רֵאשׁ
resh
head
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Rēsh (Head): A Foundational Hebrew Term The Hebrew word *rēsh* refers to the head and appears 283 times throughout the biblical text, making it one of the most frequently used anatomical terms in Hebrew Scripture. This high frequency suggests that the concept of "head" held considerable importance in biblical thought and discourse. The straightforward definition—"head"—indicates a primary, literal anatomical reference, though the word's prevalence invites consideration of how such a basic physical term might extend into figurative or symbolic domains across such a large corpus of text. The sheer number of occurrences (283) across the biblical canon indicates that *rēsh* functioned as a fundamental vocabulary item essential to Hebrew expression. Whether used literally to refer to the physical head or potentially in other contexts, its pervasiveness demonstrates that concepts related to the head were central to how biblical writers described physical reality, human relationships, and possibly abstract ideas. This frequency places *rēsh* among the core vocabulary of biblical Hebrew, comparable in importance to other basic anatomical and spatial terms that form the foundation of any language's descriptive capacity.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
283 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
When I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled the hair out of my head and of my beard, and sat down confounded.
Ezra 9:6and I said, “My God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, my God; for our iniquities have increased over our head, and our guiltiness has grown up to the heavens.
Nehemiah 4:4“Hear, our God; for we are despised. Turn back their reproach on their own head. Give them up for a plunder in a land of captivity.
Esther 2:17The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she obtained favor and kindness in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown on her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.
Esther 6:8let royal clothing be brought which the king uses to wear, and the horse that the king rides on, and on the head of which a royal crown is set.
Esther 6:12Mordecai came back to the king’s gate, but Haman hurried to his house, mourning and having his head covered.
Esther 9:25but when this became known to the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked plan, which he had planned against the Jews, should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
Job 1:20Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped.
Job 2:12When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn’t recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky.
Job 10:15If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still will not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction.
Job 16:4I also could speak as you do. If your soul were in my soul’s place, I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you,
Job 19:9He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
Job 20:6Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,
Job 24:24They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone. Yes, they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as all others, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.
Job 29:3when his lamp shone on my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,
Psalms 68:21But God will strike through the head of his enemies, the hairy scalp of such a one as still continues in his guiltiness.
Job 41:7Can you fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fish spears?
Psalms 3:3But you, Yahweh, are a shield around me, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
Psalms 7:16The trouble he causes shall return to his own head. His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head.
Psalms 21:3For you meet him with the blessings of goodness. You set a crown of fine gold on his head.
Psalms 22:7All those who see me mock me. They insult me with their lips. They shake their heads, saying,
Psalms 23:5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over.
Psalms 24:7Lift up your heads, you gates! Be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory will come in.
Psalms 24:9Lift up your heads, you gates; yes, lift them up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory will come in.
Psalms 27:6Now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me. I will offer sacrifices of joy in his tent. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to Yahweh.
Exodus 29:15“You shall also take the one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram.
Psalms 38:4For my iniquities have gone over my head. As a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.
Psalms 40:12For innumerable evils have surrounded me. My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs of my head. My heart has failed me.
Psalms 44:14You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples.
Psalms 66:12You allowed men to ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, but you brought us to the place of abundance.
Psalms 69:4Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who want to cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. I have to restore what I didn’t take away.
Psalms 74:13You divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
Psalms 74:14You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces. You gave him as food to people and desert creatures.
Psalms 83:2For, behold, your enemies are stirred up. Those who hate you have lifted up their heads.
Psalms 109:25I have also become a reproach to them. When they see me, they shake their head.
Psalms 110:7He will drink of the brook on the way; therefore he will lift up his head.
Psalms 118:22The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
Psalms 133:2It is like the precious oil on the head, that ran down on the beard, even Aaron’s beard, that came down on the edge of his robes,
Psalms 140:7Yahweh, the Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle.
Psalms 140:9As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.
Psalms 141:5Let the righteous strike me, it is kindness; let him reprove me, it is like oil on the head; don’t let my head refuse it; Yet my prayer is always against evil deeds.
Psalms 141:5Let the righteous strike me, it is kindness; let him reprove me, it is like oil on the head; don’t let my head refuse it; Yet my prayer is always against evil deeds.
Proverbs 1:9for they will be a garland to grace your head, and chains around your neck.
Proverbs 4:9She will give to your head a garland of grace. She will deliver a crown of splendor to you.”
Proverbs 10:6Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.
Proverbs 11:26People curse someone who withholds grain, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.
Proverbs 25:22for you will heap coals of fire on his head, and Yahweh will reward you.
Ecclesiastes 2:14The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness—and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all.
Ecclesiastes 9:8Let your garments be always white, and don’t let your head lack oil.
Song of Solomon 2:6His left hand is under my head. His right hand embraces me.