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.
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"]
Gen 4:25, Gen 7:3, Gen 13:16, Gen 13:16, Gen 15:3, Gen 15:5, Gen 15:13, Gen 16:10, Gen 17:7, Gen 17:10, Gen 19:32, Gen 19:34 (+38 more)
▼ 2 more senses below
Senses
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×)H0001 1. father, immediate male parent (1031×)H0251 1. brother (blood sibling) (573×)H0120 1. man, human being (individual/generic) (527×)H0802 1. woman, female person (519×)G0444 1. human being, person (469×)G3962 1. father or divine Father (413×)G0080 1. brother, fellow believer (343×)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×)
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…