What does זְרוֹעַ (zərôa‘) mean in the Bible?
H2220 names an arm or foreleg and figuratively strength or force. 6, God promises to redeem enslaved Israel with an outstretched arm and mighty judgments.
Hebrew · H2220
זְרוֹעַ
The arm (as stretched out), or (of animals) the foreleg ; figuratively, force
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זְרוֹעַH2220
Pronunciationzərôa‘
What does זְרוֹעַ (zərôa‘) mean in the Bible?
H2220 names an arm or foreleg and figuratively strength or force. 6, God promises to redeem enslaved Israel with an outstretched arm and mighty judgments.
Reader summary
Full entry for זְרוֹעַ (H2220) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H2220?
The BSB source-word alignment has 91 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include arm (24), the arms (5), his arms (4), the arm (4), and His arm (3).
Where does זְרוֹעַ (zərôa‘) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 49:24. Its strongest book concentrations include Isaiah (17), Psalms (14), Ezekiel (13), Deuteronomy (9).
What This Word Actually Means
H2220 names an arm or foreleg and figuratively strength or force. In Exod. 6. 6, God promises to redeem enslaved Israel with an outstretched arm and mighty judgments. In Deut. 5. 15, the same deliverance grounds Sabbath rest for the household. In Jer. 17. 5, the person who makes human flesh his arm and turns from the Lord is warned. H2220 opens teaching on God's liberating power, rest rooted in freedom, embodied strength, political and military force, and the limits of human reliance.
It does not portray God as a body, glorify physical strength, or make disability a sign of weak faith. Whether an arm liberates, supports, threatens, or fails depends on whose strength acts and toward what end.
How the Bible Uses It
H2220 refers to human and animal limbs, physical strength, military forces, dynastic power, a lover's arm, and God's metaphorical outstretched arm. Context distinguishes anatomy, ritual portion, capacity, and power.
- Exod.6.6
Therefore tell the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.
God's outstretched arm describes His effective power to bring Israel from Egyptian bondage and redeem them.
- Deut.5.15
Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
Remembered deliverance by God's outstretched arm becomes the reason Israel must keep Sabbath and give rest to dependents.
- Jer.17.5
This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes mere flesh his strength and turns his heart from the Lord.
Trust that makes mortal flesh its arm turns the heart away from the Lord and rests on limited power.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itarm24×Exodus 6:6, Deuteronomy 4:34, Deuteronomy 5:15, Deuteronomy 7:19
the arms5×Psalms 37:17, Ezekiel 30:24, Ezekiel 30:25, Hosea 11:3
his arms4×Judges 15:14, Judges 16:12, Ezekiel 30:22, Daniel 10:6
the arm4×2 Chronicles 32:8, Job 26:2, Psalms 10:15, Ezekiel 30:21
and His arm3×Isaiah 40:10, Isaiah 48:14, Jeremiah 48:25
arms3×Deuteronomy 33:27, Isaiah 44:12, Ezekiel 30:25
and the strength2×1 Samuel 2:31, Job 22:9
his strength2×Jeremiah 17:5, Daniel 11:6
My arm2×Psalms 89:21, Isaiah 51:5
my arms2×2 Samuel 22:35, Psalms 18:34
of Your arm2×Exodus 15:16, Psalms 79:11
Your arm2×Psalms 44:3, Song Of Solomon 8:6
. . .1×Daniel 11:6
an arm1×Deuteronomy 33:20
and His mighty arm1×Isaiah 30:30
and his strong arms1×Genesis 49:24
and My arms1×Isaiah 51:5
and shows that her arms1×Proverbs 31:17
As its allies1×Ezekiel 31:17
belonged to a mighty1×Job 22:8
Do you have an arm1×Job 40:9
forces1×Daniel 11:31
from the arm1×Job 35:9
has the arm1×Isaiah 53:1
his arm1×2 Samuel 1:10
his power1×Ezekiel 22:6
in His arms1×Isaiah 40:11
May his arm1×Zechariah 11:17
O arm1×Isaiah 51:9
of forces1×Daniel 11:22
of his own offspring1×Isaiah 9:20
our strength1×Isaiah 33:2
shoulder1×Numbers 6:19
So His own arm1×Isaiah 59:16
So My arm1×Isaiah 63:5
strength1×Psalms 83:8
strike his arm1×Zechariah 11:17
The forces1×Daniel 11:15
the shoulder1×Deuteronomy 18:3
the shoulders1×2 Kings 9:24
their arm1×Psalms 44:3
their arms1×Hosea 7:15
with his arm1×Isaiah 17:5
With power1×Psalms 77:15
with your arm1×Ezekiel 4:7
your arms1×Ezekiel 13:20
Your power1×Psalms 71:18
your strength1×1 Samuel 2:31
Show sample aligned rows
Genesis 49:24זְרֹעֵ֣יtoand his strong armsNoun - feminine plural constructExodus 6:6בִּזְר֣וֹעַtoarmPreposition-b | Noun - feminine singularExodus 15:16זְרוֹעֲךָ֖toof Your armNoun - feminine singular construct | second person masculine singularNumbers 6:19הַזְּרֹ֣עַtoshoulderArticle | Noun - feminine singularDeuteronomy 4:34וּבִזְר֣וֹעַtoarmConjunctive waw, Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singularDeuteronomy 5:15וּבִזְרֹ֣עַtoarmConjunctive waw, Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singularDeuteronomy 7:19וְהַזְּרֹ֣עַtoarmConjunctive waw, Article | Noun - feminine singularDeuteronomy 9:29וּבִֽזְרֹעֲךָ֖toarmConjunctive waw, Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct | second person masculine singularDeuteronomy 11:2וּזְרֹע֖וֹtoarmConjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singularDeuteronomy 18:3הַזְּרֹ֥עַtothe shoulderArticle | Noun - feminine singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowGenesis 49:24
Aligned rows91
Books represented20
Genesis1Exodus2Numbers1Deuteronomy9Judges21 Samuel22 Samuel21 Kings12 Kings22 Chronicles2Job6Psalms14Proverbs1Song Of Solomon1Isaiah17Jeremiah5Ezekiel13Daniel6Hosea2Zechariah2
Source forms
וּבִזְר֣וֹעַ5xū·ḇiz·rō·w·a‘Deuteronomy 4:34, Psalms 136:12, Isaiah 62:8, Jeremiah 21:5
וּזְרֹע֖וֹ5xū·zə·rō·‘ōwDeuteronomy 11:2, Isaiah 17:5, Isaiah 40:10, Isaiah 48:14
זְר֣וֹעַ5xzə·rō·w·a‘2 Chronicles 32:8, Job 26:2, Psalms 10:15, Isaiah 51:9
זְר֖וֹעַ4xzə·rō·w·a‘Deuteronomy 33:20, Job 40:9, Psalms 83:8, Isaiah 63:12
בִּזְר֣וֹעַ3xbiz·rō·w·a‘Exodus 6:6, Psalms 77:15, Isaiah 44:12
וּזְר֥וֹעַ3xū·zə·rō·w·a‘Job 38:15, Psalms 98:1, Isaiah 53:1
וּבִזְרֹ֣עַ2xū·ḇiz·rō·a‘Deuteronomy 5:15, Deuteronomy 26:8
וּבִֽזְרֹעֲךָ֖2xū·ḇiz·rō·‘ă·ḵāDeuteronomy 9:29, Jeremiah 32:17
Parsing patterns
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular8xDeuteronomy 4:34, Deuteronomy 5:15, Deuteronomy 26:8, 2 Kings 17:36
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular7xDeuteronomy 11:2, Isaiah 17:5, Isaiah 40:10, Isaiah 48:14
Noun - feminine singular construct7x1 Samuel 2:31, 2 Chronicles 32:8, Psalms 10:15, Isaiah 51:9
Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular7x2 Samuel 1:10, Isaiah 9:20, Isaiah 30:30, Isaiah 59:16
Noun - feminine plural construct6xGenesis 49:24, Deuteronomy 33:27, Psalms 37:17, Ezekiel 30:24
Noun - feminine singular6xDeuteronomy 33:20, Job 22:8, Job 26:2, Job 40:9
Noun - feminine plural construct | third person masculine singular5xJudges 15:14, Judges 16:12, 2 Kings 9:24, Ezekiel 30:22
Noun - feminine singular construct | second person masculine singular5xExodus 15:16, 1 Samuel 2:31, Psalms 71:18, Psalms 79:11
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Do not tell disabled, ill, elderly, or physically weak people that their bodies reveal deficient faith or usefulness.
- Do not identify a nation's military force, police power, or political leader as God's outstretched arm without explicit warrant.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that H2220 teaches God has a physical arm or that muscular strength is spiritually superior.
- Do not claim that trusting God removes the need for skilled human assistance, medicine, defense, or mutual aid.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Arm as stretched out in action; God's זְרוֹעַ symbolizes active divine power and deliverance throughout Scripture.
Source Gloss
the arm (as stretched out), or (of animals) the foreleg ; figuratively, force
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Arm as stretched out in action; God's זְרוֹעַ symbolizes active divine power and deliverance throughout Scripture.
the arm (as stretched out), or (of animals) the foreleg; figuratively, force BDB: arm Usage: arm, help, mighty, power, shoulder, strength.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Old Testament Witnesses
Arm; metaphor for strength, military power, or the capacity to act
Showing 1 selected witness from 91 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
זְרוֹעַ is built from this root:
Part of These Phrases
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
For the Preacher and Teacher
H2220 makes power visible as an arm extended toward action. Exodus uses the image for God's effective intervention against an enslaving empire. Deuteronomy then connects that power to Sabbath: people delivered from forced labor must not reproduce relentless labor over servants, foreigners, children, or animals. Divine strength creates freedom and rest rather than a new elite's domination.
Jeremiah warns against making mortal flesh one's arm, exposing political, military, and personal capacity as inadequate grounds for ultimate trust. Scripture can also praise trained arms or strong work, so embodied ability is a gift, not an evil. Yet no body type determines worth, and every human arm remains finite. Faithful application uses strength to protect and release, builds rest into systems, welcomes adaptive forms of contribution, and refuses to baptize coercive force as God's outstretched arm.
Anchor passage
Exod.6.6
Doctrinal connections
- H2220: God's outstretched arm reveals power exercised to free people from bondage.
- H2220: Sabbath extends remembered liberation into the treatment of workers, foreigners, households, and animals.
- H2220: human strength is real and useful but cannot bear the weight of ultimate trust.
- H2220: wicked power can be broken and called to account so that exploitation loses capacity.
- H2220: bodily strength is one creaturely capacity among many and does not determine dignity.
- H2220: God's figurative arm communicates effective action without defining divine anatomy.
H2220 is a Hebrew noun for arm or foreleg and extends figuratively to strength, help, or organized force. Possessors and modifiers distinguish human anatomy, an animal portion, an army, and God's anthropomorphic action.
From Old to New Testament
Mary sings of God displaying strength and scattering the proud, while the New Testament locates divine power supremely in Christ's cross, resurrection, and liberation rather than coercive spectacle. The cross exposes coercive strength, while resurrection reveals God's life-giving power and the church is called to protect the weak.