oref · neck

What it means

oref (עֹרֶף) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “neck”.

Back of the neck, nape. Having one's hand on an enemy's neck means having defeated him. "Turn the back" is to flee.

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 back of the head, where the shoulders start.
2. To show the nape, flee.
3. Unbending: "hard-necked".

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

How it is translated

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

• neck ×14
• stubborn ×7
• back ×6
• turn their backs ×3
• necks ×1
• stubbornness ×1
• turned their backs ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×1
• Exodus×5
• Leviticus×1
• Deuteronomy×4
• Joshua×2
• 2 Samuel×1
• 2 Kings×2
• 2 Chronicles×3
• Nehemiah×3
• Job×1
• Psalms×1
• Proverbs×1
• Isaiah×1
• Jeremiah×7

• Genesis 49:8

  Judah, you your brothers will praise; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; the sons of your father will bow down to you.

• Exodus 23:27

  My terror I will send before you, and I will throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.

• Exodus 32:9

  And YHWH said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and look, it is a stubborn people.

• Exodus 33:3

  Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up in your midst, for you are a stubborn people, lest I consume you on the way.”

• Exodus 33:5

  And YHWH said to Moses, “Say to the sons of Israel, ‘You are a stubborn people. If for one moment I went up in your midst, I would consume you. So now, take off your ornaments from you, and I will know what I will do with you.’”

• Exodus 34:9

  And he said, “If, please, I have found favor in your eyes, Adonai, let Adonai go, please, in our midst; although it is a stubborn people, forgive our iniquity and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”

• Leviticus 5:8

  He shall bring them to the priest, and he shall present the one that is for the sin offering first, and wring its head at the back of its neck, but he shall not divide it.

• Deuteronomy 9:6

  Know that it is not because of your righteousness that YHWH your Elohim is giving you this good land to take possession of it, for you are a stubborn people.

• Deuteronomy 9:13

  YHWH said to me, “I have seen this people, and look, it is a stubborn people.

• Deuteronomy 10:16

  So circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer.

• Deuteronomy 31:27

  For I know your rebelliousness and your stubbornness. Look, while I am still alive with you today, you have been rebellious against YHWH; how much more after my death!

• Joshua 7:8

  Please, Adonai, what can I say, after Israel has turned its back before its enemies?

• Joshua 7:12

  So the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; they turn their back before their enemies, for they have become a thing devoted to destruction. I will not be with you any more unless you destroy the things devoted to destruction from among you.

• 2 Samuel 22:41

  My enemies you made turn their backs to me; those who hate me, I annihilated them.

• 2 Kings 17:14

  But they did not listen, and they stiffened their neck like the neck of their fathers, who did not believe in YHWH their Elohim.

• 2 Chronicles 29:6

  For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what is evil in the eyes of YHWH our Elohim; they abandoned him, and turned their faces away from the dwelling of YHWH, and turned their backs.

• 2 Chronicles 30:8

  Now do not stiffen your necks like your fathers; give your hand to YHWH, and come to his sanctuary which he has sanctified forever, and serve YHWH your Elohim, and his burning anger will turn away from you.

• 2 Chronicles 36:13

  He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by Elohim; and he stiffened his neck and made firm his heart against returning to YHWH, the Elohim of Israel.

• Nehemiah 9:16

  But they and our fathers acted with arrogance and hardened their neck, and did not listen to your commandments.

• Nehemiah 9:17

  They refused to listen, and did not remember your wonders that you had done with them; and they hardened their neck and appointed a head to return to their servitude in their rebellion. But you are an Eloah of pardons, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in loyal love, and you did not abandon them.

• Nehemiah 9:29

  And you testified against them to turn them back to your law; yet they acted with arrogance and did not listen to your commandments, and against your rules they sinned, which, if a person does them, he will live by them; and they gave a rebellious shoulder, and their neck they hardened, and did not listen.

• Job 16:12

  I was tranquil, and he shook me; he seized me by the neck and smashed me to pieces, and set me up for himself as a target.

• Psalms 18:40

  My enemies you made turn their backs to me; those who hate me, I annihilated them.

• Proverbs 29:1

  A man of reproofs who hardens his neck will suddenly be broken, and there will be no healing.

• Isaiah 48:4

  Because I knew that you are hard, and your neck is a sinew of iron, and your forehead bronze,

• Jeremiah 2:27

  who say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’ For they have turned to me the back and not the face; but in the time of their trouble they say, ‘Arise and save us!’

• Jeremiah 7:26

  Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck; they did worse than their fathers.

• Jeremiah 17:23

  But they did not listen or incline their ear, but they hardened their neck so as not to listen and not to receive correction.

• Jeremiah 18:17

  Like the wind from the east I will scatter them before the enemy; the back and not the face I will show them in the day of their calamity.”

• Jeremiah 19:15

  “Thus says YHWH Tsevaot, the Elohim of Israel: Look, I am bringing on this city and on all its towns all the evil that I have spoken against it, because they have stiffened their neck so as not to hear my words.”

• Jeremiah 32:33

  And they have turned to me the back and not the face; though I taught them, rising early and teaching, they were not listening to receive correction.

• Jeremiah 48:39

  How it is dismayed! Wail! How Moab has turned his back in shame! And Moab will become a laughingstock and a terror to all who are around him.

And 1 more times.