H2233 H2233
Seed, offspring; literal plant seed for sowing, human descendants or lineage, and the season of sowing.
Zera is one of the Hebrew Bible's great double-duty nouns, spanning the agricultural and the genealogical with a single word. In Genesis 1 it is the seed inside fruit, the mechanism of botanical reproduction that God declares 'good.' By Genesis 3:15 it has already become the 'seed of the woman' — offspring, progeny, the carrier of promise and threat across generations. The Abrahamic covenant pivots on zera: 'I will make your zera as the dust of the earth' (Gen 13:16). Most languages must choose between botanical and genealogical vocabulary — Hindi distinguishes bij ('seed') from santan ('offspring'), Korean splits ssi ('seed') from jasonson ('descendants'), and Swahili separates mbegu ('seed') from uzao ('offspring') — but Hebrew holds them together in a single word whose ambiguity is sometimes theologically deliberate, as in the messianic 'seed' promises.
Senses
1. offspring, descendants — Human offspring, descendants, or lineage — the dominant sense at 172 occurrences, overwhelmingly in covenantal, genealogical, and theological contexts. The 'seed of Abraham' (Gen 13:15-16; 22:17-18), the 'seed of David' (2 Sam 7:12), the 'holy seed' of the restored community (Ezra 9:2; Isa 6:13). Arabic nasl/dhurriyya, Swahili uzao, Korean jaseon, and Spanish descendencia all select dedicated progeny vocabulary here, distinct from their agricultural 'seed' words. The singular-collective ambiguity of zera — is it one descendant or many? — is theologically exploited in Gen 3:15 and Gal 3:16. 172×
AR["زَرْع", "زَرْعًا", "زَرْعَ", "نَسْلًا", "نَسْلٌ", "نَسْلٍ", "نَسْلَ", "نَسْلُ", "نَسْلِ"]·ben["বংশ", "বংশ-"]·DE["Same", "Same-", "Samen", "seed", "seed-von"]·EN["offspring", "offspring-of", "seed", "seed-of", "the-seed", "the-seed-of"]·FR["semence", "semence-de"]·heb["זרע"]·HI["बीज", "वंश", "वंशको-", "वनश"]·ID["-keturunan", "benih", "keturunan"]·IT["seme", "seme-di"]·jav["Turunan", "turun", "turunan", "turunan-", "wiji"]·KO["씨", "씨-가", "씨-를", "씨-여", "씨-의", "씨가", "씨를", "씨앗-", "씨앗을"]·PT["A-descendência", "Semente-de", "a-descendência-de", "a-semente", "descendência", "descendência-de", "semente", "semente-de"]·RU["потомства", "семя"]·ES["Descendencia-de", "descendencia", "descendencia-de", "la-descendencia", "simiente", "simiente-de"]·SW["Uzao", "mbegu-ya", "uzao", "uzao-wa", "uzima"]·TR["Tohumu", "soy", "soyu", "soyunu", "tohum", "tohumu"]·urd["نسل"]
2. agricultural seed, grain — Literal plant seed or grain used for sowing, eating, or as produce — 55 occurrences concentrated in Genesis 1 (seed-bearing plants), the agricultural laws (Lev 11:37-38; 19:19; 27:16), and scattered narrative. 'Seed-bearing herb' and 'tree yielding fruit whose seed is in itself' (Gen 1:11-12, 29) establish this as the creation-order sense. Arabic zar/badhr, Swahili mbegu, Hindi bij, Korean ssi, and Spanish semilla all use dedicated botanical vocabulary. This includes a few occurrences where zera refers to human semen in a procreative-biological rather than genealogical sense (Lev 15:16-18; 18:20). 55×
AR["بِذْرٍ", "بِذْرِ", "زَرْعًا", "زَرْعٌ", "زَرْعٍ"]·ben["বীজ", "বীজে।", "বীজের", "বীর্য", "বীর্যের"]·DE["Saatgut", "Same", "Samen", "seed"]·EN["seed"]·FR["semence"]·heb["זרע"]·HI["कोई", "बीज", "बीज-की", "बीज-से", "वीर्य", "वीर्य-का", "स्खलन"]·ID["Benih", "benih"]·IT["seme"]·jav["Wiji", "wiji", "wiji."]·KO["씨", "씨를", "씨앗", "씨앗을", "씨앗의"]·PT["semente", "semente-de", "sêmen"]·RU["Семян", "посева", "семени", "семя", "семян"]·ES["Semilla", "semen", "semilla", "semilla-de", "simiente"]·SW["Zra", "akamruka-toa", "mbegu", "uzazi"]·TR["tohum", "tohuma"]·urd["بیج", "بیج-سے", "منی-کا", "کا-بیج"]
3. sowing-time, seedtime — Seedtime, the season or act of sowing — only 2 occurrences, both in agricultural-calendar formulae. 'While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest... shall not cease' (Gen 8:22); 'your threshing shall last to the time of sowing' (Lev 26:5). Here zera functions as a temporal noun denoting a period in the farming year, paired contrastively with qatsir ('harvest'). Spanish siembra ('sowing season'), Arabic zar ('planting time'), and Swahili upandaji ('sowing period') all render this as a season rather than a substance, confirming the metonymic shift from product to process to time. 2×
AR["الزَّرْعَ", "زَرْعٌ"]·ben["বীজ", "বীজ;"]·DE["Saat", "sowing"]·EN["seedtime", "sowing"]·FR["seedtime", "semant"]·heb["זרע"]·HI["बीज", "बीज-बोना"]·ID["dan-kamu-akan-makan", "musim-menabur"]·IT["seedtime", "sowing"]·jav["tandur;", "wiji-panenan"]·KO["씨-뿌림", "파종에"]·PT["semeadura", "sementeira"]·RU["посева", "сеяние"]·ES["la-siembra", "siembra"]·SW["kupanda", "upandaji"]·TR["ekime", "tohum"]·urd["بوائی", "بیج"]
Related Senses
H0376 1. man, person, human male (2130×)H0251 1. brother (blood sibling) (573×)H0120 1. man, human being (individual/generic) (527×)H0802 1. woman, female person (519×)H0802 2. wife, spouse (255×)H0517 1. mother, female parent (217×)G0435 1. man, male person (202×)G1135 1. woman, adult female (190×)H0001 2. ancestor, forefather (146×)H5288 1. Youth, young man (122×)H0269 1. sister (female sibling) (113×)H1755 1. generation, contemporaries (96×)G5043 1. child, offspring (89×)G0444 2. people, humankind (86×)H3206 1. child, boy, youth (86×)H2145 1. male (human being) (79×)G3384 1. mother (77×)H6485a 1. Qal passive participle: numbered ones, enrollment (76×)H1397 1. man (strong/mighty) (65×)H5291 1. young woman, girl (58×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† זֶ֫רַע n.m. Dt. 28:38 sowing, seed, offspring (NH id., Aramaic זְרַע, ܙܪܰܥ; Ph. זרע; Zinj. id.; Arabic زَرْعٌ 2 Ethiopic ዘርእ; Assyrian zêru, cultivated land, BelserBAS ii. 130, cf. Arabic زَرْعَةٌ )—abs. ז׳ Gn 47:23 +; זָ֑רַע Gn 1:29 +; cstr. זֶרַע Is 5:10 +; זְרַע־ Nu 11:7; sf. זַרְעִי 1 S 20:42; 24:22; זַרְעֲךָ Dt 11:10 +; זַרְעֶ֑ךָ Ec 11:6 +, etc.; pl. sf. זַרְעֵיכֶם 1 S 8:15;— 1. lit.: a a…