What does כּוֹכָב (kwōkāb) mean in the Bible?
Stars belong to the created heavens and become memorable witnesses in biblical speech. Genesis names them among the lights God makes, placing their existence within His creative work.
Hebrew · H3556
כּוֹכָב
Stars belong to the created heavens and become memorable witnesses in biblical speech. Genesis names them among the lights God makes, placing their existence within His creative work.
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כּוֹכָבH3556
Pronunciationkwōkāb
What does כּוֹכָב (kwōkāb) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for כּוֹכָב (H3556) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H3556?
The BSB source-word alignment has 37 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include the stars (8), as the stars (6), stars (5), and stars (4), and the stars (4).
Where does כּוֹכָב (kwōkāb) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 1:16. Its strongest book concentrations include Genesis (5), Job (5), Deuteronomy (4), Psalms (4).
What This Word Actually Means
Stars belong to the created heavens and become memorable witnesses in biblical speech. Genesis names them among the lights God makes, placing their existence within His creative work. When Abram worries about the absence of an heir, the Lord directs him to look at the stars and uses their number to illustrate the promised descendants. Deuteronomy warns Israel against worshiping the heavenly lights they can see.
Those three movements distinguish a created object, a promise comparison, and a temptation to misplaced worship. Other passages can use stellar brightness for a particular image, but the noun does not make every star an angel, ruler, or prediction. Teaching this word should help readers receive the heavens as God's work, understand the promise in its stated setting, and keep visible splendor from becoming an object of devotion.
How the Bible Uses It
The stars are made by God, counted in the promise to Abram, and included in Israel's warning against heavenly-object worship. Their visible abundance or brightness can serve a comparison without determining one universal symbolic identity.
- Gen.1.16
God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars as well.
The stars are included in God's making of the heavenly lights; the account places them within His work rather than presenting them as rival objects of worship.
- Gen.15.5
And the Lord took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”
The invitation to count the stars answers Abram's concern about an heir through the Lord's promise concerning his offspring, followed by Abram's believing response.
- Deut.4.19
When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.
Moses warns against being enticed to worship the visible heavenly host, distinguishing looking at the stars from bowing down to the created lights.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itthe stars8×Genesis 15:5, Judges 5:20, Nehemiah 4:21, Job 9:7
as the stars6×Genesis 26:4, Exodus 32:13, Deuteronomy 1:10, Deuteronomy 10:22
stars5×Genesis 37:9, Job 3:9, Job 22:12, Job 38:7
and stars4×Deuteronomy 4:19, Psalms 136:9, Ecclesiastes 12:2, Jeremiah 31:35
and the stars4×Job 25:5, Psalms 8:3, Joel 2:10, Joel 3:15
like the stars2×Genesis 22:17, Nehemiah 9:23
of the stars2×Psalms 147:4, Daniel 8:10
[will shine] like the stars1×Daniel 12:3
A star1×Numbers 24:17
more than the stars1×Nahum 3:16
the stars {as well}1×Genesis 1:16
their stars1×Ezekiel 32:7
your star1×Amos 5:26
Show sample aligned rows
Genesis 1:16הַכּוֹכָבִֽים׃tothe stars {as well}Article | Noun - masculine pluralGenesis 15:5הַכּ֣וֹכָבִ֔יםtothe starsArticle | Noun - masculine pluralGenesis 22:17כְּכוֹכְבֵ֣יtolike the starsPreposition-k | Noun - masculine plural constructGenesis 26:4כְּכוֹכְבֵ֣יtoas the starsPreposition-k | Noun - masculine plural constructGenesis 37:9כּֽוֹכָבִ֔יםtostarsNoun - masculine pluralExodus 32:13כְּכוֹכְבֵ֖יtoas the starsPreposition-k | Noun - masculine plural constructNumbers 24:17כּוֹכָ֜בtoA starNoun - masculine singularDeuteronomy 1:10כְּכוֹכְבֵ֥יtoas the starsPreposition-k | Noun - masculine plural constructDeuteronomy 4:19הַכּֽוֹכָבִ֗יםtoand starsArticle | Noun - masculine pluralDeuteronomy 10:22כְּכוֹכְבֵ֥יtoas the starsPreposition-k | Noun - masculine plural construct
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowGenesis 1:16
Aligned rows37
Books represented18
Genesis5Exodus1Numbers1Deuteronomy4Judges11 Chronicles1Nehemiah2Job5Psalms4Ecclesiastes1Isaiah3Jeremiah1Ezekiel1Daniel2Joel2Amos1Obadiah1Nahum1
Source forms
כְּכוֹכְבֵ֥י4xkə·ḵō·wḵ·ḇêDeuteronomy 1:10, Deuteronomy 10:22, Deuteronomy 28:62, 1 Chronicles 27:23
וְכוֹכָבִ֖ים3xwə·ḵō·w·ḵā·ḇîmJeremiah 31:35, Joel 2:10, Joel 3:15
הַכּוֹכָבִֽים׃2xhak·kō·w·ḵā·ḇîmGenesis 1:16, Nehemiah 4:21
וְ֝כוֹכָבִ֗ים2xwə·ḵō·w·ḵā·ḇîmJob 25:5, Psalms 8:3
כּוֹכָבִ֣ים2xkō·w·ḵā·ḇîmJob 9:7, Job 22:12
כְּכוֹכְבֵ֣י2xkə·ḵō·wḵ·ḇêGenesis 22:17, Genesis 26:4
בַּכּ֣וֹכָבִ֔ים1xbak·kō·w·ḵā·ḇîmIsaiah 47:13
הַכּ֣וֹכָבִ֔ים1xhak·kō·w·ḵā·ḇîmGenesis 15:5
Parsing patterns
Preposition-k | Noun - masculine plural construct8xGenesis 22:17, Genesis 26:4, Exodus 32:13, Deuteronomy 1:10
Article | Noun - masculine plural6xGenesis 1:16, Genesis 15:5, Deuteronomy 4:19, Judges 5:20
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine plural6xJob 25:5, Psalms 8:3, Psalms 136:9, Jeremiah 31:35
Noun - masculine plural4xGenesis 37:9, Job 9:7, Job 22:12, Obadiah 1:4
Noun - masculine plural construct4xJob 3:9, Job 38:7, Psalms 148:3, Isaiah 13:10
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - masculine plural1xEcclesiastes 12:2
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine plural1xEzekiel 32:7
Noun - masculine singular1xNumbers 24:17
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Offer Abram's passage as testimony to God's faithfulness without burdening childless households with a numerical promise it does not address to them.
- Encourage prayerful obedience to Scripture rather than dependence on star charts for decisions about discipleship.
Avoid claiming...
- The star comparison does not make every believer the recipient of Abram's particular promise of innumerable offspring; the Lord addresses his concern about an heir.
- A star's presence does not establish divine permission to worship it, because Deuteronomy expressly warns against that response.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Star's roundness and brilliance enable its figurative extension to princely power and authority
Source Gloss
a star (as round or as shining); figuratively, a prince
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Star's roundness and brilliance enable its figurative extension to princely power and authority
a star (as round or as shining); figuratively, a prince BDB: star Usage: star(-gazer).
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected Scripture Witnesses
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Biblical Witnesses
Literal celestial bodies used in comparison for innumerable multitude
Celestial objects that idolaters loved and served, objects of false worship
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 37 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
כּוֹכָב is built from these roots:
כַּבּוֹןH3522
כָּוָהH3554
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
Abram's star-filled view matters because the Lord accompanies it with a word. The visible lights do not independently reveal the promised family; God tells Abram what their uncountable appearance illustrates. Genesis has already located those lights within God's creative activity, and Deuteronomy later warns against turning them into objects of worship. A teacher can hold wonder, trust, and discernment together without making the sky a private message system.
Psalm 147's declaration that God names the stars reinforces His knowledge rather than human mastery through celestial prediction. When Daniel compares the wise to shining stars, the comparison receives its meaning from that passage's hope. The reader's task is to hear the particular scriptural claim instead of assigning one secret identity to every bright point in the heavens.
Anchor passage
Gen.15.5
Doctrinal connections
- Genesis 1:16 includes the stars within God's making of the lights that serve the earth.
- Genesis 15:5-6 joins the star comparison to a spoken promise and Abram's believing response.
- Deuteronomy 4:19 protects worship from being redirected toward the visible host of heaven.
- Psalm 147:4-5 locates the numbering and naming of stars within the Lord's unlimited understanding.
- Daniel 12:3 uses stellar brightness to describe the enduring shining of those who lead many to righteousness.
- Revelation 22:16 gives Jesus the bright Morning Star designation in His own testimony to the churches.
The Hebrew noun identifies a star. Numerical abundance, brightness, and a named symbolic designation are contextual contributions; they should not be combined into a definition that makes every occurrence refer to the same person or spiritual being.
From Old to New Testament
Revelation 22:16 records Jesus naming Himself the bright Morning Star. That self-designation gives a specific Christological use of stellar imagery, while Genesis 15 retains its stated comparison with Abram's offspring and Genesis 1 retains the actual created lights.