אֶ֫לֶף
e.leph
thousand
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# The Hebrew Word for Thousand: אלף (eleph) The Hebrew word *eleph* is the standard term for the number one thousand throughout the Hebrew Bible, appearing 496 times. This high frequency of occurrence reflects its importance as a fundamental numerical unit in ancient Israelite communication, accounting, and narrative description. The word's prevalence across the biblical text indicates it served practical functions in recording quantities—whether of people, animals, goods, or other measurable entities—as well as rhetorical functions in establishing scale and magnitude within narratives. The consistency of its usage across different literary genres and time periods within the biblical corpus suggests it was a stable, widely understood numerical concept in Hebrew-speaking communities. Beyond its literal mathematical value, the frequency with which *eleph* appears in biblical texts demonstrates that large-scale quantification was a common feature of ancient Israelite discourse, from census accounts to descriptions of military forces to expressions of divine blessing and abundance.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
496 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together, and ordered them according to their fathers’ houses, under captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, even all Judah and Benjamin. He counted them from twenty years old and upward, and found that there were three hundred thousand chosen men, able to go out to war, who could handle spear and shield.
2 Chronicles 25:5Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together, and ordered them according to their fathers’ houses, under captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, even all Judah and Benjamin. He counted them from twenty years old and upward, and found that there were three hundred thousand chosen men, able to go out to war, who could handle spear and shield.
2 Chronicles 25:6He also hired one hundred thousand mighty men of valor out of Israel for one hundred talents of silver.
2 Chronicles 25:11Amaziah took courage, and led his people out, and went to the Valley of Salt, and struck ten thousand of the children of Seir.
2 Chronicles 25:12The children of Judah carried away ten thousand alive, and brought them to the top of the rock, and threw them down from the top of the rock, so that they all were broken in pieces.
2 Chronicles 25:13But the men of the army whom Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell on the cities of Judah, from Samaria even to Beth Horon, and struck of them three thousand, and took much plunder.
2 Chronicles 26:12The whole number of the heads of fathers’ households, even the mighty men of valor, was two thousand six hundred.
2 Chronicles 26:13Under their hand was an army, three hundred seven thousand five hundred, who made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy.
2 Chronicles 26:13Under their hand was an army, three hundred seven thousand five hundred, who made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy.
2 Chronicles 27:5He also fought with the king of the children of Ammon, and prevailed against them. The children of Ammon gave him the same year one hundred talents of silver, ten thousand cors of wheat, and ten thousand cors of barley. The children of Ammon also gave that much to him in the second year, and in the third.
2 Chronicles 27:5He also fought with the king of the children of Ammon, and prevailed against them. The children of Ammon gave him the same year one hundred talents of silver, ten thousand cors of wheat, and ten thousand cors of barley. The children of Ammon also gave that much to him in the second year, and in the third.
2 Chronicles 28:6For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed in Judah one hundred twenty thousand in one day, all of them valiant men, because they had forsaken Yahweh, the God of their fathers.
2 Chronicles 28:8The children of Israel carried away captive of their brothers two hundred thousand women, sons, and daughters, and also took away much plunder from them, and brought the plunder to Samaria.
2 Chronicles 29:33The consecrated things were six hundred head of cattle and three thousand sheep.
2 Chronicles 30:24For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the assembly for offerings one thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.
2 Chronicles 30:24For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the assembly for offerings one thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.
2 Chronicles 30:24For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the assembly for offerings one thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.
2 Chronicles 30:24For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the assembly for offerings one thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.
2 Chronicles 35:7Josiah gave to the children of the people, of the flock, lambs and young goats, all of them for the Passover offerings, to all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bulls. These were of the king’s substance.
2 Chronicles 35:7Josiah gave to the children of the people, of the flock, lambs and young goats, all of them for the Passover offerings, to all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bulls. These were of the king’s substance.
2 Chronicles 35:8His princes gave for a free will offering to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the rulers of God’s house, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand six hundred small livestock, and three hundred head of cattle.
2 Chronicles 35:9Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings five thousand small livestock and five hundred head of cattle.
Ezra 1:9This is the number of them: thirty platters of gold, one thousand platters of silver, twenty-nine knives,
Ezra 1:10thirty bowls of gold, four hundred ten silver bowls of a second sort, and one thousand other vessels.
Ezra 1:11All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand four hundred. Sheshbazzar brought all these up when the captives were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.
Ezra 2:3The children of Parosh, two thousand one hundred seventy-two.
Ezra 2:6The children of Pahathmoab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred twelve.
Ezra 2:7The children of Elam, one thousand two hundred fifty-four.
Ezra 2:12The children of Azgad, one thousand two hundred twenty-two.
Ezra 2:14The children of Bigvai, two thousand fifty-six.
Ezra 2:31The children of the other Elam, one thousand two hundred fifty-four.
Ezra 2:35The children of Senaah, three thousand six hundred thirty.
Ezra 2:37The children of Immer, one thousand fifty-two.
Ezra 2:38The children of Pashhur, one thousand two hundred forty-seven.
Ezra 2:39The children of Harim, one thousand seventeen.
Ezra 2:64The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred sixty,
Ezra 2:65in addition to their male servants and their female servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty-seven; and they had two hundred singing men and singing women.
Ezra 2:67their camels, four hundred thirty-five; their donkeys, six thousand seven hundred twenty.
Ezra 2:69They gave according to their ability into the treasury of the work sixty-one thousand darics of gold, and five thousand minas of silver, and one hundred priests’ garments.
Ezra 2:69They gave according to their ability into the treasury of the work sixty-one thousand darics of gold, and five thousand minas of silver, and one hundred priests’ garments.
Ezra 8:27twenty bowls of gold weighing one thousand darics; and two vessels of fine bright bronze, precious as gold.
Nehemiah 3:13Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the valley gate. They built it, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and one thousand cubits of the wall to the dung gate.
Nehemiah 7:8The children of Parosh: two thousand one hundred seventy-two.
Nehemiah 7:11The children of Pahathmoab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab: two thousand eight hundred eighteen.
Nehemiah 7:12The children of Elam: one thousand two hundred fifty-four.
Nehemiah 7:17The children of Azgad: two thousand three hundred twenty-two.
Nehemiah 7:19The children of Bigvai: two thousand sixty-seven.
Nehemiah 7:34The children of the other Elam: one thousand two hundred fifty-four.
Nehemiah 7:38The children of Senaah: three thousand nine hundred thirty.
Nehemiah 7:40The children of Immer: one thousand fifty-two.