Properly, wrap around , i.e. (by implication) to put on a garment or clothe (oneself, or another), literally or figuratively
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H3847, lāḇaš, is a Hebrew verb for putting on or wearing clothing and, in causative forms, for clothing another person. Its Qal uses regularly describe a person wearing or being dressed in garments, armor, sackcloth, royal attire, or priestly linen.
Reader summary
Full entry for לָבַשׁ (H3847) · Open the biblical lexicon
H3847, lāḇaš, is a Hebrew verb for putting on or wearing clothing and, in causative forms, for clothing another person. Its Qal uses regularly describe a person wearing or being dressed in garments, armor, sackcloth, royal attire, or priestly linen.
The BSB source-word alignment has 110 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include clothed (10), Dressed (8), put on (8), wear (5), be clothed (4).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 3:21. Its strongest book concentrations include Ezekiel (15), Leviticus (11), Isaiah (10), Psalms (10).
H3847, lāḇaš, is a Hebrew verb for putting on or wearing clothing and, in causative forms, for clothing another person. Its Qal uses regularly describe a person wearing or being dressed in garments, armor, sackcloth, royal attire, or priestly linen. Hiphil forms describe someone placing clothing on another, while Pual forms describe people presented as dressed.
Passive participial forms can describe people as clothed, but they do not introduce a separate sense. The wearer, garment, action, and scene determine the force. Literal clothing can mark office, protection, mourning, honor, disguise, deprivation, or care. Exodus 28 places the verb within Aaron's and his sons' consecration for priestly service; the fabric does not create holiness apart from the Lord's command and appointment.
First Samuel 17 shows Saul clothing David in armor he ultimately cannot use. Second Chronicles 28 shows captives being clothed, fed, treated, and returned, so bodily care belongs to reconciliation rather than merely symbolic speech. Deuteronomy 22:5 uses the verb inside a specific covenant command about gendered articles and attire; the verb itself does not identify every item, settle every modern case, or authorize humiliation and violence.
Scripture also uses clothing as a contextual image. In Judges 6:34 the Hebrew clothing verb stands behind the English rendering that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon. The scene speaks of divine empowerment for Gideon's summons, not a clothing ritual or a formula for proving an impulse is from God. Job 29:14 pictures righteousness and justice as garments shaping public conduct.
Isaiah 61:10 rejoices that God has clothed the speaker in salvation and wrapped the speaker in righteousness. These images draw on clothing's nearness, visibility, and enveloping function, but they do not make righteousness fabric, treat outward dress as proof of inward holiness, or teach that salvation is self-produced. Pastoral teaching should therefore distinguish wearing from clothing another, literal garments from metaphors, and divinely given identity from status performed for an audience.
H3847 can expose the shame of leaving people unclothed, celebrate concrete care, illuminate vocation and public identity, and help readers receive salvation as God's gift. It cannot carry a universal dress code, confer spiritual power on garments, or make appearance a reliable measure of character.
H3847 appears across ordinary garments, armor, royal and priestly attire, mourning clothes, disguise, care for unclothed people, and figurative clothing with righteousness, salvation, honor, terror, shame, or divine empowerment. The subject, object, stem, garment, and literary setting govern each use.
After you put these garments on your brother Aaron and his sons, anoint them, ordain them, and consecrate them so that they may serve Me as priests.
Clothing Aaron and his sons is one part of their anointing, ordination, and consecration; the verb does not make the garments independently holy.
A woman must not wear men’s clothing, and a man must not wear women’s clothing, for whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord your God.
H3847 marks the man's act of wearing in the second clause. The verb itself does not define every article or settle every contemporary application of the covenant command.
So the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, who blew the ram’s horn and rallied the Abiezrites behind him.
The Hebrew uses the clothing verb with the Spirit as subject; the BSB renders the action came upon. The narrative connects this action to Gideon's summons, not to a repeatable clothing technique.
Then Saul clothed David in his own tunic, put a bronze helmet on his head, and dressed him in armor.
Saul places his own attire and armor on David, but the following context shows that receiving another person's equipment does not make it suitable for one's calling.
Then the men who were designated by name arose, took charge of the captives, and provided from the plunder clothing for the naked. They clothed them, gave them sandals and food and drink, anointed their wounds, and put all the feeble on donkeys. So they brought them to Jericho, the City of Palms, to their brothers. Then they returned to Samaria.
Clothing is joined to food, drink, wound care, transport, and restored kinship, making material provision part of concrete mercy toward former captives.
I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; justice was my robe and my turban.
Job uses clothing imagery for righteousness and justice expressed in public conduct; the metaphor does not make visible attire proof of moral integrity.
I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
God is the acting subject who clothes the rejoicing speaker, so salvation and righteousness are received gifts within the prophetic garment image.
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. properly, wrap around , i.e. (by implication) to put on a garment or clothe (oneself, or another), literally or figuratively
properly, wrap around, i.e. (by implication) to put on a garment or clothe (oneself, or another), literally or figuratively BDB: put on Usage: (in) apparel, arm, array (self), clothe (self), come upon, put (on, upon), wear.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
לָבַשׁ is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Isaiah 61:10 gives H3847 a strong pastoral center because the rejoicing speaker receives salvation and righteousness from God through a clothing image. The image joins gift and public transformation: what is worn is visible, close to the body, and supplied by God. Yet the wider range keeps the metaphor honest. Exodus shows priestly garments inside a larger act of consecration; Saul's armor can be put on David and still prove unsuitable; Deuteronomy places wearing inside a specific covenant command; Judges uses the clothing verb for the Spirit's empowering action; Second Chronicles makes clothing the naked part of concrete mercy; Job uses attire for a life of righteousness and justice.
The verb therefore does not make fabric holy, guarantee that appearance reveals character, or allow salvation language to replace material care. Teachers can proclaim God's gracious clothing, call for justice that becomes visible in conduct, protect people from dress-based shame, and provide actual garments for those in need.
Isa.61.10
The SBL Academic citation form is lāḇaš for לָבַשׁ. Qal commonly describes wearing or being clothed, Hiphil clothing another person, and Pual people presented as dressed. Passive participial forms can describe people as clothed without introducing a separate lexical sense.
Greek G1746, ἐνδύω, is a principal Septuagint rendering of לָבַשׁ. New Testament writers use that distinct Greek verb for putting on clothing and metaphorically for Christ, the new humanity, or armor. This lexical and thematic bridge does not transfer every Hebrew clothing scene into every Greek putting-on exhortation.