A beeve or an animal of the ox family of either gender (as used for plowing ); collectively, a herd
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H1241 names cattle of either sex and can refer collectively to a herd. Cattle supplied traction, food, offerings, wealth, transport, and communal provision, so their presence or loss carried real economic weight.
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Full entry for בָּקָר (H1241) · Open the biblical lexicon
H1241 names cattle of either sex and can refer collectively to a herd. Cattle supplied traction, food, offerings, wealth, transport, and communal provision, so their presence or loss carried real economic weight.
The BSB source-word alignment has 183 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include . . . (40), oxen (28), and herds (17), and cattle (12), cattle (9).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 12:16. Its strongest book concentrations include Numbers (50), 2 Chronicles (18), Genesis (17), 1 Kings (12).
H1241 names cattle of either sex and can refer collectively to a herd. Cattle supplied traction, food, offerings, wealth, transport, and communal provision, so their presence or loss carried real economic weight. In Lev. 1. 2, an Israelite may bring an animal from the herd or flock as an offering to the Lord, beginning instructions that distinguish kinds and conditions of offerings.
In Amos. 6. 12, the absurd question about plowing the sea with oxen exposes leaders who have turned justice into poison. In Hab. 3. 17, the absence of cattle from stalls belongs to comprehensive agricultural failure, yet the prophet rejoices in the Lord. H1241 opens teaching on work, wealth, worship, distorted justice, and faith amid loss. It does not promise expanding herds, make poverty spiritually superior, or authorize careless handling of powerful animals.
H1241 covers individual cattle, working oxen, cows, collective herds, sacrificial animals, wealth inventories, royal food systems, and poetic signs of abundance or collapse. Context supplies sex, number, and function.
“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When any of you brings an offering to the Lord, you may bring as your offering an animal from the herd or the flock.
The opening burnt-offering instruction permits an animal from the herd or flock and then defines acceptable presentation.
“Do horses gallop on the cliffs? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—
The prophet compares corrupting justice to the impossible folly of plowing the sea with oxen.
Though the fig tree does not bud and no fruit is on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are cut off from the fold and no cattle are in the stalls,
Even if crops fail, flocks disappear, and no cattle remain in the stalls, Habakkuk resolves to rejoice in the saving Lord.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Cattle valued primarily for agricultural labor and sacrifice; collective term for herds as economic wealth and covenant offering.
Cattle valued primarily for agricultural labor and sacrifice; collective term for herds as economic wealth and covenant offering.
a beeve or an animal of the ox family of either gender (as used for plowing); collectively, a herd BDB: cattle Usage: beeve, bull ( -ock), calf, cow, great (cattle), heifer, herd, kine, ox.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 183 lexical occurrence verses.
בָּקָר is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H1241 represents concentrated life and labor in an agrarian household. An ox can pull, a cow can reproduce, a herd can feed and enrich a community, and a selected animal can become an offering. Leviticus therefore treats cattle with careful ritual distinctions rather than as generic religious objects. Amos turns plowing imagery against leaders who have made justice poisonous; productive tools cannot make an impossible and corrupt order fruitful.
Habakkuk imagines cattle stalls empty alongside failed fields and flocks, then locates joy in the Lord rather than denying the disaster. Faithful application recognizes economic dependence, cares for working creatures, and refuses to equate asset growth with divine approval. It also permits lament when livelihoods collapse while confessing that God's saving worth exceeds the balance sheet.
Worship uses material gifts truthfully, justice preserves communal life, and hope does not require pretending the stalls are full.
Hab.3.17
H1241 is a collective-capable Hebrew noun for cattle or a herd, covering male and female animals. Numbers, associated labor, offspring, stalls, and offering terminology clarify whether the translation should be oxen, cattle, cows, or herd.
Paul draws on the working ox in discussing care for laborers, and Jesus' parables assume cattle as valuable property and feast provision. Christian use must respect both the animal and human contexts rather than turning either into mere illustration.