Hebrew word · H6224

עֲשִׂירִי

'asiri

tenth

A tenth part, from the number ten. It is related to the ordinal "tenth" (ʿăśîrî) and to the tithe (maʿăśēr), but this form is a fraction, not a religious offering.

Appears 29 times in 26 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) ordinal number

1a) a tenth

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 6:13

Range of meaning

A tenth part, from the number ten. It is related to the ordinal "tenth" (ʿăśîrî) and to the tithe (maʿăśēr), but this form is a fraction, not a religious offering.

Against the English

Most versions say "a tenth". The KJV has "a tenth". The NLT expands it to "a tenth—a remnant", which reads the later remnant idea into the number.

Used elsewhere in the period

Prophets used shrinking numbers to describe a population cut down by war. Amos 5:3: "the city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out a hundred shall have ten left." Assyrian royal records count captured towns and deportees in the same way.

Where it appears

Genesis · 2
  1. Genesis 8:5 הָֽעֲשִׂירִ֑י בָּֽעֲשִׂירִי֙ <the> tenth, in the tenth [month]

    And the waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

Exodus · 1
  1. Exodus 16:36 עֲשִׂרִ֥ית [is] [the] tenth [part] of

    (Now an omer is a tenth of an ephah.)

Leviticus · 3
  1. Leviticus 5:11 עֲשִׂירִ֧ת <the> tenth of

    But if he cannot afford two turtledoves or two young pigeons, he may bring a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a sin offering. He must not put olive oil or frankincense on it, because it is a sin offering.

  2. Leviticus 6:20 עֲשִׂירִ֨ת <the> tenth of

    “This is the offering that Aaron and his sons must present to the LORD on the day he is anointed: a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half in the evening.

  3. Leviticus 27:32 הָֽעֲשִׂירִ֕י the tenth

    Every tenth animal from the herd or flock that passes under the shepherd’s rod will be holy to the LORD.

Numbers · 3
  1. Numbers 5:15 עֲשִׂירִ֥ת <the> tenth of

    then he is to bring his wife to the priest. He must also bring for her an offering of a tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He is not to pour oil over it or put frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, an offering of memorial as a reminder of iniquity.

  2. Numbers 7:66 הָעֲשִׂירִ֔י <the> tenth

    On the tenth day Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai, the leader of the Danites, drew near.

  3. Numbers 28:5 וַעֲשִׂירִ֧ית and [the] tenth of

    along with a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with a quarter hin of oil from pressed olives.

    Here: The word for 'tenth' (an ordinal number) used as a fraction: 'a tenth part of'. The 'and' ties this grain portion to the lamb in verse 4. Each lamb comes with its own measure of flour.

Deuteronomy · 2
  1. Deuteronomy 23:2 עֲשִׂירִ֔י tenth

    No one of illegitimate birth may enter the assembly of the LORD, nor may any of his descendants, even to the tenth generation.

  2. Deuteronomy 23:3 עֲשִׂירִ֔י tenth

    No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.

    Here: 'Tenth,' a generation centuries away and far beyond living memory. Ten is also a number of completeness in Israel's genealogies, so it works as an extreme limit case rather than a countdown.

2 Kings · 1
  1. 2 Kings 25:1 הָעֲשִׂירִי֮ <the> tenth

    So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it.

    Here: Counting from the spring month (Nisan), the tenth month falls in midwinter, December–January. After the exile it was called Tebeth (Esther 2:16).

1 Chronicles · 5
  1. 1 Chronicles 12:13 הָעֲשִׂירִ֔י ס the tenth

    Jeremiah the tenth, and Machbanai the eleventh.

  2. 1 Chronicles 24:11 הָעֲשִׂרִֽי׃ the tenth

    the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah,

  3. 1 Chronicles 25:17 הָעֲשִׂירִ֣י the tenth

    the tenth to Shimei, his sons, and his brothers—12 in all;

  4. 1 Chronicles 27:13 הָעֲשִׂירִי֙ הָעֲשִׂירִ֔י [was] the tenth, <the> tenth

    The tenth, for the tenth month, was Maharai the Netophathite, a Zerahite. There were 24,000 men in his division.

    Here: An ordinal number with the article: 'the tenth' commander in the series. The word 'commander' is left unspoken because verse 1 has already set up the list of commanders, so each entry begins with its number alone.

Ezra · 1
  1. Ezra 10:16 הָעֲשִׂירִ֔י <the> tenth

    So the exiles did as proposed. Ezra the priest selected men who were family heads, each of them identified by name, to represent their families. On the first day of the tenth month they launched the investigation,

Esther · 1
  1. Esther 2:16 הָעֲשִׂירִ֖י <the> tenth

    She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal palace in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

    Here: The tenth month counted from the spring new year (Nisan). That puts it in midwinter, roughly December–January, not October.

Isaiah · 1
  1. Isaiah 6:13 עֲשִׂ֣רִיָּ֔ה a tenth [part]

    And though a tenth remains in the land, it will be burned again. As the terebinth and oak leave stumps when felled, so the holy seed will be a stump in the land.”

    Here: A tenth portion, the small fraction left after a disaster. It is not the word for the religious tithe (maʿăśēr), though a Hebrew ear might catch a faint echo.

Jeremiah · 3
  1. Jeremiah 32:1 הָעֲשִׂרִ֔ית <the> tenth

    This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.

  2. Jeremiah 39:1 הָעֲשִׂרִ֗י <the> tenth

    In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army and laid siege to the city.

    Here: 'The tenth' month, counted from the spring new year (Nisan). That falls around December–January. It was the month later called Tevet.

  3. Jeremiah 52:4 הָעֲשִׂירִי֮ <the> tenth

    So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it.

    Here: The tenth month counting from the spring New Year (Nisan), i.e. midwinter, December–January, later called Tevet.

Ezekiel · 5
  1. Ezekiel 24:1 הָעֲשִׂירִ֔י <the> tenth

    In the ninth year, on the tenth day of the tenth month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

  2. Ezekiel 29:1 הָעֲשִׂירִ֔ית בָּעֲשִׂרִ֕י <the> tenth, in the tenth [month]

    In the tenth year, on the twelfth day of the tenth month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

  3. Ezekiel 33:21 בָּעֲשִׂרִ֛י in the tenth [month]

    In the twelfth year of our exile, on the fifth day of the tenth month, a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and reported, “The city has been taken!”

  4. Ezekiel 45:11 וַעֲשִׂירִ֤ת and [the] tenth [part] of

    The ephah and the bath shall be the same quantity so that the bath will contain a tenth of a homer, and the ephah a tenth of a homer; the homer will be the standard measure for both.

Zechariah · 1
  1. Zechariah 8:19 הָעֲשִׂירִ֗י the tenth [month]

    “This is what the LORD of Hosts says: The fasts of the fourth, the fifth, the seventh, and the tenth months will become times of joy and gladness, cheerful feasts for the house of Judah. Therefore you are to love both truth and peace.”

    Here: The tenth month (Tevet, December–January). It remembered the start of Babylon's siege of Jerusalem (2 Kgs 25:1; Jer 52:4; Ezek 24:1–2).

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