Hebrew word · H3733

כַּר

khar

ram

Kar has two meanings with the same spelling. One is "lamb, young ram" (Deut 32:14; Isa 34:6). The other is "pasture, meadow" (Ps 65:13 [Heb 14]; and probably Isa 30:23). Nirchav is a passive form of rachav, "to be or become wide": "widened, spacious".

Appears 16 times in 15 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) ram, lamb, he-lamb

2) battering-ram

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 Isaiah 30:23

Range of meaning

Kar has two meanings with the same spelling. One is "lamb, young ram" (Deut 32:14; Isa 34:6). The other is "pasture, meadow" (Ps 65:13 [Heb 14]; and probably Isa 30:23). Nirchav is a passive form of rachav, "to be or become wide": "widened, spacious".

Against the English

KJV/WEB/ESV say "large pastures", NASB "a roomy pasture", NIV "broad meadows", BSB "open pastures". All are accurate. What they cannot easily carry is that Hebrew "wideness" suggests freedom and safety, the opposite of being hemmed in.

Used elsewhere in the period

Spaciousness is a common picture of rescue: "He brought me out into a broad place (merchav)" (Ps 18:19; 118:5). Distress is tsar or tsarah, literally "narrow, tight". In Isa 30:20 the people ate "bread of tsar", meaning distress or narrowness. The Latin Vulgate read kar here as "lamb" (roughly, "the lamb will feed spaciously in your possession").

From the study of Psalm 37:20

Range of meaning

Hebrew has at least three words spelled and pronounced kar: (1) a young ram or lamb (Deut 32:14; Amos 6:4; Isa 34:6); (2) a pasture or meadow (Ps 65:13 [Heb 65:14], 'the pastures are clothed with flocks'; Isa 30:23); (3) a camel saddle-basket (Gen 31:34). Lexicons such as BDB and HALOT list them as separate entries.

Against the English

KJV and YLT choose 'lambs' (KJV: 'the fat of lambs'). BSB, WEB, ESV and NASB choose 'fields' or 'pastures', and NIV and NLT turn that into 'flowers of the field'. The supplied word data files it under 'pasture' (H3733B).

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 32:14 has ḥelev karim, 'fat of lambs', the phrase behind the KJV rendering. Ps 65:13 uses karim for flock-covered meadows. Translators pick between them by context.

From the study of Amos 6:4

Range of meaning

A young ram or male lamb, often pasture-fed. Separate words spelled the same mean "pasture," a "battering ram," and a camel's saddle-basket.

Against the English

Most versions say "lambs." NIV adds "choice" and NLT adds "tender." These are inferences from context rather than extra words in the Hebrew, though the inference has real support.

Used elsewhere in the period

Grouped with the best animals, which Saul spared (1 Samuel 15:9); "fat of lambs" in the song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32:14); a tribute animal from Moab (2 Kings 3:4; Isaiah 16:1); listed with the fatlings of Bashan in a sacrificial feast image (Ezekiel 39:18). Compare the royal menu of 1 Kings 4:23 (5:3 in Hebrew).

Where it appears

Genesis · 1
  1. Genesis 31:34 בְּכַ֥ר in [the] saddlebag of

    Now Rachel had taken Laban’s household idols, put them in the saddlebag of her camel, and was sitting on them. And Laban searched everything in the tent but found nothing.

Deuteronomy · 1
  1. Deuteronomy 32:14 כָּרִ֜ים lambs

    with curds from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan, and goats, with the choicest grains of wheat. From the juice of the finest grapes you drank the wine.

    Here: Young male sheep raised on pasture for eating. In Amos 6:4 eating kārîm is a mark of luxury.

1 Samuel · 1
  1. 1 Samuel 15:9 הַכָּרִים֙ the lambs

    Saul and his troops spared Agag, along with the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs, and the best of everything else. They were unwilling to devote them to destruction, but they devoted to destruction all that was despised and worthless.

2 Kings · 1
  1. 2 Kings 3:4 כָּרִ֔ים lambs

    Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, and he would render to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams.

Psalms · 2
  1. Psalm 37:20 כָּרִ֑ים pastures

    But the wicked and enemies of the LORD will perish like the glory of the fields. They will vanish; like smoke they will fade away.

    Here: The word sounds the same as two different nouns: 'pastures' and 'lambs/rams'. 'The splendour of the pastures' calls up wildflowers that wither, and 'the choice part of lambs' calls up sacrificial fat burned on the altar. Both pictures end in smoke.

  2. Psalm 65:13 כָרִ֨ים׀ [the] pastures

    The pastures are clothed with flocks, and the valleys are decked with grain. They shout in triumph; indeed, they sing.

    Here: Open grazing land, the kind of steppe and hillside that turns green only after the winter rains. It matches 'valleys' in the next line. The same letters can also mean 'rams' or 'lambs', which is how the Greek translation and YLT took it.

Isaiah · 3
  1. Isaiah 16:1 כַ֥ר a lamb

    Send the tribute lambs to the ruler of the land, from Sela in the desert to the mount of Daughter Zion.

  2. Isaiah 30:23 כַּ֥ר pasture

    Then He will send rain for the seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food that comes from your land will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.

    Here: Open grazing land. A word spelled the same way means "lamb", and the Latin Vulgate took it that way.

  3. Isaiah 34:6 כָּרִים֙ lambs

    The sword of the LORD is bathed in blood. It drips with fat—with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

    Here: Young, well-fed rams or lambs, the kind raised on good pasture and sent for slaughter (compare Deut 32:14; Amos 6:4). Prime sacrificial and feast animals.

Jeremiah · 1
  1. Jeremiah 51:40 כְּכָרִ֣ים like lambs

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

Ezekiel · 5
  1. Ezekiel 4:2 כָּרִ֖ים battering-rams

    Then lay siege against it: Construct a siege wall, build a ramp to it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams around it on all sides.

  2. Ezekiel 21:22 כָּרִים֙ כָּרִים֙ battering-rams

    In his right hand appears the portent for Jerusalem, where he is to set up battering rams, to call for the slaughter, to lift a battle cry, to direct the battering rams against the gates, to build a ramp, and to erect a siege wall.

  3. Ezekiel 27:21 בְּכָרִ֤ים for lambs

    Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your customers, trading in lambs, rams, and goats.

  4. Ezekiel 39:18 כָּרִ֤ים lambs

    You will eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as though they were rams, lambs, goats, and bulls—all the fattened animals of Bashan.

Amos · 1
  1. Amos 6:4 כָּרִים֙ lambs

    You lie on beds inlaid with ivory, and lounge upon your couches. You dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall.

    Here: Young male sheep, grouped elsewhere with the best and fattest animals. It suggests choice meat, not an animal chosen for its tenderness alone.

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