עַכְבָּר
akh.bar
mouse
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredThe Hebrew word עַכְבָּר (akh.bar) has a relatively simple yet nuanced meaning. Translating to "mouse," it is a specific type of rodent creature that inhabits the natural world. This small mammal has six reported occurrences in the Hebrew Bible, suggesting a limited yet significant presence in the cultural and narrative context of ancient Israel. The range of usage for this word is largely confined to descriptive passages in the Hebrew Bible. It does not appear to carry any metaphorical or symbolic weight, existing instead as a straightforward designation for this specific type of animal. As a result, the significance of the word lies not in its abstract meaning, but in its concrete reference to the natural world that the ancient Israelites encountered in their daily lives. This ordinary creature, though insignificant to us today, serves as a reminder of the intricate interconnectedness of the ancient ecosystem.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
6 total occurrences across the text
“Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go to the gardens, behind one in the middle, eating pig’s meat, abominable things, and the mouse, they shall come to an end together,” says Yahweh.
Leviticus 11:29“ ‘These are they which are unclean to you among the creeping things that creep on the earth: the weasel, the rat, any kind of great lizard,
1 Samuel 6:4Then they said, “What should the trespass offering be which we shall return to him?” They said, “Five golden tumors and five golden mice, for the number of the lords of the Philistines; for one plague was on you all, and on your lords.
1 Samuel 6:5Therefore you shall make images of your tumors and images of your mice that mar the land; and you shall give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will release his hand from you, from your gods, and from your land.
1 Samuel 6:11They put Yahweh’s ark on the cart, and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumors.
1 Samuel 6:18and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities and of country villages, even to the great stone on which they set down Yahweh’s ark. That stone remains to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.