What does עֵרֶךְ mean in the Bible?
This noun can concern an arrangement or an assessed value, depending on the setting. Exodus tells Moses to bring in the table and set out its arrangement.
Hebrew · H6187
עֵרֶךְ
This noun can concern an arrangement or an assessed value, depending on the setting. Exodus tells Moses to bring in the table and set out its arrangement.
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עֵרֶךְH6187
What does עֵרֶךְ mean in the Bible?
Reader summary
Full entry for עֵרֶךְ (H6187) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H6187?
The BSB source-word alignment has 33 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include then your valuation (6), . . . (3), according to your valuation (3), of proper value (3), its value (2).
Where does עֵרֶךְ appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 40:4. Its strongest book concentrations include Leviticus (24), 2 Kings (2), Exodus (2), Job (2).
What This Word Actually Means
This noun can concern an arrangement or an assessed value, depending on the setting. Exodus tells Moses to bring in the table and set out its arrangement. Leviticus repeatedly uses valuation language for vows and dedicated property. In those instructions, an amount is set according to defined circumstances, including provision for someone too poor to pay a usual valuation.
A consecrated field is also assessed with reference to the Jubilee. These are ordered practices within Israel's worship and land life, not a declaration that a person's dignity equals a monetary price. Read what is being arranged or assessed, who performs the assessment, and what rule governs it. The differing contexts should not be collapsed into one financial or spiritual meaning.
How the Bible Uses It
The selected witnesses distinguish the tabernacle table's arrangement from priestly valuations involving limited means and a consecrated field's relationship to the Jubilee.
- Exod.40.4
Then bring in the table and set out its arrangement; bring in the lampstand as well, and set up its lamps.
The table's arrangement belongs to the instructions for setting up the tabernacle, alongside the lampstand and its lamps rather than a price assessment.
- Lev.27.8
But if the one making the vow is too poor to pay the valuation, he is to present the person before the priest, who shall set the value according to what the one making the vow can afford.
The priest sets a valuation according to the vow-maker's ability to pay when the usual amount is beyond that person's means.
- Lev.27.23
Then the priest shall calculate for him the value up to the Year of Jubilee, and the man shall pay the assessed value on that day as a sacred offering to the Lord.
A purchased field's assessed value is calculated up to the Jubilee, with the following verse preserving the original owner's return right.
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itthen your valuation6×Leviticus 27:3, Leviticus 27:4, Leviticus 27:5, Leviticus 27:6
. . .3×Exodus 40:23, Leviticus 27:23, 2 Kings 12:4
according to your valuation3×Leviticus 27:17, Leviticus 27:27, Numbers 18:16
of proper value3×Leviticus 5:15, Leviticus 5:18, Leviticus 6:6
its value2×Leviticus 27:13, Job 28:13
the assessed2×Leviticus 27:15, Leviticus 27:19
-1×Leviticus 27:6
a suit1×Judges 17:10
according to his wealth1×2 Kings 23:35
form1×Job 41:12
if the valuation1×Leviticus 27:3
involving the value1×Leviticus 27:2
it according to your valuation1×Leviticus 27:27
its arrangement1×Exodus 40:4
like myself1×Psalms 55:13
so that your valuation1×Leviticus 27:18
the assessed value1×Leviticus 27:23
the valuation1×Leviticus 27:8
valuation1×Leviticus 27:25
values it1×Leviticus 27:12
Show sample aligned rows
Exodus 40:4עֶרְכּ֑וֹtoits arrangementNoun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singularExodus 40:23עֵ֥רֶךְto. . .Noun - masculine singular constructLeviticus 5:15בְּעֶרְכְּךָ֛toof proper valuePreposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singularLeviticus 5:18בְּעֶרְכְּךָ֥toof proper valuePreposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singularLeviticus 6:6בְּעֶרְכְּךָ֥toof proper valuePreposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singularLeviticus 27:2בְּעֶרְכְּךָ֥toinvolving the valuePreposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singularLeviticus 27:3עֶרְכְּךָ֙toif the valuationNoun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singularLeviticus 27:3עֶרְכְּךָ֗tothen your valuationNoun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singularLeviticus 27:4עֶרְכְּךָ֖tothen your valuationNoun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singularLeviticus 27:5עֶרְכְּךָ֛tothen your valuationNoun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowExodus 40:4
Aligned rows33
Books represented7
Exodus2Leviticus24Numbers1Judges12 Kings2Job2Psalms1
Source forms
בְּעֶרְכְּךָ֥3xbə·‘er·kə·ḵāLeviticus 5:18, Leviticus 6:6, Leviticus 27:2
עֶרְכְּךָ֛3x‘er·kə·ḵāLeviticus 27:5, Leviticus 27:15, Leviticus 27:19
עֶרְכְּךָ֔3x‘er·kə·ḵāLeviticus 27:6, Leviticus 27:7, Leviticus 27:25
עֶרְכּ֑וֹ2x‘er·kōwExodus 40:4, 2 Kings 12:4
עֶרְכְּךָ֙2x‘er·kə·ḵāLeviticus 27:3, Leviticus 27:6
עֶרְכְּךָ֖2x‘er·kə·ḵāLeviticus 27:4, Leviticus 27:16
בְעֶרְכֶּ֔ךָ1xḇə·‘er·ke·ḵāLeviticus 27:27
בְּעֶרְכְּךָ֛1xbə·‘er·kə·ḵāLeviticus 5:15
Parsing patterns
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular12xLeviticus 27:3, Leviticus 27:4, Leviticus 27:5, Leviticus 27:6
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular7xLeviticus 5:15, Leviticus 5:18, Leviticus 6:6, Leviticus 27:2
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular3xExodus 40:4, 2 Kings 12:4, Job 41:12
Article | Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular2xLeviticus 27:23
Preposition-k | Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular2xLeviticus 27:12, Leviticus 27:17
Preposition-m | Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular2xLeviticus 27:8, Leviticus 27:18
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct1xJudges 17:10
Noun - masculine singular construct1xExodus 40:23
Using This Word Well
Be careful not to...
- Do not use the valuation schedule to demean anyone's intrinsic dignity.
- Avoid imposing Israel's vow amounts as a church fundraising requirement.
Avoid claiming...
- Do not claim monetary valuation measures God's saving favor; these instructions concern particular vowed gifts.
- Do not claim a person's worth is their assessed amount; the passage regulates payments and preserves a poverty provision.
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. a pile , equipment , estimate
Source Gloss
a pile , equipment , estimate
Extended definitionSource: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
a pile, equipment, estimate BDB: order Usage: equal, estimation, (things that are set in) order, price, proportion, × set at, suit, taxation, × valuest.
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Word Origins
עֵרֶךְ is built from this root:
For the Preacher and Teacher
The poverty provision in Leviticus 27 is easy to miss if valuation is read only as a number. The priest is told to set the amount according to what the vow-maker can afford. The passage thus requires attention to a person's actual means within its own vowed-gift instructions. A field valuation is governed by a different consideration, the time until Jubilee and the land's return.
Exodus's table arrangement supplies a further distinct use, concerning ordered placement rather than payment. Keeping these settings separate protects both accuracy and people. A teacher should not translate the monetary schedule into a modern ranking of dignity, age, or sex. Nor should the chapter become an unquestioned fundraising method. Teach the particular rule and its limits before considering any broader analogy.
Anchor passage
Lev.27.8
Doctrinal connections
- Exodus 40:4 locates the arrangement within commanded preparation of the tabernacle's table and lampstand.
- Leviticus 27:2-8 addresses vowed valuations and expressly makes provision for limited ability to pay.
- Leviticus 27:12-13 places animal assessment and redemption within a distinct vowed-offering rule.
- Leviticus 27:14-15 assigns a house's assessed price to its consecration and possible redemption.
- Leviticus 27:23-25 relates purchased-field valuation to Jubilee and the sanctuary shekel standard.
- Second Kings 12:4-5 places money from vows among designated resources for repairing the temple.
The supplied comparison includes arrangement and estimate language. Exodus 40:4's exact row says its arrangement, while Leviticus uses the noun in assessment settings; context prevents imposing a price meaning on every occurrence.
From Old to New Testament
Ordered worship and regard for limited means can be compared thematically with Christian stewardship, but these valuation rules are not a New Testament church giving schedule. An assessed vow payment does not purchase salvation or measure a person's acceptance in Christ.