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Hebrew noun (masculine) · H3715

כְּפִיר

kephirkef-eer'

lion; Hakkephirim; villages

32 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key

Concordance spelling: kᵉphîyr

Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H3715is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.

  • 13 of 39
    Old Testament books
  • 27
    spellings
  • 3
    meanings

The definition in full

Strong's key (1890) · H3715

a village (as covered in by walls); also a young lion (perhaps as covered with a mane)

The King James renders it: (young) lion, village. Compare H3723 (כָּפָר).

James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.

Summary

kephir is rendered "lion; Hakkephirim; villages". It stands 32 times in the Hebrew text, across thirteen books.

  • Seven of the uses stand in Ezekiel, more than in any other book.
  • The lexicon lists three meanings for it, beginning with "lion".
  • Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Judges 14:5Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him,
  • The Greek text spells it twenty-seven different ways.

The first use

Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him,

Judges 14:5כְּפִ֣יר

The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.

Where the word stands

The word stands in thirteen of the 39 Old Testament books.

The other 26 Old Testament books never use the word.

What the word means

The word carries three meanings: lion, and Hakkephirim, and villages.

Each meaning, and the words it is translated by

The English STEP Bible gives each use, word by word, and how many times.
lionStrong's entry ATagged aslisted under the tableWhereJudges 14:5Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah…
HakkephirimStrong's entry BTagged aslisted under the tableWherein the ledger below
villagesStrong's entry BTagged aslisted under the tableWherein the ledger below

How the Greek text is glossed, word by word

  • young lions7
  • a young lion6
  • like the young lion3
  • a young lion of2
  • like a young lion2
  • like the young lions2
  • and like a young lion1
  • and like the young lion1
  • and the young lion1
  • and young lion1
  • and young lions your1
  • at the Kephirim1

and 4 more, 32 uses in all

The words built on the same word-part

Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.

כְּפוֹרkephorbowlUses12
כְּפַתkephathto bindUses4

All 32, in canonical order

Every use, in order

Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.

27 spellings and their grammar

STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.

How it is spelled

  • כְּפִ֣יר4
  • כַּ֭כְּפִיר2
  • כְּפִ֥יר2
  • בַּכְּפִירִ֖ים1
  • הַ֭כְּפִירִים1
  • וְהַכְּפִ֜יר1
  • וְ֝כִכְפִ֗יר1
  • וְכַכְּפִ֖יר1
  • וּכְפִ֤יר1
  • וּכְפִירַ֖יִךְ1
  • כִּכְפִ֥יר1
  • כִּכְפִ֖יר1

and 15 more spellings in the ledger below.

The grammar of each form

  • noun · masculine plural7HNcmpa
  • noun · masculine singular6HNcmsa
  • preposition with the article + noun · masculine plural3HRd/Ncmpa
  • preposition with the article + noun · masculine singular3HRd/Ncmsa
  • noun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”)2HNcmsc
  • preposition + noun · masculine singular2HR/Ncmsa
  • conjunction (“and”) + noun · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 2nd person feminine singular1HC/Ncmpc/Sp2fs
  • conjunction (“and”) + noun · masculine singular1HC/Ncmsa
  • conjunction (“and”) + preposition + noun · masculine singular1HC/R/Ncmsa
  • conjunction (“and”) + preposition with the article + noun · masculine singular1HC/Rd/Ncmsa
  • conjunction (“and”) + the definite article (“the”) + noun · masculine singular1HC/Td/Ncmsa
  • noun · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person feminine singular1HNcmpc/Sp3fs

Judges

one use
  • Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him,

    Judges 14:5

    • כְּפִ֣ירkefirnoun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”)tagged: a young lion of

Nehemiah

one use
  • Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to harm me.

    Nehemiah 6:2

    • בַּכְּפִירִ֖יםbakefirimpreposition with the article + proper noun (a name)tagged: at the Kephirim

Job

two uses
  • The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.

    Job 4:10

    • כְפִירִ֣יםkhefirimnoun · masculine pluraltagged: young lions
  • Can you hunt the prey for a lioness or satisfy the hunger of young lions

    Job 38:39

    • כְּפִירִ֣יםkefirimnoun · masculine pluraltagged: young lions

Psalms

six uses
  • like a lion greedy for prey, like a young lion lurking in ambush.

    Psalms 17:12

    • וְ֝כִכְפִ֗ירvekhikhfirconjunction (“and”) + preposition + noun · masculine singulartagged: and like a young lion
  • Young lions go lacking and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

    Psalms 34:10

    • כְּ֭פִירִיםkefirimnoun · masculine pluraltagged: young lions
  • How long, O Lord, will You look on? Rescue my soul from their ravages, my precious life from these lions.

    Psalms 35:17

    • מִ֝כְּפִירִ֗יםmikefirimpreposition + noun · masculine pluraltagged: from young lions
  • O God, shatter their teeth in their mouths; O LORD, tear out the fangs of the lions.

    Psalms 58:6

    • כְּ֝פִירִ֗יםkefirimnoun · masculine pluraltagged: young lions
  • You will tread on the lion and cobra; you will trample the young lion and serpent.

    Psalms 91:13

    • כְּפִ֣ירkefirnoun · masculine singulartagged: a young lion
  • The young lions roar for their prey and seek their food from God.

    Psalms 104:21

    • הַ֭כְּפִירִיםhakefirimthe definite article (“the”) + noun · masculine pluraltagged: the young lions

Proverbs

three uses
  • A king’s rage is like the roar of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.

    Proverbs 19:12

    • כַּ֭כְּפִירkakefirpreposition with the article + noun · masculine singulartagged: like the young lion
  • The terror of a king is like the roar of a lion; whoever provokes him forfeits his own life.

    Proverbs 20:2

    • כַּ֭כְּפִירkakefirpreposition with the article + noun · masculine singulartagged: like the young lion
  • The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

    Proverbs 28:1

    • כִּכְפִ֥ירkikhfirpreposition + noun · masculine singulartagged: like a young lion

Isaiah

three uses
  • Their roaring is like that of a lion; they roar like young lions. They growl and seize their prey; they carry it away from deliverance.

    Isaiah 5:29

    • כַּכְּפִירִ֤יםkakefirimpreposition with the article + noun · masculine pluraltagged: like the young lions
  • The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat; the calf and young lion and fatling will be together, and a little child will lead them.

    Isaiah 11:6

    • וּכְפִ֤ירukhefirconjunction (“and”) + noun · masculine singulartagged: and young lion
  • For this is what the LORD has said to me: “Like a lion roaring or a young lion over its prey—and though a band of shepherds is called out against it, it is not terrified by their shouting or subdued by their clamor—so the LORD of Hosts will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and its heights.

    Isaiah 31:4

    • וְהַכְּפִ֜ירvehakefirconjunction (“and”) + the definite article (“the”) + noun · masculine singulartagged: and the young lion

Jeremiah

three uses
  • The young lions have roared at him; they have growled with a loud voice. They have laid waste his land; his cities lie in ruins, without inhabitant.

    Jeremiah 2:15

    • כְפִרִ֔יםkhefirimnoun · masculine pluraltagged: young lions
  • He has left His den like a lion, for their land has been made a desolation by the sword of the oppressor, and because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

    Jeremiah 25:38

    • כַּכְּפִ֖ירkakefirpreposition with the article + noun · masculine singulartagged: like the young lion
  • They will roar together like young lions; they will growl like lion cubs.

    Jeremiah 51:38

    • כַּכְּפִרִ֣יםkakefirimpreposition with the article + noun · masculine pluraltagged: like the young lions

Ezekiel

seven uses
  • and say: ‘What was your mother? A lioness among the lions! She lay down among the young lions; she reared her cubs.

    Ezekiel 19:2

    • כְּפִרִ֖יםkefirimnoun · masculine pluraltagged: young lions
  • She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a young lion. After learning to tear his prey, he devoured men.

    Ezekiel 19:3

    • כְּפִ֣ירkefirnoun · masculine singulartagged: a young lion
  • When she saw that she had waited in vain, that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion.

    Ezekiel 19:5

    • כְּפִ֥ירkefirnoun · masculine singulartagged: a young lion
  • He prowled among the lions, and became a young lion. After learning to tear his prey, he devoured men.

    Ezekiel 19:6

    • כְּפִ֣ירkefirnoun · masculine singulartagged: a young lion
  • “Son of man, take up a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him: ‘You are like a lion among the nations; you are like a monster in the seas. You thrash about in your rivers, churning up the waters with your feet and muddying the streams.’

    Ezekiel 32:2

    • כְּפִ֥ירkefirnoun · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”)tagged: a young lion of
  • Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all its villages will ask, ‘Have you come to capture the plunder? Have you assembled your hordes to carry away loot, to make off with silver and gold, to take cattle and goods, to seize great spoil?’

    Ezekiel 38:13

    • כְּפִרֶ֙יהָ֙kefireihanoun · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person feminine singulartagged: young lions its
  • the face of a man was toward the palm tree on one side, and the face of a young lion was toward the palm tree on the other side. They were carved all the way around the temple.

    Ezekiel 41:19

    • כְפִ֥ירkhefirnoun · masculine singulartagged: a young lion

Hosea

one use
  • For I am like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them to pieces and then go away. I will carry them off where no one can rescue them.

    Hosea 5:14

    • וְכַכְּפִ֖ירvekhakefirconjunction (“and”) + preposition with the article + noun · masculine singulartagged: and like the young lion

Amos

one use
  • Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Does a young lion growl in his den if he has caught nothing?

    Amos 3:4

    • כְּפִ֤ירkefirnoun · masculine singulartagged: a young lion

Micah

one use
  • Then the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which tramples and tears as it passes through, with no one to rescue them.

    Micah 5:8

    • כִּכְפִ֖ירkikhfirpreposition + noun · masculine singulartagged: like a young lion

Nahum

two uses
  • Where is the lions’ lair or the feeding ground of the young lions, where the lion and lioness prowled with their cubs, with nothing to frighten them away?

    Nahum 2:11

    • לַכְּפִרִ֑יםlakefirimpreposition with the article + noun · masculine pluraltagged: for the young lions
  • “Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will send your chariots up in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voices of your messengers will no longer be heard.”

    Nahum 2:13

    • וּכְפִירַ֖יִךְukhefirayikhconjunction (“and”) + noun · masculine plural · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 2nd person feminine singulartagged: and young lions your

Zechariah

one use
  • Listen to the wailing of the shepherds, for their glory is in ruins. Listen to the roaring of the young lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed.

    Zechariah 11:3

    • כְּפִירִ֔יםkefirimnoun · masculine pluraltagged: young lions

The letters

Where it leads

How the numbers are counted

Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.

Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.

The words it stands beside are the nouns, verbs and adjectives immediately before or after it, counted in every verse where the word stands. The article, the conjunctions and the prepositions are left out, because they stand beside every word.

The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.

Hebrew and Greek text, word tagging and grammar: STEP Bible (www.STEPBible.org), Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0. Their grammar codes are written out in English here and shown as tagged beside each one.

Meaning and senses: STEP Bible TBESH gloss (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary key: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890, public domain). English verse text: Berean Standard Bible (public domain, 2023).

Revised 2026-09-05. Every cited work, the sources registry →