Hebrew word · H504

אֶ֫לֶף

'alafeikha

cattle

Cattle, oxen, a herd. It is a separate word from ʾelef, 'thousand' (H505), and may be related to ʾalluf, 'tame' or 'chief'.

Appears 7 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) cattle, oxen

1a) in farming

1b) as a possession

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 Deuteronomy 28:18

Range of meaning

Cattle, oxen, a herd. It is a separate word from ʾelef, 'thousand' (H505), and may be related to ʾalluf, 'tame' or 'chief'.

Against the English

KJV 'kine' (archaic for cows), BSB 'herds', WEB 'livestock', YLT 'oxen'. All are acceptable. 'Livestock' blurs the line between herd and flock that the verse draws.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 8:7 [Eng 8:7] 'sheep and oxen, all of them (ṣōneh waʾălāfîm)'; Prov 14:4; Isa 30:24. Ugaritic ʾalp, 'ox', is a cognate, and the letter aleph takes its name from the ox.

From the study of Proverbs 14:4

Range of meaning

Cattle or oxen as a group, especially as livestock owned and bred. It is rare and has a slightly poetic or old-fashioned flavour (Psalm 8:7 [Eng. 8:7], 'sheep and oxen'; Deuteronomy 7:13; 28:4, 18, 51, 'the offspring of your cattle'; Psalm 144:14).

Against the English

All major versions say 'oxen', which is accurate.

Used elsewhere in the period

Cognate with Ugaritic ʾalp and Akkadian alpu, the standard words for ox across the ancient Near East. The letter aleph is traditionally linked to an early ox-head sign, but nothing in the verse plays on that.

Where it appears

Deuteronomy · 4

  1. Deuteronomy 7:13 אֲלָפֶ֙יךָ֙ cattle<s> your

    He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your womb and the produce of your land—your grain, new wine, and oil, the young of your herds and the lambs of your flocks—in the land that He swore to your fathers to give you.

    Here: "Your cattle." The same consonants as 'thousand,' but here the word means oxen or herd animals (compare Ps 8:7). The letter aleph was originally an ox-head picture.

  2. Deuteronomy 28:4 אֲלָפֶ֖יךָ cattle<s> your

    The fruit of your womb will be blessed, as well as the produce of your land and the offspring of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

    Here: 'Your cattle/oxen'. The same consonants as the word for 'thousand', but here it means large livestock, the herd.

  3. Deuteronomy 28:18 אֲלָפֶ֖יךָ cattle<s> your

    The fruit of your womb will be cursed, as well as the produce of your land, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks.

    Here: 'Your cattle.' This is a different word from the identically spelled ʾelef, 'thousand'. It is a rare poetic or old term for oxen and cattle (Ps 8:7; Prov 14:4).

  4. Deuteronomy 28:51 אֲלָפֶ֖יךָ cattle<s> your

    They will eat the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain or new wine or oil, no calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks, until they have caused you to perish.

    Here: Large cattle. It is spelled like the word for 'thousand' but is a separate word in use here.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 8:7 וַאֲלָפִ֣ים and cattle<s>

    all sheep and oxen, and even the beasts of the field,

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 14:4 אֲ֭לָפִים [are] cattle<s>

    Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but an abundant harvest comes through the strength of the ox.

    Here: A rare, somewhat poetic word for cattle, the same word as Ugaritic ʾalp and Akkadian alpu ("ox"). It is plural: a farm with no draft animals at all. It is spelled like the word for "thousand" (ʾelep), but the meaning here is plainly oxen.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 30:24 וְהָאֲלָפִ֣ים and the cattle<s>

    The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder, winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.

    Here: Domestic cattle, especially the oxen that pulled the plough. This is a poetic word for cattle, spelled the same as the word for 'thousand' (and it gives the letter aleph its name). It opens the list of working animals.

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