What does קָרַח (qāraḥ) mean in the Bible?
קָרַח (qāraḥ): Making oneself bald as ritual sign of grief, mourning, or covenant breaking in ancient Israel
Hebrew · H7139
קָרַח
To depilate
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קָרַח H7139
Pronunciation qāraḥ
What does קָרַח (qāraḥ) mean in the Bible?
קָרַח (qāraḥ): Making oneself bald as ritual sign of grief, mourning, or covenant breaking in ancient Israel
Full entry for קָרַח (H7139) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render H7139?
The BSB source-word alignment has 5 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include make bald (1), or shave his head (1), Shave yourselves bald (1), They will shave their heads (1), was made bald (1).
Where does קָרַח (qāraḥ) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Leviticus 21:5. Its strongest book concentrations include Ezekiel (2), Jeremiah (1), Leviticus (1), Micah (1).
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders It make bald 1× Leviticus 21:5
or shave his head 1× Jeremiah 16:6
Shave yourselves bald 1× Micah 1:16
They will shave their heads 1× Ezekiel 27:31
was made bald 1× Ezekiel 29:18
Show sample aligned rows
Leviticus 21:5 יִקְרְחָה to make bald Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural Jeremiah 16:6 יִקָּרֵ֖חַ to or shave his head Verb - Nifal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular Ezekiel 27:31 וְהִקְרִ֤יחוּ to They will shave their heads Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural Ezekiel 29:18 מֻקְרָ֔ח to was made bald Verb - Hofal - Participle - masculine singular Micah 1:16 קָרְחִ֣י to Shave yourselves bald Verb - Qal - Imperative - feminine singular
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned row Leviticus 21:5
Aligned rows 5
Books represented 4
Leviticus 1 Jeremiah 1 Ezekiel 2 Micah 1
Source forms
וְהִקְרִ֤יחוּ 1x wə·hiq·rî·ḥū Ezekiel 27:31
יִקָּרֵ֖חַ 1x yiq·qā·rê·aḥ Jeremiah 16:6
יִקְרְחָה 1x yiq·rə·ḥå̄h Leviticus 21:5
מֻקְרָ֔ח 1x muq·rāḥ Ezekiel 29:18
קָרְחִ֣י 1x qā·rə·ḥî Micah 1:16
Parsing patterns
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive perfect - third person common plural 1x Ezekiel 27:31
Verb - Hofal - Participle - masculine singular 1x Ezekiel 29:18
Verb - Nifal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular 1x Jeremiah 16:6
Verb - Qal - Imperative - feminine singular 1x Micah 1:16
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural 1x Leviticus 21:5
Evidence Summary
Hebrew word. Making oneself bald as ritual sign of grief, mourning, or covenant breaking in ancient Israel
Source Gloss
to depilate
Extended definition Source: Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon + Brown-Driver-Briggs
Making oneself bald as ritual sign of grief, mourning, or covenant breaking in ancient Israel
to depilate BDB: make bald Usage: make (self) bald.
Grammatical Forms
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.
Form groups 3 Aligned forms 5
Hophal causative passive — the subject is caused to perform the action 1×
Participle passive Ezek 29:18 1×
Niphal passive or reflexive — the subject receives or experiences the action 1×
Imperfect Jer 16:6 1×
Qal basic active stem — the word in its most common, direct sense 3×
Imperfect Lev 21:5 2×
Sequential imperfect Mic 1:16 1×
Word Origins
קָרַח is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Sources
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain