Hebrew word · H1067

בְּכִירָה

habekhirah

firstborn

Firstborn or elder daughter. It is the female counterpart of bekhor (firstborn son), which carried rank and inheritance rights.

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) firstborn daughter, firstborn (of women)

1a) always used of women

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Genesis 19:33

Range of meaning

Firstborn or elder daughter. It is the female counterpart of bekhor (firstborn son), which carried rank and inheritance rights.

Against the English

KJV/WEB/YLT/BSB "firstborn"; NIV and others "older daughter." Both are fine. "Firstborn" keeps the overtone of rank.

Used elsewhere in the period

Elsewhere it is used of Laban's elder daughter (Gen 29:26) and Saul's elder daughter (1 Sam 14:49). In Gen 19 it is paired throughout with hatse'irah, "the younger."

From the study of Genesis 19:34

Range of meaning

Bəḵîrâ: the firstborn daughter, carrying the rank of the first child. Ṣəʿîrâ: little, young, younger, also lesser or insignificant.

Against the English

BSB “older … younger” turns rank language into plain age. KJV, WEB and YLT “firstborn” keep the status word.

Used elsewhere in the period

The exact pair returns in Gen 29:26, where Laban says it is not done “to give the younger before the firstborn” (Leah and Rachel). The tension between firstborn and younger runs through Genesis (Cain/Abel, Ishmael/Isaac, Esau/Jacob, Manasseh/Ephraim).

Where it appears

Genesis · 5

  1. Genesis 19:31 הַבְּכִירָ֛ה the firstborn

    One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to sleep with us, as is the custom over all the earth.

  2. Genesis 19:33 הַבְּכִירָה֙ the firstborn

    So that night they got their father drunk with wine, and the firstborn went in and slept with her father; he was not aware when she lay down or when she got up.

    Here: "The elder daughter." She leads, as she did in proposing the plan (v.31). Her son Moab becomes the senior of the two peoples.

  3. Genesis 19:34 הַבְּכִירָה֙ the firstborn

    The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Look, I slept with my father last night. Let us get him drunk with wine again tonight so you can go in and sleep with him and we can preserve our father’s line.”

    Here: Not just “the older” but “the firstborn,” a status word. It quietly sets up the next generation, since her son Moab will be the firstborn line. The same pair of words, firstborn and younger, comes back in Laban's daughters (Gen 29:26).

  4. Genesis 19:37 הַבְּכִירָה֙ the firstborn

    The older daughter gave birth to a son and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites of today.

  5. Genesis 29:26 הַבְּכִירָֽה׃ the firstborn

    Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older.

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 14:49 הַבְּכִירָה֙ the firstborn

    Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchishua. His two daughters were named Merab (his firstborn) and Michal (his younger daughter).

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.