Hebrew word · H2873

טָבַח

tevoach

to slaughter

To slaughter or butcher animals for food, and the slaughtering or meat that results. It is used for preparing a feast (1 Samuel 25:11, Nabal's 'meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers'; Proverbs 9:2, Wisdom 'has slaughtered her slaughter' for her banquet).

Appears 11 times in 11 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated November 01, 2026

What it means

1) to slaughter, slay, butcher, kill ruthlessly

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to slaughter, butcher

1a2) to slay, kill ruthlessly (fig.)

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 43:16

Range of meaning: To slaughter or butcher animals for food, and the slaughtering or meat that results. It is used for preparing a feast (1 Samuel 25:11, Nabal's 'meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers'; Proverbs 9:2, Wisdom 'has slaughtered her slaughter' for her banquet). In poetry it is extended to violent slaughter (Isaiah 53:7 'lamb to the slaughter'; Jeremiah 11:19). It is different from zābaḥ, the verb for sacrifice at an altar.
Against the English: KJV 'slay' and BSB/ESV 'slaughter an animal' are accurate. Some versions say 'prepare a meal' and lose the specific point that meat is being killed fresh, which was a mark of lavish hospitality.
How it drifted: No drift in modern English. The Latin Vulgate's 'occide victimas' ('kill victims', using sacrificial vocabulary) pulls the word toward sacrifice, which the Hebrew does not suggest.
Used elsewhere in the period: The noun ṭabbāḥ ('butcher, cook', and by extension 'guard') comes from the same root. Potiphar's title, 'captain of the guard' (37:36; 39:1; 40:3; 41:10, 12), is literally 'chief of the ṭabbāḥîm', the slaughterers or bodyguards. In 1 Samuel 9:23–24 the ṭabbāḥ is the cook who serves the honoured portion.

From the study of Jeremiah 11:19

Range of meaning: To slaughter or butcher an animal, mainly for food (Gen 43:16; Exod 22:1 [21:37 Heb.]; 1 Sam 25:11; Prov 9:2). By extension, to slaughter people mercilessly (Lam 2:21; Ezek 21:10). The related noun tabbach means cook or butcher, and also royal bodyguard ('captain of the guard', Jer 39:9).
Against the English: English 'slaughter' is accurate. But in the phrase 'lamb led to slaughter', Christian readers often hear temple sacrifice. The ordinary sacrificial verb is zavach, which is not used here.
How it drifted: Because of Isaiah 53:7 and its use for Jesus (Acts 8:32), 'lamb led to the slaughter' has come to mean a sacrificial offering. In Jeremiah 11:19 the picture is the butcher's block.
Used elsewhere in the period: The same pairing, 'like a sheep to the slaughter it is led' (kasseh lattevach yuval), appears in Isaiah 53:7. Jeremiah himself uses the root later in reverse, praying that his enemies be 'pulled out like sheep for slaughter' and set apart 'for the day of slaughter' (Jer 12:3). Psalm 44:22 [23 Heb.] has 'sheep for slaughter' for persecuted Israel.

From the study of Proverbs 9:2

Range of meaning: Verb: to slaughter or butcher an animal for food. Sometimes figuratively, to slaughter people in judgment (Lam 2:21; Ezek 21:10). Noun: the act of slaughter, or the meat that results. Related words: ṭabbāḥ, 'cook' or 'butcher' (1 Sam 9:23–24), and in other settings 'bodyguard' or 'executioner' (Gen 37:36, 'captain of the guard').
Against the English: KJV 'killed her beasts' and YLT 'slaughtered her slaughter' keep the picture. BSB and WEB 'prepared her meat' and NASB 'prepared her food' make it a matter of cooking. That loses two things: animals were killed for this meal, and the verb and noun echo each other.
How it drifted: Modern translations smooth the doubled wording ('slaughtered her slaughter') for style, and modern readers buy meat already butchered. So the sense of a costly, deliberate act of hospitality fades.
Used elsewhere in the period: Gen 43:16: Joseph orders a feast for his brothers with the same doubled phrase, ūṭəvōaḥ ṭevaḥ ('slaughter a slaughter and prepare'). 1 Sam 25:11: Nabal speaks of 'my meat that I have slaughtered' for his shearers. The word is normally not the sacrificial verb zāvaḥ. The Greek translation (LXX) shifts this: it renders the line ἔσφαξεν τὰ ἑαυτῆς θύματα, using thymata, a word often used for sacrificial victims. The Latin Vulgate follows with immolavit victimas suas, 'she sacrificed her victims.' In the Ugaritic Baal myth (KTU 1.4 vi), once Baal's palace is finished, he slaughters oxen, sheep and fatlings for a dedication feast.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

Genesis 43:16 וּטְבֹ֤חַ and slaughter

When Joseph saw Benjamin with his brothers, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for they shall dine with me at noon.”

Here: A command to butcher animals for meat. This is the kitchen verb for slaughtering, not the altar verb for sacrifice.

Exodus · 1

Exodus 22:1 וּטְבָח֖וֹ and he will slaughter it

“If a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters or sells it, he must repay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.

Here: 'And he butchers it': to slaughter an animal for its meat, not as a sacrifice. The animal has been turned into food, and the owner can never get it back alive.

Deuteronomy · 1

Deuteronomy 28:31 טָב֣וּחַ [will be] slaughtered

Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it. Your donkey will be taken away and not returned to you. Your flock will be given to your enemies, and no one will save you.

1 Samuel · 1

1 Samuel 25:11 טָבַ֖חְתִּי I have slaughtered

Why should I take my bread and water and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give them to these men whose origin I do not know?”

Psalms · 1

Psalm 37:14 לִ֝טְב֗וֹחַ to slaughter

The wicked have drawn the sword and bent the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.

Here: 'To slaughter'. This is the butcher's word for killing animals for meat, not the word for sacrifice. It pictures the upright being cut down like livestock: helpless, and done in cold blood.

Proverbs · 1

Proverbs 9:2 טָבְחָ֣ה she has slaughtered

She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table.

Here: The ordinary word for butchering animals for food, not the usual word for offering a sacrifice. The form is a completed action: the animals are already killed and the meat is ready.

Jeremiah · 3

Jeremiah 11:19 לִטְב֑וֹחַ to slaughter

For I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter; I did not know that they had plotted against me: “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more.”

Here: To butcher an animal, usually for meat. It is not the usual word for offering a sacrifice (that is zavach). The lamb trusts the hand that is taking it to the knife.
Jeremiah 25:34 לִטְב֑וֹחַ to slaughter

Wail, you shepherds, and cry out; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. For the days of your slaughter have come; you will fall and be shattered like fine pottery.

Here: 'For slaughtering.' This is the butcher's word for killing animals for meat. The irony is sharp: the shepherds are now the animals led to the knife.
Jeremiah 51:40 לִטְב֑וֹחַ to slaughter

I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with male goats.

Lamentations · 1

Lamentations 2:21 טָבַ֖חְתָּ you have slaughtered

Both young and old lie together in the dust of the streets. My young men and maidens have fallen by the sword. You have slain them in the day of Your anger; You have slaughtered them without compassion.

Here: 'You have butchered.' This verb is normally used for slaughtering animals for meat. It is stronger and more brutal than 'killed', and it prepares for the grim 'feast day' image in v. 22.

Ezekiel · 1

Ezekiel 21:10 טְבֹ֤חַ to slaughter

it is sharpened for the slaughter, polished to flash like lightning! Should we rejoice in the scepter of My son? The sword despises every such stick.

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