring” 173 times, “seed” 41, “semen” 8. This edition's glossary sets “offspring” for persons and “seed” for plants. The word is singular even when it refers to many, and English “offspring” can keep that.
How it is translated
The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.
- offspring ×173
- seed ×41
- semen ×8
- grain ×3
- sowing ×2
- child ×1
- seedtime ×1
Related words
Comes from
Words that come from it
Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.
Where it appears
- Genesis×59
- Exodus×6
- Leviticus×24
- Numbers×9
- Deuteronomy×14
- Joshua×1
- Ruth×1
- 1 Samuel×6
- 2 Samuel×3
- 1 Kings×5
- 2 Kings×4
- 1 Chronicles×2
- 2 Chronicles×2
- Ezra×2
- Nehemiah×3
- Esther×5
- Job×3
- Psalms×18
- Proverbs×1
- Ecclesiastes×1
- Isaiah×26
- Jeremiah×21
- Ezekiel×6
- Daniel×2
- Amos×1
- Haggai×1
- Zechariah×1
- Malachi×2
- Genesis 1:11
And Elohim said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit according to its kind, that has its seed in it, on the earth.” And it was so.
- Genesis 1:12
And the earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed according to its kind, and trees bearing fruit that has its seed in it, according to its kind. And Elohim saw that it was good.
- Genesis 1:29
And Elohim said, “Look, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree that has fruit yielding seed; it will be food for you.
- Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he will strike you on the head, and you will strike him on the heel.”
- Genesis 4:25
And Adam knew his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and called his name Seth, “for Elohim has granted me another offspring in place of Abel, because Cain killed him.”
- Genesis 7:3
also of the birds of the sky seven and seven, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth.
- Genesis 8:22
While all the days of the earth remain, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not cease.”
- Genesis 9:9
“And I, look, I am establishing my covenant with you and with your offspring after you,
- Genesis 12:7
Then YHWH appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to YHWH, who had appeared to him.
- Genesis 13:15
for all the land that you see I will give it to you and to your offspring forever.
- Genesis 13:16
I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.
- Genesis 15:3
And Abram said, “Look, to me you have not given offspring; and look, one born in my house will be my heir.”
- Genesis 15:5
He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And he said to him, “So will your offspring be.”
- Genesis 15:13
Then he said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be resident aliens in a land that is not theirs, and they will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.
- Genesis 15:18
On that day YHWH made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
- Genesis 16:10
The angel of YHWH said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, so that it cannot be counted because of its multitude.”
- Genesis 17:7
I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations as an eternal covenant, to be Elohim to you and to your offspring after you.
- Genesis 17:8
And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land where you reside as an alien, all the land of Canaan, as an eternal possession; and I will be their Elohim.”
- Genesis 17:9
Elohim said to Abraham, “As for you, you will keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.
- Genesis 17:10
This is my covenant which you will keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.
- Genesis 17:12
At the age of eight days every male among you shall be circumcised throughout your generations, the one born in the house and the one bought with silver from any foreigner who is not of your offspring.
- Genesis 17:19
Elohim said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish my covenant with him as an eternal covenant for his offspring after him.
- Genesis 19:32
Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring from our father.”
- Genesis 19:34
The next day the older said to the younger, “Look, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also, and you go in and lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring from our father.”
- Genesis 21:12
But Elohim said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your eyes on account of the boy and on account of your slave woman. All that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice, for through Isaac offspring will be named for you.
- Genesis 21:13
And also the son of the slave woman I will make him a nation, for he is your offspring.”
- Genesis 22:17
that I will surely bless you and will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of the heavens and as the sand that is on the shore of the sea; and your offspring will possess the gate of its enemies.
- Genesis 22:18
And through your offspring all the nations of the earth will bless themselves, because you listened to my voice.”
- Genesis 24:7
YHWH, the Elohim of the heavens, who took me from the house of my father and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there.
- Genesis 24:60
They blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you become thousands of ten thousands, and may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate it.”
- Genesis 26:3
Reside as an alien in this land, and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.
- Genesis 26:4
I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the heavens and will give to your offspring all these lands; and through your offspring all the nations of the earth will bless themselves,
- Genesis 26:24
YHWH appeared to him that night and said, “I am the Elohim of Abraham your father. Do not be afraid, for I am with you, and I will bless you and multiply your offspring because of Abraham my servant.”
- Genesis 28:4
May he give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your offspring with you, so that you may possess the land where you reside as an alien, which Elohim gave to Abraham.”
- Genesis 28:13
And look, YHWH stood above it and said, “I am YHWH, the Elohim of Abraham your father and the Elohim of Isaac. The land on which you are lying I will give it to you and to your offspring.
- Genesis 28:14
Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the ground will be blessed in you and in your offspring.
- Genesis 32:12
But you said, ‘I will surely deal well with you and make your offspring like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of its abundance.’”
- Genesis 35:12
The land that I gave to Abraham and to Isaac I will give to you, and to your offspring after you I will give the land.”
- Genesis 38:8
Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.”
- Genesis 38:9
But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he went in to his brother’s wife, he wasted it on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother.
And 189 more times.