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מֶרְכָּבָה

merkava · chariot

Hebrew word · Strong’s number H4818 · appears 44 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

merkava (מֶרְכָּבָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “chariot”.

A cart drawn by horses, for war or for travel.

How to say it

mer·ka·va

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 chariot drawn by horses, for war or transport.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Chariot: the two-wheeled vehicle drawn by horses, for war or for dignity. It is from the root רָכַב, ‘ride’, like רֶכֶב, ‘chariot’ (H7393).

Historical and cultural background

Pharaoh had Joseph ride “in the second chariot that he had”, and they cried out before him “Abrek!” (Genesis 41:43). Samuel warns that the king would take the people’s sons for his chariots (1 Samuel 8:11).

How we translate it

Always “chariot” (25 times) or “chariots” (19).

How it is translated

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

  • chariot ×25
  • chariots ×19

Related words

Comes from

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

Where it appears

  • Genesis 41:43

    He had him ride in the second chariot that he had, and they cried out before him, “Abrek!” So he set him over all the land of Egypt.

  • Genesis 46:29

    Joseph harnessed his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen. He appeared to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a long time.

  • Exodus 14:25

    He removed the wheels of their chariots and made them drive with difficulty. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for YHWH is fighting for them against Egypt.”

  • Exodus 15:4

    Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has cast into the sea; and his choicest captains were sunk in the Sea of Reeds.

  • Joshua 11:6

    YHWH said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for tomorrow at this time I will give all of them slain before Israel. Their horses you shall hamstring and their chariots you shall burn with fire.”

  • Joshua 11:9

    Joshua did to them as YHWH had told him: their horses he hamstrung, and their chariots he burned with fire.

  • Judges 4:15

    YHWH threw into confusion Sisera and all the chariots and all the camp with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera got down from the chariot and fled on foot.

  • Judges 5:28

    Through the window she looked out and cried, the mother of Sisera, through the lattice: ‘Why is his chariot slow in coming? Why are the hoofbeats of his chariots delayed?’

  • 1 Samuel 8:11

    And he said, “This will be the right of the king who will reign over you: your sons he will take and appoint for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen, and they will run before his chariots;

  • 2 Samuel 15:1

    After this, Absalom got himself a chariot and horses, and fifty men running before him.

  • 1 Kings 7:33

    And the work of the wheels was like the work of the wheel of a chariot: their axles, their rims, their spokes, and their hubs, all was cast.

  • 1 Kings 10:29

    And a chariot would come up and go out from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and so, for all the kings of the Hittites and for the kings of Aram, by their hand they would bring them out.

  • 1 Kings 12:18

    King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. And King Rehoboam hurried to get up into the chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

  • 1 Kings 20:33

    The men took it as an omen, and quickly caught it up whether it came from him, and said, “Your brother Ben-hadad.” He said, “Go, bring him.” Ben-hadad came out to him, and he had him come up into the chariot.

  • 1 Kings 22:35

    The battle rose that day, and the king was propped up in the chariot facing Aram; and he died in the evening, and the blood of the wound poured out into the bottom of the chariot.

  • 2 Kings 5:21

    Gehazi pursued after Naaman. Naaman saw someone running after him, and he got down from the chariot to meet him and said, “Is all well?”

  • 2 Kings 5:26

    He said to him, “Did not my heart go with you when a man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to take silver and to take clothes, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and cattle, male slaves and female slaves?

  • 2 Kings 9:27

    Ahaziah king of Judah saw this and fled by the way of Beth-haggan. Jehu pursued him and said, “Him too! Strike him!” And they struck him in the chariot at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo and died there.

  • 2 Kings 10:15

    He went from there and found Jonadab son of Rechab coming to meet him, and he blessed him and said to him, “Is your heart upright, as my heart is with your heart?” Jonadab said, “It is.” “If it is, give me your hand.” He gave him his hand, and he took him up with him into the chariot.

  • 2 Kings 23:11

    He put an end to the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of YHWH, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the official, which was in the Parvarim; and the chariots of the sun he burned with fire.

  • 1 Chronicles 28:18

    and for the altar of incense, refined gold by weight; and for the pattern of the chariot, the cherubim of gold that spread out and cover over the ark of the covenant of YHWH.

  • 2 Chronicles 1:17

    They would go up and bring out from Egypt a chariot for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and so for all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram, by their hand they would bring them out.

  • 2 Chronicles 9:25

    Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, and he stationed them in the cities of the chariots and with the king in Jerusalem.

  • 2 Chronicles 10:18

    King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the forced labor, and the sons of Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. And King Rehoboam hurried to get up into the chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

  • 2 Chronicles 14:9

    Zerah the Cushite came out against them with a force of a thousand thousands and three hundred chariots, and came as far as Mareshah.

  • 2 Chronicles 18:34

    The battle rose that day, and the king was holding himself up in the chariot facing Aram until the evening; and he died at the time the sun went down.

  • 2 Chronicles 35:24

    So his servants took him out of the chariot and put him in his second chariot, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

  • Song of Songs 6:12

    I did not know; my soul set me in the chariots of my noble people.

  • Isaiah 2:7

    Their land has been filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land has been filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots.

  • Isaiah 22:18

    he will roll you up tightly in a roll, like a ball, into a land wide on every side; there you will die, and there will be the chariots of your glory, disgrace of the house of your master!

  • Isaiah 66:15

    For look, YHWH will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to pay back his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.

  • Jeremiah 4:13

    Look, like clouds he comes up, and like the whirlwind are his chariots; swifter than eagles are his horses. Woe to us, for we are devastated!

  • Joel 2:5

    Like the sound of chariots on the tops of the mountains they leap, like the sound of a flame of fire devouring stubble, like a mighty people arrayed for battle.

  • Micah 1:13

    Harness the chariot to the steed, inhabitant of Lachish; she was the beginning of sin for the daughter of Zion, for in you were found the transgressions of Israel.

  • Micah 5:10

    “And it will happen on that day, declares YHWH, that I will cut off your horses from among you and destroy your chariots.

  • Nahum 3:2

    The sound of the whip, and the sound of the rumble of the wheel, and galloping horse, and bounding chariot;

  • Habakkuk 3:8

    Against the rivers was YHWH incensed? Or against the rivers was your anger? Or against the sea your wrath, when you rode on your horses, your chariots of salvation?

  • Haggai 2:22

    and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will overthrow the chariot and its riders; and the horses and their riders will go down, each by the sword of his brother.

  • Zechariah 6:1

    And again I lifted up my eyes and saw, and look, four chariots coming out from between the two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of bronze.

  • Zechariah 6:2

    With the first chariot, red horses; and with the second chariot, black horses;

And 4 more times.