even · stone

What it means

even (אֶבֶן) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “stone”.

Also a weight for scales.

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. A piece of rock, large or small, used for building, marking or throwing.
2. A valuable, shining stone, set in gold and in the priest's garments.
3. A piece of stone of fixed weight used to weigh on the scales.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Stone.

• Any stone Genesis 28:111 Samuel 17:49
• The stone that covers a well Genesis 29:2
• Tablets of stone; precious stones Exodus 24:12Exodus 28:9
• Weights: “a weight and a weight” Deuteronomy 25:13
• To stone Leviticus 20:2

Historical and cultural background

Deuteronomy 25:13-15 forbids having in one's bag “a weight and a weight, a large and a small”: stones served as weights in trade, and the law requires one only, “A full and just weight”.

How we translate it

“Stones” 145 times, “stone” 110, “weight” 9, “hailstones” 4, “weights” 2. This edition translates אֶבֶן “stone” and צוּר “rock”. When the stone is used for weighing it is translated “weight”: אֶבֶן וָאֶבֶן, “a weight and a weight”, with a note explaining the expression.

How it is translated

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

• stones ×145
• stone ×110
• weight ×9
• hailstones ×4
• weights ×2
• cornerstone ×1
• stonecutter ×1
• stonecutters ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×15
• Exodus×33
• Leviticus×10
• Numbers×5
• Deuteronomy×25
• Joshua×22
• Judges×3
• 1 Samuel×10
• 2 Samuel×7
• 1 Kings×24
• 2 Kings×8
• 1 Chronicles×10
• 2 Chronicles×14
• Nehemiah×3
• Job×11
• Psalms×3
• Proverbs×11
• Ecclesiastes×3
• Isaiah×14
• Jeremiah×7
• Lamentations×2
• Ezekiel×17
• Daniel×1
• Micah×2
• Habakkuk×2
• Haggai×2
• Zechariah×9

• Genesis 2:12

  And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there.

• Genesis 11:3

  They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And brick served them as stone, and bitumen served them as mortar.

• Genesis 28:11

  He came upon the place and spent the night there, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of the place and put it at his head, and lay down in that place.

• Genesis 28:18

  Jacob rose early in the morning, took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a standing stone, and poured oil on its top.

• Genesis 28:22

  and this stone, which I have set up as a standing stone, will be the house of Elohim; and of all that you give me I will surely give a tenth of it to you.”

• Genesis 29:2

  He looked, and look, a well in the field, and look, there three flocks of sheep were lying beside it, for from that well they watered the flocks. The stone on the mouth of the well was large.

• Genesis 29:3

  When all the flocks were gathered there, they would roll the stone from the mouth of the well and water the sheep, and put back the stone on the mouth of the well in its place.

• Genesis 29:8

  They said, “We cannot, until all the flocks are gathered and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep.”

• Genesis 29:10

  When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, Jacob came near and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother.

• Genesis 31:45

  So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a standing stone.

• Genesis 31:46

  And Jacob said to his brothers, “Gather stones.” They took stones and made a heap, and they ate there on the heap.

• Genesis 35:14

  Jacob set up a standing stone in the place where he had spoken with him, a standing stone of stone; he poured out a libation on it and poured oil on it.

• Genesis 49:24

  but his bow remained steady, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, from there, the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel,

• Exodus 7:19

  YHWH said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their canals, over their pools, and over all the reservoirs of their water, that they may become blood; and there will be blood in all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’”

• Exodus 15:5

  The deeps covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.

• Exodus 15:16

  Terror and dread fell upon them; by the greatness of your arm they were as still as a stone, until your people, YHWH, passed by, until the people whom you acquired passed by.

• Exodus 17:12

  But Moses’ hands grew heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other side; so his hands were steady until the setting of the sun.

• Exodus 20:25

  And if you make me an altar of stones, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you lift your tool on it, you profane it.

• Exodus 21:18

  When men quarrel and a man strikes his neighbor with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to bed,

• Exodus 24:12

  YHWH said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and be there, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the instruction and the commandment that I have written to teach them.”

• Exodus 25:7

  onyx stones and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece.

• Exodus 28:9

  You shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel,

• Exodus 28:10

  six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the second stone, in the order of their birth.

• Exodus 28:11

  As the work of a stonecutter, with engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel; mounted in settings of gold you shall make them.

• Exodus 28:12

  You shall put the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of memorial for the sons of Israel; and Aaron shall bear their names before YHWH on his two shoulders as a memorial.

• Exodus 28:17

  You shall fill it with a setting of stones, four rows of stones: a row of ruby, topaz, and emerald shall be the first row;

• Exodus 28:21

  The stones shall be according to the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to their names; with engravings of a signet, each with its name, they shall be for the twelve tribes.

• Exodus 31:5

  and in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in all kinds of work.

• Exodus 31:18

  And he gave to Moses, when he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of Elohim.

• Exodus 34:1

  And YHWH said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

• Exodus 34:4

  So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones; and Moses rose early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as YHWH had commanded him, and he took in his hand two tablets of stone.

• Exodus 35:9

  and onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece.

• Exodus 35:27

  And the chiefs brought the onyx stones and the stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece,

• Exodus 35:33

  and in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every work of design.

• Exodus 39:6

  And they made the onyx stones, set in settings of gold, engraved with the engravings of a seal with the names of the sons of Israel.

• Exodus 39:7

  And he put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as stones of memorial for the sons of Israel, as YHWH had commanded Moses.

• Exodus 39:10

  And they filled it with four rows of stones: a row of ruby, topaz, and emerald, the first row;

• Exodus 39:14

  And the stones were according to the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to their names; with the engravings of a seal, each according to its name, for the twelve tribes.

• Leviticus 14:40

  the priest shall command that they pull out the stones in which the mark is and throw them to outside the city, to an unclean place.

• Leviticus 14:42

  They shall take other stones and put them in place of the stones, and he shall take other clay and plaster the house.

And 233 more times.