ozen · ear

What it means

ozen (אֹזֶן) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “ear”.

"Speak in someone's ears" is to tell him something directly.

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 part of the head we hear with; where earrings were worn or a servant was marked.
2. The ear that listens: "incline your ear".
3. To let someone know something, reveal it to him.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Ear. From it comes the verb אָזַן, “to give ear”.

• “Incline your ear” Psalms 17:6Psalms 88:2
• Speaking “in the ears of” someone Genesis 50:4
• The ear in the rites Exodus 21:6Leviticus 8:23
• “Uncovering the ear”: making known Ruth 4:41 Samuel 9:15

Historical and cultural background

In Exodus 21:6 the slave who does not want to go free is brought to the door, and “his master shall pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him forever”. In Leviticus 8:23 Moses puts blood of the ram “on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear”.

How we translate it

“Ears” 96 times, “ear” 69, “hearing” 12. The expression גִּלָּה אֹזֶן, literally “to uncover the ear”, is translated by its sense, “make known”, with the literal wording in a note (“I will let you know”, Ruth 4:4; “had made known”, 1 Samuel 9:15).

How it is translated

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

• ears ×96
• ear ×69
• hearing ×12
• me ×4
• you ×3
• had made known ×1
• have made it known ×1
• have made this known ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×7
• Exodus×9
• Leviticus×6
• Numbers×3
• Deuteronomy×7
• Joshua×1
• Judges×4
• Ruth×1
• 1 Samuel×13
• 2 Samuel×7
• 2 Kings×5
• 1 Chronicles×3
• 2 Chronicles×3
• Nehemiah×4
• Job×13
• Psalms×22
• Proverbs×14
• Ecclesiastes×1
• Isaiah×20
• Jeremiah×28
• Lamentations×1
• Ezekiel×11
• Daniel×1
• Amos×1
• Micah×1
• Zechariah×1

• Genesis 20:8

  So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these things in their ears; and the men were very afraid.

• Genesis 23:10

  Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the sons of Heth, of all who went in at the gate of his city, saying,

• Genesis 23:13

  and he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “If only you would hear me! I give the silver for the field; take it from me, and let me bury my dead there.”

• Genesis 23:16

  Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current among the merchants.

• Genesis 35:4

  So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their hands, and the rings that were in their ears; and Jacob buried them under the oak that was near Shechem.

• Genesis 44:18

  Then Judah approached him and said, “Please, my lord, let your servant speak a word in the ears of my lord, and do not let your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh.

• Genesis 50:4

  When the days of weeping for him had passed, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,

• Exodus 10:2

  and so that you may tell in the ears of your son and of the son of your son how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians, and my signs that I did among them, and you will know that I am YHWH.”

• Exodus 11:2

  Speak now in the hearing of the people, and let them ask, each man from his neighbor and each woman from her neighbor, articles of silver and articles of gold.”

• Exodus 17:14

  YHWH said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book, and put it in the hearing of Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”

• Exodus 21:6

  then his master shall bring him before Elohim; he shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.

• Exodus 24:7

  Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, “All that YHWH has spoken we will do, and we will listen.”

• Exodus 29:20

  You shall slaughter the ram and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of the right ear of Aaron and on the lobe of the ear of his sons, and on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot, and splash the blood on the altar all around.

• Exodus 32:2

  And Aaron said to them, “Tear off the gold earrings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”

• Exodus 32:3

  So all the people tore off the gold earrings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

• Leviticus 8:23

  He slaughtered it, and Moses took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

• Leviticus 8:24

  He brought near the sons of Aaron, and Moses put some of the blood on the lobe of their right ear, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot; and Moses splashed the blood against the altar all around.

• Leviticus 14:14

  The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one being purified, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

• Leviticus 14:17

  And some of the rest of the oil that is in his palm the priest shall put on the lobe of the right ear of the one being purified, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering.

• Leviticus 14:25

  He shall slaughter the lamb of the guilt offering, and the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one being purified, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

• Leviticus 14:28

  The priest shall put some of the oil that is in his palm on the lobe of the right ear of the one being purified, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the place of the blood of the guilt offering.

• Numbers 11:1

  And the people became like those who complain of misfortune in the ears of YHWH; and YHWH heard and his anger burned, and the fire of YHWH blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp.

• Numbers 11:18

  And say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the ears of YHWH, saying, “Who will give us to eat meat? For it was good for us in Egypt.” So YHWH will give you meat, and you shall eat.

• Numbers 14:28

  Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares YHWH, just as you have spoken in my ears, so I will do to you.

• Deuteronomy 5:1

  Moses called to all Israel and said to them, Hear, Israel, the statutes and the rules that I am speaking in your hearing today; learn them and be careful to carry them out.

• Deuteronomy 15:17

  then you shall take the awl and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. And also to your female slave you shall do the same.

• Deuteronomy 29:4

  But YHWH has not given you a heart to know, or eyes to see, or ears to hear, to this day.

• Deuteronomy 31:11

  when all Israel comes to appear before the face of YHWH your Elohim at the place that he chooses, you shall read this instruction before all Israel, in their ears.

• Deuteronomy 31:28

  Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your supervisors, so that I may speak in their ears these words and call the heavens and the earth to witness against them.

• Deuteronomy 31:30

  And Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song to the end:

• Deuteronomy 32:44

  And Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Hoshea son of Nun.

• Joshua 20:4

  And he shall flee to one of these cities and stand at the entrance of the gate of the city, and speak his words in the ears of the elders of that city; and they shall take him into the city to themselves, and give him a place, and he shall live with them.

• Judges 7:3

  Now therefore, proclaim, please, in the ears of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him turn back and withdraw from Mount Gilead.’” Twenty-two thousand of the people turned back, and ten thousand remained.

• Judges 9:2

  “Speak, please, in the ears of all the lords of Shechem: ‘Which is better for you, that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, rule over you, or that one man rule over you?’ And remember that I am your bone and your flesh.”

• Judges 9:3

  His mother’s brothers spoke about him in the ears of all the lords of Shechem all these words, and their heart inclined toward Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.”

• Judges 17:2

  And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, and you uttered an imprecation and also said it in my ears, look, the silver is with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “Blessed be my son by YHWH.”

• Ruth 4:4

  And I said to myself: I will let you know, saying, ‘Acquire it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem, redeem; but if one does not redeem, tell me, so that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem, and I am after you.’” And he said, “I will redeem.”

• 1 Samuel 3:11

  And YHWH said to Samuel, “Look, I am doing a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.

• 1 Samuel 8:21

  And Samuel heard all the words of the people and spoke them in the ears of YHWH.

• 1 Samuel 9:15

  Now YHWH had made known to Samuel, one day before Saul came, saying,

And 147 more times.