What does עֹל (ʿōl) mean in the Bible?
A yoke provides an image for the service or burden placed upon people. Its moral force is supplied by the passage, not by the object alone.
Hebrew · H5923
עֹל
A yoke provides an image for the service or burden placed upon people. Its moral force is supplied by the passage, not by the object alone.
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עֹלH5923
Pronunciationʿōl
What does עֹל (ʿōl) mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for עֹל (H5923) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H5923?
The BSB source-word alignment has 40 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include the yoke (11), yoke (7), your yoke (4), a yoke (2), his yoke (2).
Where does עֹל (ʿōl) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 27:40. Its strongest book concentrations include Jeremiah (10), 1 Kings (8), 2 Chronicles (7), Isaiah (5).
What This Word Actually Means
A yoke provides an image for the service or burden placed upon people. Its moral force is supplied by the passage, not by the object alone. Leviticus remembers the Lord breaking the bars of Israel's yoke and bringing the people out of Egyptian slavery. The assembly in First Kings asks Rehoboam to lighten the heavy service imposed by his father. Jeremiah commands Zedekiah to submit to Babylon's yoke within a particular prophetic announcement of judgment.
These scenes concern liberation, excessive royal demands, and a bounded command during judgment. They do not authorize a leader to label personal control as God's yoke. Teaching must distinguish the named historical actors and divine speech before applying any analogy about service, suffering, or obedience.
How the Bible Uses It
The yoke moves through memories of liberation from Egypt, a petition about burdensome royal service, and Jeremiah's specific command to Judah concerning Babylonian rule.
- Lev.26.13
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians. I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk in uprightness.
The Lord identifies Himself as Israel's deliverer from Egyptian slavery and describes breaking their yoke so they can walk upright.
- 1Kgs.12.4
“Your father put a heavy yoke on us. But now you must lighten the burden of your father’s service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”
The assembly asks Rehoboam to reduce his father's heavy service and yoke, making the royal burden the subject of an explicit petition.
- Jer.27.12
And to Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke the same message: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and live!
Jeremiah tells Zedekiah to serve Babylon and live, within an identified prophetic warning against resisting that particular judgment.
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 yoke11×1 Kings 12:9, 2 Chronicles 10:9, Isaiah 9:4, Isaiah 10:27
yoke7×Deuteronomy 28:48, 1 Kings 12:4, 1 Kings 12:11, 2 Chronicles 10:4
your yoke4×1 Kings 12:11, 1 Kings 12:14, 2 Chronicles 10:11, Jeremiah 2:20
a yoke2×Jeremiah 28:14, Lamentations 1:14
his yoke2×Genesis 27:40, Isaiah 14:25
made our yoke2×1 Kings 12:10, 2 Chronicles 10:10
under the yoke2×Jeremiah 27:11, Jeremiah 27:12
. . .1×1 Samuel 6:7
and the yoke1×Isaiah 10:27
been yoked1×Deuteronomy 21:3
made your yoke1×1 Kings 12:14
of their yoke1×Ezekiel 34:27
of your yoke1×Leviticus 26:13
under [his] yoke1×Jeremiah 27:8
under a yoke1×Numbers 19:2
Whereas [my father] made your yoke1×2 Chronicles 10:14
you laid a most heavy yoke1×Isaiah 47:6
Show sample aligned rows
Genesis 27:40עֻלּ֖וֹtohis yokeNoun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singularLeviticus 26:13עֻלְּכֶ֔םtoof your yokeNoun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine pluralNumbers 19:2עֹֽל׃tounder a yokeNoun - masculine singularDeuteronomy 21:3בְּעֹֽל׃tobeen yokedPreposition-b | Noun - masculine singularDeuteronomy 28:48עֹ֤לtoyokeNoun - masculine singular construct1 Samuel 6:7עֹ֑לto. . .Noun - masculine singular1 Kings 12:4עֻלֵּ֑נוּtoyokeNoun - masculine singular construct | first person common plural1 Kings 12:4וּמֵעֻלּ֧וֹtoyokeConjunctive waw, Preposition-m | Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular1 Kings 12:9הָעֹ֔לtothe yokeArticle | Noun - masculine singular1 Kings 12:10עֻלֵּ֔נוּtomade our yokeNoun - masculine singular construct | first person common plural
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowGenesis 27:40
Aligned rows40
Books represented12
Genesis1Leviticus1Numbers1Deuteronomy21 Samuel11 Kings82 Chronicles7Isaiah5Jeremiah10Lamentations2Ezekiel1Hosea1
Source forms
עֹ֖ל5x‘ōlIsaiah 10:27, Jeremiah 28:2, Jeremiah 28:4, Lamentations 3:27
עֹ֣ל4x‘ōl1 Kings 12:11, 2 Chronicles 10:11, Isaiah 9:4, Jeremiah 28:14
עֻלְּכֶ֔ם3x‘ul·lə·ḵemLeviticus 26:13, 1 Kings 12:14, 2 Chronicles 10:14
עֻלְּכֶ֑ם3x‘ul·lə·ḵem1 Kings 12:11, 1 Kings 12:14, 2 Chronicles 10:11
הָעֹ֔ל2xhā·‘ōl1 Kings 12:9, 2 Chronicles 10:9
וּמֵעֻלּ֧וֹ2xū·mê·‘ul·lōw1 Kings 12:4, 2 Chronicles 10:4
עֻלֵּ֑נוּ2x‘ul·lê·nū1 Kings 12:4, 2 Chronicles 10:4
עֻלֵּ֔נוּ2x‘ul·lê·nū1 Kings 12:10, 2 Chronicles 10:10
Parsing patterns
Noun - masculine singular8xNumbers 19:2, 1 Samuel 6:7, 1 Kings 12:11, 2 Chronicles 10:11
Noun - masculine singular construct7xDeuteronomy 28:48, Isaiah 9:4, Jeremiah 28:2, Jeremiah 28:4
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine plural6xLeviticus 26:13, 1 Kings 12:11, 1 Kings 12:14, 2 Chronicles 10:11
Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common plural4x1 Kings 12:4, 1 Kings 12:10, 2 Chronicles 10:4, 2 Chronicles 10:10
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular3xGenesis 27:40, Isaiah 14:25, Jeremiah 30:8
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct3xJeremiah 27:8, Jeremiah 27:11, Jeremiah 27:12
Article | Noun - masculine singular2x1 Kings 12:9, 2 Chronicles 10:9
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-m | Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular2x1 Kings 12:4, 2 Chronicles 10:4
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- People facing coercion may seek safety and appropriate support without this study judging their faith.
- Do not describe unavoidable suffering as proof that God endorses the person imposing it.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim that Jeremiah authorizes every religious leader to demand unquestioning submission.
- Do not claim that all burdens prove either divine punishment or deficient faith.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Yoke denotes subjugation or servitude; figuratively conveys covenant obligation, divine law, or oppressive burden
Source Gloss
a yoke (as imposed on the neck), literally or figuratively
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Yoke denotes subjugation or servitude; figuratively conveys covenant obligation, divine law, or oppressive burden
a yoke (as imposed on the neck), literally or figuratively BDB: yoke Usage: yoke.
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
A bar placed on the neck symbolizing bondage or oppression.
Showing 1 selected witness from 40 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
Why This Word Matters
The breaking of the yoke signifies divine liberation from foreign domination.Isaiah 10:24-34
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
The yoke image makes power over another person's labor and life concrete. Leviticus sets the Lord's identity beside His act of breaking Israel's bondage: the people were brought out of Egypt to live as His people. First Kings exposes royal service as something the assembly experiences as heavy and asks to have lightened. Jeremiah's instruction to Zedekiah takes a different direction because it belongs to the prophet's announced judgment through Babylon.
A careful teacher lets these differences remain visible. Submission is not automatically holy merely because a ruler demands it, and resistance is not automatically wise merely because a burden is unwelcome. Claims about God's will must be tested by the actual text rather than a leader's appropriation of its imagery. The Babylonian command supplies no blanket mandate to endure abuse.
Anchor passage
Lev.26.13
Doctrinal connections
- Leviticus 26 identifies the Lord through His liberation of Israel from Egyptian slavery.
- Israel's freedom in Leviticus belongs within an ongoing covenant relationship with the Lord.
- First Kings 12 makes burdensome royal service a concrete concern voiced by the assembly.
- Jeremiah 27 locates submission to Babylon within an announced and specific divine judgment.
- God's authority cannot be transferred to a leader through an unsupported analogy about burdens.
- Liberation, responsible service, and judgment must be distinguished by their respective textual settings.
The Hebrew yoke image can describe an imposed relation of service or subjection. The same lexical identity does not make every use morally equivalent; the speaker, ruler, commanded action, and narrative setting govern the interpretation.
From Old to New Testament
Jesus invites the weary to take His yoke and learn from Him in Matthew 11:28-30, describing Himself as gentle and humble. This is a thematic comparison using a Greek term, not a lexical equivalence or a warrant for another person's coercion.