לֵב599 H3820a
Heart; the inner self as seat of thought, will, emotion, and conscience; also the physical center or midst of something.
Far richer than the English word 'heart' suggests, לֵב is the comprehensive Hebrew term for the entire inner life of a person—mind, will, emotions, conscience, and moral character all at once. When Exodus 28:3 speaks of those 'wise of heart,' the word denotes intellectual skill and understanding, not sentiment. French 'cœur' and German 'Herz' carry similar breadth, but the Arabic cognate قَلْب makes the dual force especially clear, serving for both the physical organ and the seat of intention. In a spatial extension, the same word names the 'heart of the sea' (Exod 15:8) or the 'heart of the oak' (2 Sam 18:14).
3. sense 3 — A problematic textual occurrence at 1 Samuel 25:3, where the MT reading appears to involve a textual corruption or scribal note. Multilingual glosses render it as a bracketed gentilicic label '[Calebite],' suggesting the word here is not functioning as 'heart' at all but may be a mispointing or marginal annotation related to Caleb's clan identity. 1×
AR["[كتيب]"]·ben["[কালেবী]"]·DE["[Calebite]"]·EN["[Calebite]"]·FR["[Calebite]"]·heb["[כלבו]"]·HI["[कालेबी]"]·ID["keturunan-Kaleb"]·IT["[Calebite]"]·jav["tiyang-Kaleb"]·KO["갈렝의"]·PT["[kalevita]"]·RU["[как-собака]"]·ES["(Qeré)"]·SW["Mkalebu"]·TR["[Kılebli]"]·urd["[کالبی]"]
▼ 2 more senses below
Senses
1. heart, inner self (mind/will/emotion) — The inner person as the center of thought, volition, emotion, and moral discernment—the dominant biblical-anthropological sense covering nearly all 572 occurrences. In Exodus 35:21 the heart 'stirs' someone to give; in Proverbs 23:15 a wise son makes his father's heart glad. Every major translation language maps this to a single core word (Spanish 'corazón,' French 'cœur,' German 'Herz'), confirming the universality of the metaphor. Encompasses understanding (Exod 28:3), intention (Gen 8:21), courage (2 Sam 17:10), and conscience (1 Sam 24:5). 572×
AR["القَلبِ","قَلْبًا","قَلْبٍ","لِقَلبِ"]·ben["তোমাকে","মন","হৃদয়","হৃদয়ের"]·DE["Herz","ein-Herz"]·EN["a-heart","heart"]·FR["coeur","cœur","un-cœur"]·heb["לֵב","לב"]·HI["दिल-की","दिल-के","ध्यान","हृदय","हृदय-की","हृदय-के","हृदय-ने","ह्रदय"]·ID["hati"]·IT["cuore","un-cuore"]·jav["manah","manah,"]·KO["(접)-마음을","마음-의","마음을","마음의"]·PT["coração"]·RU["сердца","сердце","сердцем"]·ES["corazón"]·SW["mchanga","moyo","wa-hekima","wa-moyo"]·TR["kalp","yürek","yürekli","yüreğin"]·urd["توجہ","دل","دل-والا","دل-والی","دل-کی","دل-کے"]
Exod 28:3, Exod 31:6, Exod 35:10, Exod 35:22, Exod 35:25, Exod 35:35, Exod 36:1, Exod 36:2, Exod 36:8, Deut 28:65, Deut 29:4, Judg 5:15 (+38 more)
2. heart, center/midst (spatial) — A spatial or locative extension: the physical interior, center, or midst of a non-personal entity. Found in expressions like 'in the heart of the sea' (Exod 15:8), 'in the heart of the oak' (2 Sam 18:14), and 'in the heart of the heavens' (Deut 4:11). The multilingual glosses consistently use prepositional phrases—'in-heart-of,' Spanish 'en-corazón-de,' German 'im-Herzen'—revealing that translators mark this as a distinct spatial idiom rather than the anthropological inner-self. 21×
AR["بِ-قَلْبِ-","في-قَلْب","في-قَلْبِ","في-قَلْبِ-","فِي-قَلْبِ","فِي-قَلْبِ-"]·ben["-মধ্যে-","-হৃদয়ে","মধ্যে","মধ্যে-","মধ্যে-হৃদয়","হৃদয়ে","হৃদয়ে-"]·DE["im-Herzen","in-Herz-","in-Herz-von","in-der-Herz-"]·EN["in-heart-of","in-heart-of-","in-the-heart-of","into-heart-of","is-in-the-heart-of"]·FR["coeur","dans-coeur","dans-cœur","dans-cœur-de"]·heb["ב-לב","ב-לב-","ב-לב־"]·HI["-हृदय-में","-हृदय-में-","बीच-में-","में-बीच","में-हृदय","हृदय-में","हृदय-में-"]·ID["Di-dalam-hati","Di-jantung-","dalam-hati","dalam-hati-","di-dalam-hati-","di-hati","di-jantung-","di-tengah","ke-jantung"]·IT["cuore","in-cuore","in-cuore-di","nel-cuore"]·jav["Ing-tengahing","ing-manah","ing-manah-saking","ing-tengah-saking","ing-tengahing","ing-tengahing-","nabi-nabi","wonten-manah","wonten-tengah"]·KO["-마음-에","~에서-한가운데","가운데에-","가운데에서-","마음-에","마음-에-","마음-에서","에-마음","에-의-마음에","중심-에-"]·PT["Em-coração-de","No-coração-de","em-coração-de","em-coração-de-","no-coração-de","no-coração-de-","no-coração-dos"]·RU["в","в-сердце","в-сердце-","к-сердцу-"]·ES["En-corazón-de","En-el-corazón-de","en-corazón-de","en-corazón-de-","en-el-corazón-de","en-el-corazón-de-","en-el-corazón-del-"]·SW["Katika-moyo-wa","katika-moyo","katika-moyo-wa","katikati-ya","moyoni-mwa","ndani-ya-moyo-wa"]·TR["-yüreğinde","içinde","kalbinde","kalbinde-","kalbine","ortasında-","yüreğinde","yüreğinde-","yüreğine","yüreğine-"]·urd["بَ-دل","بَ-دل-","بِ-دل","دل-میں","دل-میں-","میں-دل"]
Exod 15:8, 2 Sam 18:14, 2 Sam 18:14, Ezra 7:27, Ps 45:5, Ps 46:2, Prov 12:20, Prov 12:25, Prov 14:33, Prov 19:21, Prov 20:5, Prov 22:15 (+9 more)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
לֵב599 לֵב599 n.m. Pr 23:15 (†f. Pr 12:25, from influence of נֶפֶשׁ v. De Now) inner man, mind, will, heart, abs. and cstr. לֵב Gn 8:21 + 239 times; לֶב־ Ex 15:8 + 15 times; sf. לִבִּי Gn 24:45 + 102 times; לִבְּךָ Ex 9:14 + 28 times; לִבֶּ֑ךָ Ju 19:6 + 25 times; לִבֵּךְ Is 47:7 + 7 times; לִבּוֹ Gn 6:5 + 93 times; לִבָּהּ Ju 19:3 + 7 times; לִבֵּנוּ Is 41:22 + 5 times; לִבְּכֶם Gn 18:5 + 2…