lashon · tongue

What it means

lashon (לָשׁוֹן) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “tongue”.

The organ of the mouth and also language; also something shaped like a tongue (of flame, of land, of gold).

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 organ in the mouth used to taste and speak; hence, what one says.
2. The way a people speaks, by which its members understand each other.
3. Something long and narrow like a tongue, such as a bay of the sea reaching into the land.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Tongue: the organ of the mouth; speech; a language; and from its shape, a tongue of fire or of sea. BDB: the tongue (of man or animals), literally as the instrument of licking, eating or speech, and figuratively, speech, an ingot, a flame, a bay.

• “According to his language”: the languages of the nations Genesis 10:5Isaiah 28:11
• “Slow of mouth and slow of tongue” Exodus 4:10
• “I will keep my ways from sinning with my tongue” Psalms 39:1
• “Death and life {are} in the power of the tongue” Proverbs 18:21
• Lapping the water with the tongue: Gideon's men Judges 7:5
• A bay of the Salt Sea Joshua 15:2

How we translate it

“Tongue” 98 times, “tongues” 3, “language” 10, “languages” 3, “bay” 3. In Exodus 11:7 the expression is kept as the Hebrew has it: “not a dog will so much as move its tongue”.

How it is translated

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

• tongue ×98
• language ×10
• bay ×3
• languages ×3
• tongues ×3

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×3
• Exodus×2
• Deuteronomy×1
• Joshua×6
• Judges×1
• 2 Samuel×1
• Nehemiah×1
• Esther×5
• Job×9
• Psalms×35
• Proverbs×19
• Ecclesiastes×1
• Song of Songs×1
• Isaiah×15
• Jeremiah×6
• Lamentations×1
• Ezekiel×4
• Daniel×1
• Hosea×1
• Micah×1
• Zephaniah×1
• Zechariah×2

• Genesis 10:5

  From these the coastlands of the nations separated into their lands, each according to his language, according to their families, in their nations.

• Genesis 10:20

  These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, in their nations.

• Genesis 10:31

  These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, according to their nations.

• Exodus 4:10

  Moses said to YHWH, “Please, Adonai, I have never been a man of words, either in the past or before that or since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of mouth and slow of tongue.”

• Exodus 11:7

  But against any of the sons of Israel not a dog will so much as move its tongue, against either man or beast, so that you may know that YHWH makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’

• Deuteronomy 28:49

  YHWH will raise against you a nation from far away, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops, a nation whose language you will not understand,

• Joshua 7:21

  I saw among the spoil one fine cloak from Shinar, and two hundred shekels of silver, and one tongue of gold whose weight was fifty shekels; and I coveted them and took them. And look, they are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver under it.”

• Joshua 7:24

  Then Joshua took Achan son of Zerah, and the silver, the cloak, the tongue of gold, his sons and his daughters, his ox, his donkey, his flock, his tent, and all that he had, and all Israel was with him; and they brought them up to the Valley of Achor.

• Joshua 10:21

  that all the people returned to the camp, to Joshua at Makkedah, in peace. No one moved his tongue against the sons of Israel.

• Joshua 15:2

  And their south border was from the end of the Salt Sea, from the bay that faces south;

• Joshua 15:5

  And the east border was the Salt Sea as far as the mouth of the Jordan. And the border on the north side ran from the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan;

• Joshua 18:19

  and the border passed along to the slope of Beth-hoglah on the north; and the ends of the border were at the north bay of the Salt Sea, at the mouth of the Jordan, to the south. This was the south border.

• Judges 7:5

  He brought the people down to the water, and YHWH said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps with his tongue from the water, as a dog laps, you shall set apart, and everyone who bends down on his knees to drink.”

• 2 Samuel 23:2

  The spirit of YHWH spoke through me; his word was on my tongue.

• Nehemiah 13:24

  And as for their sons, half spoke the language of Ashdod, and they did not know how to speak the language of Judah, but according to the language of each people.

• Esther 1:22

  he sent letters to all the king’s provinces, to each province according to its script and to each people according to its language, that every man should be master in his house and speak according to the language of his people.

• Esther 3:12

  And the king’s scribes were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day of it, and it was written according to all that Haman commanded, to the king’s satraps and to the governors who were over each province and to the officials of each people, to each province according to its script and each people according to its language; in the name of King Ahasuerus it was written, and it was sealed with the king’s ring.

• Esther 8:9

  And the king’s scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day of it; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces that are from India to Cush, a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, to each province according to its script and each people according to its language, and to the Jews according to their script and according to their language.

• Job 5:21

  From the lash of the tongue you will be hidden, and you will not fear devastation when it comes.

• Job 6:30

  Is there injustice on my tongue? Or can my palate not discern calamities?

• Job 15:5

  For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty.

• Job 20:12

  Though evil is sweet in his mouth, and he hides it under his tongue,

• Job 20:16

  The poison of vipers he will suck; the tongue of the adder will kill him.

• Job 27:4

  my lips will not speak injustice, nor will my tongue utter deceit.

• Job 29:10

  the voice of the leaders was hidden, and their tongue to their palate stuck.

• Job 33:2

  Look, please, I have opened my mouth; my tongue has spoken in my palate.

• Job 41:1

  Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook, or with a cord press down its tongue?

• Psalms 5:9

  For there is nothing certain in his mouth; their inner being is calamity; an open grave is their throat; with their tongue they flatter.

• Psalms 10:7

  His mouth is full of cursing and of deceit and oppression; under his tongue are suffering and wickedness.

• Psalms 12:3

  May YHWH cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that speaks great things,

• Psalms 12:4

  those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail; our lips are with us: who is lord over us?”

• Psalms 15:3

  who does not slander with his tongue, does not do evil to his neighbor, nor lift up reproach against the one near him;

• Psalms 22:15

  My strength has dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my palate; and in the dust of death you lay me.

• Psalms 31:20

  You hide them in the hiding place of your face from the conspiracies of man; you keep them in a shelter from the strife of tongues.

• Psalms 34:13

  Guard your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.

• Psalms 35:28

  And my tongue will meditate on your righteousness, all the day your praise.

• Psalms 37:30

  The mouth of the righteous meditates wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.

• Psalms 39:1

  For the director. For Jeduthun. A psalm of David. I said, “I will keep my ways from sinning with my tongue; I will keep my mouth with a muzzle while the wicked is before me.”

• Psalms 39:3

  My heart grew hot within me; in my murmuring a fire burned; I spoke with my tongue:

• Psalms 45:1

  For the director. On The Lilies. Of the sons of Korah. A maskil. A song of loves. My heart overflows with a good word; I speak my works to the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful scribe.

And 77 more times.