Hebrew word · H7142

קֵרֵחַ

kereach

bald

Bald, specifically bald on the back or top of the head (Leviticus 13:40 distinguishes it from gibbeaḥ, bald at the front). The related noun qorḥah is baldness, including baldness shaved deliberately for mourning.

Appears 3 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

bald

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 2 Kings 2:23

Range of meaning

Bald, specifically bald on the back or top of the head (Leviticus 13:40 distinguishes it from gibbeaḥ, bald at the front). The related noun qorḥah is baldness, including baldness shaved deliberately for mourning.

Against the English

'Baldhead' (KJV, ESV, NASB, BSB), 'baldy' (WEB, NIV, NLT). The English is accurate in meaning, but modern readers hear schoolyard teasing.

How it drifted

In modern culture baldness is a mild physical joke. In ancient Israel, where a full head of hair stood for vigor and honor, a bald head could suggest disgrace, mourning, captivity or disease.

Used elsewhere in the period

Leviticus 13:40–43, where natural baldness is clean but a priest must inspect it in case of skin disease; Isaiah 3:24, 'instead of well-set hair, baldness', a sign of Jerusalem's shame; Isaiah 15:2, Jeremiah 16:6, Amos 8:10 and Micah 1:16, baldness in mourning and judgment; Deuteronomy 14:1, where Israelites are forbidden to shave baldness for the dead. Elijah, in contrast, is 'a hairy man' (2 Kings 1:8).

Where it appears

Leviticus · 1

  1. Leviticus 13:40 קֵרֵ֥חַ [is] bald

    Now if a man loses his hair and is bald, he is still clean.

2 Kings · 2

  1. 2 Kings 2:23 קֵרֵ֖חַ קֵרֵֽחַ׃ O bald [man]

    From there, Elisha went up to Bethel, and as he was walking up the road, a group of boys came out of the city and jeered at him, chanting, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!”

    Here: 'Baldy!' In Israel a bald head could suggest shame, mourning or disgrace. It also made a pointed contrast with Elijah, the famously 'hairy man' (2 Kings 1:8).

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