What does כָּבֵד (kābēd) mean in the Bible?
כָּבֵד (kābēd): Weight as moral/relational burden: heaviness denotes God's glory, human stubbornness, or overwhelming obligation.
Hebrew · H3515
כָּבֵד
Heavy ; figuratively in a good sense ( numerous ) or in a bad sense ( severe , difficult , stupid )
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כָּבֵד H3515
Pronunciation kābēd
What does כָּבֵד (kābēd) mean in the Bible?
כָּבֵד (kābēd): Weight as moral/relational burden: heaviness denotes God's glory, human stubbornness, or overwhelming obligation.
Full entry for כָּבֵד (H3515) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H3515?
The BSB source-word alignment has 41 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include large (3), severe (3), and the heavy (2), you with a heavy (2), . . . (1).
Where does כָּבֵד (kābēd) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 12:10. Its strongest book concentrations include Exodus (12), Genesis (9), 1 Kings (4), 2 Chronicles (3).
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It large 3× Genesis 50:9, 1 Kings 10:2, 2 Chronicles 9:1
severe 3× Genesis 41:31, Genesis 47:13, Exodus 9:24
and the heavy 2× 1 Kings 12:4, 2 Chronicles 10:4
you with a heavy 2× 1 Kings 12:11, 2 Chronicles 10:11
. . . 1× Genesis 50:10
[is] unyielding 1× Exodus 7:14
a severe 1× Exodus 9:3
A thick 1× Exodus 19:16
along with a great army 1× 2 Kings 18:17
along with great droves of 1× Exodus 12:38
am slow 1× Exodus 4:10
and 1× Exodus 4:10
and a great 1× 2 Kings 6:14
and difficult 1× Ezekiel 3:6
and heavy 1× 1 Samuel 4:18
great 1× 1 Kings 3:9
grew heavy 1× Exodus 17:12
has been severe 1× Genesis 47:4
his hair got so heavy 1× 2 Samuel 14:26
is a solemn 1× Genesis 50:11
is too heavy 1× Exodus 18:18
laden 1× Isaiah 1:4
many 1× Exodus 10:14
of a great 1× Isaiah 32:2
or difficult 1× Ezekiel 3:5
outweighs them 1× Proverbs 27:3
the worst 1× Exodus 9:18
Thick 1× Exodus 8:24
too burdensome 1× Numbers 11:14
too heavy 1× Psalms 38:4
was severe 1× Genesis 12:10
was still severe 1× Genesis 43:1
wealthy 1× Genesis 13:2
with a great 1× Isaiah 36:2
with a large 1× Numbers 20:20
Show sample aligned rows
Genesis 12:10 כָבֵ֥ד to was severe Adjective - masculine singular Genesis 13:2 כָּבֵ֣ד to wealthy Adjective - masculine singular Genesis 41:31 כָבֵ֥ד to severe Adjective - masculine singular Genesis 43:1 כָּבֵ֥ד to was still severe Adjective - masculine singular Genesis 47:4 כָבֵ֥ד to has been severe Adjective - masculine singular Genesis 47:13 כָבֵ֥ד to severe Adjective - masculine singular Genesis 50:9 כָּבֵ֥ד to large Adjective - masculine singular Genesis 50:10 וְכָבֵ֖ד to . . . Conjunctive waw | Adjective - masculine singular Genesis 50:11 כָּבֵ֥ד to is a solemn Adjective - masculine singular Exodus 4:10 כְבַד־ to am slow Adjective - masculine singular construct
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Genesis 12:10
Aligned rows 41
Books represented 12
Genesis 9 Exodus 12 Numbers 2 1 Samuel 1 2 Samuel 1 1 Kings 4 2 Kings 2 2 Chronicles 3 Psalms 1 Proverbs 1 Isaiah 3 Ezekiel 2
Source forms
כָּבֵ֣ד 6x kā·ḇêḏ Genesis 13:2, Exodus 9:18, Exodus 9:24, Exodus 10:14
כָּבֵ֥ד 6x kā·ḇêḏ Genesis 43:1, Genesis 50:9, Genesis 50:11, Exodus 9:3
כָבֵ֥ד 5x ḵā·ḇêḏ Genesis 12:10, Genesis 41:31, Genesis 47:4, Genesis 47:13
כָּבֵ֖ד 4x kā·ḇêḏ Exodus 7:14, Numbers 20:20, 2 Kings 18:17, Isaiah 32:2
כָּבֵ֔ד 3x kā·ḇêḏ Exodus 8:24, 1 Kings 12:11, 2 Chronicles 10:11
הַכָּבֵ֛ד 2x hak·kā·ḇêḏ 1 Kings 12:4, 2 Chronicles 10:4
כָּבֵ֑ד 2x kā·ḇêḏ 2 Kings 6:14, Isaiah 36:2
הַכָּבֵ֖ד 1x hak·kā·ḇêḏ 1 Kings 3:9
Parsing patterns
Adjective - masculine singular 30x Genesis 12:10, Genesis 13:2, Genesis 41:31, Genesis 43:1
Article | Adjective - masculine singular 3x 1 Kings 3:9, 1 Kings 12:4, 2 Chronicles 10:4
Adjective - masculine singular construct 2x Exodus 4:10, Isaiah 1:4
Conjunctive waw | Adjective - masculine plural construct 2x Ezekiel 3:5, Ezekiel 3:6
Conjunctive waw | Adjective - masculine singular 2x Genesis 50:10, 1 Samuel 4:18
Adjective - masculine plural 1x Exodus 17:12
Conjunctive waw | Adjective - masculine singular construct 1x Exodus 4:10
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Weight as moral/relational burden: heaviness denotes God's glory, human stubbornness, or overwhelming obligation.
Source Gloss
heavy ; figuratively in a good sense ( numerous ) or in a bad sense ( severe , difficult , stupid )
Extended definition Source: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Weight as moral/relational burden: heaviness denotes God's glory, human stubbornness, or overwhelming obligation.
heavy; figuratively in a good sense (numerous) or in a bad sense (severe, difficult, stupid) BDB: heavy Usage: (so) great, grievous, hard(-ened), (too) heavy(-ier), laden, much, slow, sore, thick.
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.
Biblical Witnesses
Moses describes his speech impediment as a burden, physical difficulty with speaking
Showing 1 selected witness from 39 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
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.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain