כֶּ֫בֶשׂ
ke.ve.s
lamb
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Kebes: The Hebrew Word for Lamb The Hebrew word *kebes* appears 107 times throughout the biblical text, establishing it as a term of considerable importance in ancient Israelite vocabulary and practice. The word denotes a young sheep—specifically a lamb—and its frequency in the biblical corpus suggests that sheep husbandry and lamb symbolism held significant cultural and religious roles in the societies that produced these texts. The substantial number of occurrences indicates that lambs were not merely incidental to biblical life but rather central to multiple dimensions of Hebrew society. The repetition of this single term across the biblical text points to its consistent use in describing both practical pastoral activities and religious contexts, though the lexicon data provided does not specify the particular contexts in which the word appears. The presence of *kebes* as a distinct, frequently-used term rather than a generic reference to sheep suggests that the age and type of animal carried specific meaning and purpose for biblical communities. Without additional context data about where *kebes* appears—whether in legal codes, narrative accounts, ritual prescriptions, or prophetic literature—we cannot determine the full range of its symbolic or practical applications. However, the 107 occurrences make clear that this animal held a defined place in biblical Hebrew language and the worldview it reflects.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
107 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. He commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on Yahweh’s altar.
2 Chronicles 29:22So they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar. They killed the rams, and sprinkled the blood on the altar. They also killed the lambs, and sprinkled the blood on the altar.
2 Chronicles 29:32The number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs. All these were for a burnt offering to Yahweh.
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.
Ezra 8:35The children of the captivity, who had come out of exile, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve male goats for a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to Yahweh.
Ezekiel 46:4The burnt offering that the prince shall offer to Yahweh shall be on the Sabbath day six lambs without defect and a ram without defect;
Ezekiel 46:5and the meal offering shall be an ephah for the ram, and the meal offering for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah.
Ezekiel 46:6On the day of the new moon it shall be a young bull without defect, and six lambs, and a ram. They shall be without defect.
Ezekiel 46:7He shall prepare a meal offering, an ephah for the bull, and an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs according as he is able, and a hin of oil to an ephah.
Job 31:20if his heart hasn’t blessed me, if he hasn’t been warmed with my sheep’s fleece;
Proverbs 27:26The lambs are for your clothing, and the goats are the price of a field.
Isaiah 1:11“What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?”, says Yahweh. “I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed animals. I don’t delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats.
Isaiah 5:17Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.
Numbers 28:4You shall offer the one lamb in the morning, and you shall offer the other lamb at evening,
Numbers 28:4You shall offer the one lamb in the morning, and you shall offer the other lamb at evening,
Isaiah 11:6The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, the calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together; and a little child will lead them.
Jeremiah 11:19But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter. I didn’t know that they had devised plans against me, saying, “Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit, and let’s cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.”
Ezekiel 46:11“ ‘ “In the feasts and in the solemnities the meal offering shall be an ephah for a bull, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah.
Ezekiel 46:13“ ‘ “You shall prepare a lamb a year old without defect for a burnt offering to Yahweh daily. Morning by morning you shall prepare it.
Ezekiel 46:15Thus they shall prepare the lamb, the meal offering, and the oil, morning by morning, for a continual burnt offering.”
Hosea 4:16For Israel has behaved extremely stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. Then how will Yahweh feed them like a lamb in a meadow.
Exodus 12:5Your lamb shall be without defect, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats.
Exodus 29:38“Now this is that which you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old day by day continually.
Exodus 29:39The one lamb you shall offer in the morning; and the other lamb you shall offer at evening;
Exodus 29:39The one lamb you shall offer in the morning; and the other lamb you shall offer at evening;
Exodus 29:40and with the one lamb a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour mixed with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil, and the fourth part of a hin of wine for a drink offering.
Exodus 29:41The other lamb you shall offer at evening, and shall do to it according to the meal offering of the morning and according to its drink offering, for a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
Leviticus 4:32“ ‘If he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering, he shall bring a female without defect.
Leviticus 9:3You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering; and a calf and a lamb, both a year old, without defect, for a burnt offering;
Leviticus 12:6“ ‘When the days of her purification are completed for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the door of the Tent of Meeting, a year old lamb for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove, for a sin offering.
Leviticus 14:10“On the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without defect, one ewe lamb a year old without defect, three tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering, mixed with oil, and one log of oil.
Leviticus 14:12“The priest shall take one of the male lambs, and offer him for a trespass offering, with the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before Yahweh.
Leviticus 14:13He shall kill the male lamb in the place where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the place of the sanctuary; for as the sin offering is the priest’s, so is the trespass offering. It is most holy.
Leviticus 14:21“If he is poor, and can’t afford so much, then he shall take one male lamb for a trespass offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, and one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering, and a log of oil;
Leviticus 14:24The priest shall take the lamb of the trespass offering, and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before Yahweh.
Leviticus 14:25He shall kill the lamb of the trespass offering. The priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.
Leviticus 23:12On the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb without defect a year old for a burnt offering to Yahweh.
Leviticus 23:18You shall present with the bread seven lambs without defect a year old, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to Yahweh, with their meal offering and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a sweet aroma to Yahweh.
Leviticus 23:19You shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
Leviticus 23:20The priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering before Yahweh, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to Yahweh for the priest.
Numbers 28:7Its drink offering shall be the fourth part of a hin for each lamb. You shall pour out a drink offering of strong drink to Yahweh in the holy place.
Numbers 28:8The other lamb you shall offer at evening. As the meal offering of the morning, and as its drink offering, you shall offer it, an offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma to Yahweh.
Numbers 6:12He shall separate to Yahweh the days of his separation, and shall bring a male lamb a year old for a trespass offering; but the former days shall be void, because his separation was defiled.
Numbers 6:14and he shall offer his offering to Yahweh: one male lamb a year old without defect for a burnt offering, one ewe lamb a year old without defect for a sin offering, one ram without defect for peace offerings,
Numbers 7:15one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;
Numbers 7:17and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Nahshon the son of Amminadab.
Numbers 7:21one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;
Numbers 7:23and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Nethanel the son of Zuar.
Numbers 7:27one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;
Numbers 7:29and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Eliab the son of Helon.