Grow With Me
Grow With Me

מֶלֶךְ

melech · king

Hebrew word · Strong’s number H4428 · appears 2522 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

melech (מֶלֶךְ) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “king”.

The ruler of a city, a people or a kingdom.

How to say it

me·lech

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. A king who rules a people.
  2. YHWH, king of Israel and the earth.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

King. It comes from the verb מָלַךְ, “reign”; from the same family come מַלְכָּה, “queen”, names like Abimelech, and מַלְכוּת, “kingdom, reign” (H4438).

Historical and cultural background

In Genesis each important city has its king (Genesis 14:1). Israel had no king in the time of the judges: “In those days there was no king in Israel” (Judges 21:25). The people asked for one “like all the nations” (1 Samuel 8:5), and Samuel described to them what such a king would demand (1 Samuel 8:11). Deuteronomy 17:15 had already said that the king had to be chosen by YHWH and be an Israelite.

How we translate it

Always “king” (2238 times) or “kings” (284). It is capitalized when it is a title of YHWH (“the King of glory”, Psalm 24:7; “the King, YHWH Tsevaot”, Isaiah 6:5). In the Aramaic parts (Ezra, Daniel) the same word is Aramaic מֶלֶךְ (H4430), with its own note.

How it is translated

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

  • king ×2238
  • kings ×284

Related words

Comes from

Words that come from it

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

Where it appears

  • Genesis 14:1

    It came about in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim,

  • Genesis 14:2

    that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).

  • Genesis 14:5

    In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,

  • Genesis 14:8

    Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and drew up battle lines against them in the Valley of Siddim,

  • Genesis 14:9

    against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar: four kings against the five.

  • Genesis 14:10

    Now the Valley of Siddim was pit after pit of bitumen; and as they fled, the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fell there, and those who were left fled to the mountains.

  • Genesis 14:17

    After he returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the Valley of the King).

  • Genesis 14:18

    And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of El Elyon.

  • Genesis 14:21

    The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, and take the possessions for yourself.”

  • Genesis 14:22

    But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to YHWH, El Elyon, owner of the heavens and earth,

  • Genesis 17:6

    I will make you fruitful exceedingly, and I will make you into nations, and kings will come from you.

  • Genesis 17:16

    I will bless her, and also I will give you a son by her; I will bless her, and she will become nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

  • Genesis 20:2

    Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

  • Genesis 26:1

    There was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that there was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, to Gerar.

  • Genesis 26:8

    When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down through the window and saw, and look, Isaac was caressing Rebekah his wife.

  • Genesis 35:11

    And Elohim said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and an assembly of nations will come from you, and kings will come out from your loins.

  • Genesis 36:31

    These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the sons of Israel.

  • Genesis 39:20

    Joseph’s lord took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the prison.

  • Genesis 40:1

    It happened after these things that the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and the baker sinned against their lord, the king of Egypt.

  • 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 41:46

    Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and passed through all the land of Egypt.

  • Genesis 49:20

    From Asher rich will be his bread, and he will provide delicacies fit for a king.

  • Exodus 1:8

    Then there arose over Egypt a new king who did not know Joseph.

  • Exodus 1:15

    The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah and the name of the second Puah:

  • Exodus 1:17

    But the midwives feared Elohim and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them, but let the boys live.

  • Exodus 1:18

    So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this and let the boys live?”

  • Exodus 2:23

    During those many days the king of Egypt died. The sons of Israel groaned because of the bondage and cried out, and their cry for help went up to Elohim because of the bondage.

  • Exodus 3:18

    They will listen to your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘YHWH, the Elohim of the Hebrews, has met with us. And now, please let us go a journey of three days into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to YHWH our Elohim.’

  • Exodus 3:19

    But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, and not by a strong hand.

  • Exodus 5:4

    The king of Egypt said to them, “Why, Moses and Aaron, do you take the people away from their work? Go to your burdens!”

  • Exodus 6:11

    “Go in, speak to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land.”

  • Exodus 6:13

    Then YHWH spoke to Moses and to Aaron and gave them a charge concerning the sons of Israel and concerning Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

  • Exodus 6:27

    They are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring out the sons of Israel from Egypt; these are Moses and Aaron.

  • Exodus 6:29

    YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, “I am YHWH; speak to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I am speaking to you.”

  • Exodus 14:5

    When it was told to the king of Egypt that the people had fled, the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”

  • Exodus 14:8

    YHWH made the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt obstinate, and he pursued the sons of Israel, while the sons of Israel were going out with hand raised.

  • Numbers 20:14

    And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: “Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that has found us:

  • Numbers 20:17

    Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or through vineyard, and we will not drink water from a well. We will go along the way of the king; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”

  • Numbers 21:1

    When the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive.

  • Numbers 21:21

    And Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying,

And 2482 more times.