The heart ; also used (figuratively) very widely for the feelings , the will and even the intellect ; likewise for the centre of anything
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לֵב (lēb) is commonly translated heart, but its Hebrew range is wider than emotion alone. Depending on context, it can name thought, understanding, intention, will, desire, courage, moral orientation, or the inner center of a person.
Reader summary
Full entry for לֵב (H3820) · Open the biblical lexicon
לֵב (lēb) is commonly translated heart, but its Hebrew range is wider than emotion alone. Depending on context, it can name thought, understanding, intention, will, desire, courage, moral orientation, or the inner center of a person.
The BSB source-word alignment has 595 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include heart (74), . . . (61), my heart (53), His heart (23), Their hearts (20).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 6:5. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (100), Proverbs (93), Jeremiah (58), Exodus (46).
לֵב (lēb) is commonly translated heart, but its Hebrew range is wider than emotion alone. Depending on context, it can name thought, understanding, intention, will, desire, courage, moral orientation, or the inner center of a person. It can also denote the center of something. The range does not mean that every occurrence carries every sense; the immediate passage must determine the emphasis.
Genesis 6:5 uses lēb for the inward formation of human thoughts and intentions. Proverbs 4:23 presents the heart as the source from which life's courses flow, while Psalm 119:11 speaks of storing God's word there. These witnesses show cognitive, volitional, and moral dimensions without requiring a modern division between mind and emotion.
Jeremiah 17:9 describes the heart as deceitful and difficult to understand, and Jeremiah 31:33 promises that the Lord will write his instruction on the heart. Ezekiel 36:26 likewise uses lēb in the promise of a new heart in place of a heart of stone. The movement from diagnosis to divine renewal is a genuine canonical pattern, though each prophetic passage contributes its own covenant setting and imagery.
H3820 is closely related to H3824 לֵבָב (lēbāb). Deuteronomy 6:5 and 10:16 use H3824, not H3820, so they can illuminate the broader Hebrew heart concept but should not be presented as direct occurrences of this identity.
Genesis 6:5 uses H3820 for the inward formation of human thoughts and intentions, locating the moral crisis within the person rather than only in outward acts.
The local artifact counts nearly 600 H3820 occurrences. This frequency and range make lēb an important Hebrew anthropological term, but not a technical term with one invariant theological meaning. Genesis 6:5 emphasizes inward thought and intention; wisdom texts often emphasize discernment and moral direction; prayers can speak of purity, courage, memory, or resolve; prophetic texts can expose corruption or promise renewal.
Proverbs 4:23 is a useful teaching anchor because the surrounding admonition moves from receiving words to watching speech, eyes, and feet. Guarding the heart is therefore the inward governance that shapes an embodied path, not withdrawal into private feeling. Psalm 119:11 similarly places the received word within the heart in relation to resisting sin.
Jeremiah 17:9-10 joins the heart's deception with the Lord's searching judgment. Jeremiah 31:33 then promises divine instruction written within the people. Ezekiel 36:26-27 adds the imagery of a new heart and new spirit that lead toward obedience. These passages support a canonical arc from exposure to renewal while retaining distinct prophetic contexts.
The Shema's heart word in Deuteronomy 6:5 is the sibling noun H3824. It belongs in a broader theology of Hebrew heart language, but precise lexical teaching should name that distinction. H3820 and H3824 overlap substantially, and no sharp semantic boundary should be invented between them.
Across direct H3820 occurrences, the heart is the inward center of thought, resolve, moral direction, corruption, prayer, and promised renewal. The Septuagint often represents Hebrew heart language with καρδία, creating a legitimate lexical and conceptual bridge to New Testament heart language. That bridge should be traced passage by passage rather than used to import every later claim into every Hebrew occurrence.
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. The seat of will, intellect, and emotion—the inner moral and spiritual center governing all human motivation and choice.
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 8 selected witnesses from 596 lexical occurrence verses.
לֵב is built from this root:
The heart represents the source from which speech flows.Hosea 4:11-19
The proverb highlights that God evaluates the internal moral orientation of a person.Isaiah 6:9-13
The heart determines the direction of life and must therefore be guarded.Proverbs 10:20
Wisdom must shape the inner life to guide outward conduct.Proverbs 11:20
The passage emphasizes guarding the inner life so it does not drift toward temptation.Proverbs 4:20-27
The young man lacks wisdom in the inner life, leaving him vulnerable.Proverbs 7:1-5
Hardening of the heart explains the people’s spiritual insensitivity and covenant failure.Proverbs 7:24-27
Center of covenant discernment corrupted.Proverbs 7:6-23
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H3820 helps teachers address the integrated inner person before God. Thought, desire, resolve, memory, discernment, and emotion can all be in view, but the passage decides which aspect is prominent. The word also opens a careful canonical path from the heart's corruption to God's promise of renewal.
It corrects the reduction of heart to feeling alone and the opposite reduction of heart to intellect alone. It also corrects the habit of treating every biblical heart verse as though it used the same Hebrew identity or carried the same sense.
Begin with the passage's own action and context. Ask what the heart is doing: thinking, planning, trusting, remembering, desiring, hardening, or receiving. Then explain how that use fits the noun's wider range without turning the entire range into the meaning of one verse.