rosh · head, chief

What it means

rosh (רֹאשׁ) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “head, chief”.

Head. From there the first or the chief of a group, the top of a mountain, the beginning of something, or the sum; also the branches of a river.

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 upper part of the body, where the face and hair are.
2. Literally "the head": the highest part, as of a mountain.
3. Literally "the head": the one who leads, or the best of something.
4. Literally "the head": the first moment of something.
5. The total: "take the head" is to count.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Head. From there, by extension, what is on top or in front: the top of a mountain, the head of a group, the beginning of something. BDB defines it as the head, literally or figuratively, applied to place, time and rank.

• The head of the body Genesis 3:15
• The top of a mountain Genesis 8:5Exodus 19:20
• Head of a fathers' house or of a group Exodus 6:14Numbers 1:4
• Beginning: “the beginning of months” Exodus 12:2
• The “branches” into which a river divides; to “lift the head” of the community, to take a census Genesis 2:10Numbers 1:2

How we translate it

“Head” 335 times, “heads” 137, “top” 53, “tops” 12, “beginning” 11. This edition keeps “head” for the one who heads a fathers' house (“the heads of their fathers’ houses”, Exodus 6:14), and so keeps it apart from נָשִׂיא, “chief”. In Numbers 1:2 the Hebrew expression is “lift the head of the whole community”; it is translated by its sense, “Take a census”, with the literal sense in a note.

How it is translated

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

• head ×335
• heads ×137
• top ×53
• tops ×12
• beginning ×11
• companies ×6
• Take a census ×5
• chief ×4
• group ×3
• principal chief ×3
• others ×30

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×20
• Exodus×26
• Leviticus×40
• Numbers×41
• Deuteronomy×17
• Joshua×15
• Judges×28
• 1 Samuel×23
• 2 Samuel×32
• 1 Kings×23
• 2 Kings×17
• 1 Chronicles×73
• 2 Chronicles×22
• Ezra×13
• Nehemiah×16
• Esther×5
• Job×13
• Psalms×33
• Proverbs×10
• Ecclesiastes×3
• Song of Songs×9
• Isaiah×28
• Jeremiah×13
• Lamentations×9
• Ezekiel×40
• Daniel×1
• Hosea×2
• Joel×3
• Amos×6
• Obadiah×1
• Jonah×3
• Micah×5
• Nahum×1
• Habakkuk×2
• Zechariah×6

• Genesis 2:10

  And a river went out from Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided and became four branches.

• 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 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 11:4

  And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, so that we are not scattered over the face of all the earth.”

• Genesis 28:12

  He dreamed, and look, a ladder set on the earth, and its top reaching to the heavens; and look, the angels of Elohim were going up and coming down on it.

• 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 40:13

  Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, after the former manner when you were his cupbearer.

• Genesis 40:16

  When the chief of the bakers saw that he had interpreted well, he said to Joseph, “In my dream I too saw, and look, three baskets of white bread were on my head.

• Genesis 40:17

  In the top basket there was every kind of food for Pharaoh, the work of a baker, and the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”

• 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 40:20

  On the third day, Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief of the cupbearers and the head of the chief of the bakers among his servants.

• Genesis 47:31

  He said, “Swear to me.” And he swore to him. Then Israel bowed down upon the head of the bed.

• Genesis 48:14

  But Israel stretched out his right hand and put it on the head of Ephraim, though he was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands, although Manasseh was the firstborn.

• Genesis 48:17

  When Joseph saw that his father put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it was displeasing in his eyes; and he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from the head of Ephraim to the head of Manasseh.

• Genesis 48:18

  Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”

• Genesis 49:26

  The blessings of your father have prevailed over the blessings of my ancestors, up to the bounds of the eternal hills. May they be on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the head of the one consecrated among his brothers.

• Exodus 6:14

  These are the heads of their fathers’ houses: the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Enoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben.

• Exodus 6:25

  Eleazar, Aaron’s son, took for himself one of the daughters of Putiel as his wife, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites according to their families.

• Exodus 12:2

  “This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first for you of the months of the year.

• Exodus 12:9

  Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all in water, but roasted in fire, its head with its legs and with its inner parts.

• Exodus 17:9

  Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us, and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of Elohim in my hand.”

• Exodus 17:10

  Joshua did as Moses told him, to fight against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

• Exodus 18:25

  Moses chose capable men from all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifties, and chiefs of tens.

• Exodus 19:20

  YHWH came down upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and YHWH called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

• Exodus 24:17

  The appearance of the glory of YHWH was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the sons of Israel.

• Exodus 26:24

  They shall be doubled from below, and together they shall be complete at its top, at the first ring; so it shall be for both of them; they shall form the two corners.

• Exodus 28:32

  There shall be an opening for its head in its middle, with a binding around its opening, the work of a weaver; like the opening of a coat of mail it shall be for it, so that it will not tear.

• Exodus 29:6

  You shall set the turban on his head and put the holy diadem on the turban.

• Exodus 29:7

  Then you shall take the oil of anointing and pour it on his head and anoint him.

• Exodus 29:10

  You shall bring near the bull before the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull.

• Exodus 29:15

  Then you shall take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram.

• Exodus 29:17

  You shall cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and with its head.

• Exodus 29:19

  You shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram.

• Exodus 30:12

  “When you take the census of the sons of Israel by their numbering, each shall give a compensation for his life to YHWH when they are numbered, so that there will be no plague among them when they are numbered.

• Exodus 30:23

  “And you, take for yourself the finest spices: of liquid myrrh five hundred, and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, two hundred and fifty, and of fragrant cane two hundred and fifty,

• Exodus 34:2

  And be ready for the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to me there on the top of the mountain.

• Exodus 36:29

  And they were double from below, and together they were complete to its top, at the one ring; so he made for both of them, for the two corners.

• Exodus 36:38

  and its five pillars and their hooks; and he overlaid their tops and their rods with gold; and their five bases were of bronze.

• Exodus 38:17

  And the bases for the pillars were of bronze, the hooks of the pillars and their rods of silver, and the overlaying of their tops of silver, and they were joined with rods of silver, all the pillars of the courtyard.

• Exodus 38:19

  And their pillars were four and their bases four, of bronze; their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their tops and their rods of silver.

And 559 more times.