אֶלֶף eleph

Hebrew word for “thousand” · Strong’s H505 · used 506 times in 391 verses

Explore it in the Word Atlas

Meaning

: thousand; 1) a thousand; 1a) as numeral; 2) a thousand, company; 2a) as a company of men under one leader, troops

Senses in the lexicon

• thousand (496)
• thousand: clan (10)

How it is translated

Glosses given for eleph in context, with how often each is used:

• thousand 234
• thousands 134
• one thousand 55
• thousand cubits 39
• two thousand 29
• families 7
• about two thousand 2
• about a thousand 1
• more than a thousand 1
• more than thousands 1
• thousand shekels 1
• family 1

Where it is used

Also in 13 more books.

Chapters where it is used most

Numbers 31 (19), Numbers 2 (17), Nehemiah 7 (16), Numbers 1 (14), Numbers 26 (14), 1 Chronicles 12 (14), Ezra 2 (14), Ezekiel 48 (14), 1 Chronicles 27 (13), Judges 20 (11)

Forms

• אלף 286
• אלפים 147
• האלפים 14
• אלפי 13
• ואלף 12
• לאלף 6
• לאלפים 4
• לאלפי 3
• האלף 3
• באלפיו 3

Words used with it

Words that share verses with eleph more often than their overall frequency would suggest:

• מֵאָה meah “hundred” 191
• חָמֵשׁ chamesh “five” 71
• עֶשְׂרִים esrim “twenty” 66
• פָּקַד paqad “to reckon” 65
• אַרְבַּע arba “four” 63
• שָׁלֹשׁ shalosh “three” 59
• שֵׁשׁ shesh “six” 48
• שֶׁבַע sheva “seven” 54
• שְׁלֹשִׁים sheloshim “thirty” 40
• חֲמִשִּׁים chamishshim “fifty” 36
• עֶשֶׂר eser “ten” 35
• שְׁנַיִם shenayim “two” 47

Key verses

The verses using eleph that are most connected by cross-references (King James Version):

• Exodus 18:21 — Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of…
• Exodus 34:7 — Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers…
• Deuteronomy 7:9 — Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a…
• Deuteronomy 32:30 — How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?
• Deuteronomy 33:17 — His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the…
• Job 1:3 — His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household;…
• Psalms 60:1 — [To the chief Musician upon Shushan-eduth, Michtam of David, to teach; when he strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, when Joab returned, and smote of…
• Psalms 68:17 — The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.
• Psalms 84:10 — For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
• Isaiah 37:36 — Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the…
• Ezekiel 48:35 — It was round about eighteen thousand and the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there.
• Micah 5:2 — But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel;…

See all 391 verses in the Word Atlas

Hebrew and Greek text, tagging, glosses and lexicon definitions: STEPBible.org, Tyndale House Cambridge (TAHOT, TAGNT, TBESH, TBESG; CC BY 4.0), adapted. Counts follow King James verse numbering; a word counts each time it is written.