H3824 H3824
Heart, inner self; the seat of thought, will, emotion, and moral character; rarely, the physical center or midst.
Lebab is the fuller, stylistically variant form of leb, and like its shorter twin it denotes far more than the blood-pumping organ. In Hebrew thought, the lebab is where a person thinks, decides, desires, and morally orients themselves — the unified center of consciousness that English must split awkwardly into 'mind,' 'will,' 'heart,' and 'conscience.' The Shema's command to love God 'with all your lebab' (Deut 6:5) addresses the whole inner person, not just emotion. Nearly every one of its 252 occurrences carries this inner-self meaning, making it one of the most theologically concentrated nouns in Scripture. Only two peripheral uses depart from this: a poetic spatial metaphor ('the heart of the seas,' Jonah 2:3) and a possible adverbial use meaning 'wholeheartedly' (1 Chr 12:39).
Senses
1. heart, inner self (mind/will/emotion) — The inner person as the seat of thought, understanding, volition, emotion, and moral character — an overwhelming 250 of 252 occurrences. This is the lebab of the Shema (Deut 6:5), of Solomon's request for a 'discerning lebab' (1 Kgs 3:9), and of the new-covenant promise that God will write his law on the lebab (Jer 31:33, using the form leb). All major target languages must pick a single organ-metaphor — Hindi hriday, Korean maeum, Spanish corazon, Arabic qalb — but none of them capture the full cognitive-volitional-emotional range the way Hebrew lebab does. Deuteronomy alone uses this word over 40 times, almost always in the command to align one's whole inner orientation toward God. 250×
AR["قَلْبَكَ", "قَلْبُكَ", "قَلْبِكَ"]·ben["তোমার-হৃদয়", "তোমার-হৃদয়-দিয়ে", "তোমার-হৃদয়ে", "তোমার-হৃদয়ের"]·DE["dein-Herz"]·EN["your-heart"]·FR["ton-coeur", "ton-cœur"]·heb["לבבך"]·HI["अपना-दिल", "कि", "को-मन-तेरे", "तुम्हारे-हृदय", "तेरा-हृदय", "तेरे-हृदय", "तेरे-हृदय-से", "मन-तेरे", "हृदय-तेरे-के", "ह्रदय-तेरे"]·ID["hati-mu", "hatimu"]·IT["il-tuo-cuore", "tuo-cuore"]·jav["manah-panjenengan", "penggalih-panjenengan"]·KO["너의-마음", "너의-마음과", "너의-마음으로", "너의-마음을", "너의-마음이", "네-마음", "네-마음-의", "네-마음으로", "네-마음을", "네-마음의", "네-마음이"]·PT["teu-coração"]·RU["-сердце-твоё", "-сердце-твоём", "-сердцем-твоим", "сердца-твоего", "сердце-твоё", "сердце-твоём", "сердцем-твоим"]·ES["tu-corazón"]·SW["moyo-wako", "wa-moyo-wako", "wote", "ya-moyo-wako"]·TR["-yüreğine", "-yüreğini", "kalbin", "kalbine", "kalbini", "kalbinin", "yüreğin", "yüreğinde", "yüreğine", "yüreğini", "yüreğinin", "yüreğinle"]·urd["اپنے-دل", "اپنے-دل-سے", "اپنے-دل-میں", "تمہارا-دل", "تمہارے-دل-کے", "تیرا-دل", "تیرے-دل", "تیرے-دل-پر", "تیرے-دل-کی", "تیرے-دل-کے", "دل-سے"]
Deut 4:29, Deut 4:39, Deut 6:5, Deut 6:6, Deut 8:5, Deut 8:14, Deut 9:5, Deut 10:12, Deut 15:7, Deut 15:9, Deut 15:10, Deut 26:16 (+38 more)
2. sense 2 — The physical center or midst of something, used spatially — a single poetic occurrence in Jonah 2:3, where the drowning prophet cries out from 'the lebab of the seas.' Here the word functions as a spatial metaphor for the innermost depth, the very core of the ocean. Spanish en corazon de, German in-Herz, and French dans coeur all preserve the metaphorical extension. This is the same semantic shift seen in many languages where 'heart' can mean 'center' (English 'the heart of the city'). 1×
AR["فِي-قَلْبِ"]·ben["হৃদয়ে"]·DE["in-Herz"]·EN["into-the-heart-of"]·FR["dans-coeur"]·heb["ב-לבב"]·HI["ह्रदय-में"]·ID["ke-dalam-jantung"]·IT["in-cuore"]·jav["ing-telenging"]·KO["에서-가슴"]·PT["no-coração-de"]·RU["в-сердце"]·ES["en-corazon-de"]·SW["katikati-ya"]·TR["yüreğinde"]·urd["دل-میں"]
3. sense 3 — Wholehearted devotion or integrity — a single occurrence at 1 Chr 12:39 where warriors come with a 'complete/whole lebab' to make David king. The multilingual evidence splits: English glosses 'whole,' Spanish integro ('integrity'), while French and German stay with 'heart.' The sense is adverbial or qualitative — describing the manner of commitment rather than the organ itself — and stands at the boundary between the inner-self sense and an abstract moral quality. 1×
AR["سَلِيم"]·ben["পূর্ণ"]·DE["Herz"]·EN["whole"]·FR["coeur"]·heb["לב"]·HI["पूरे"]·ID["tulus"]·IT["cuore"]·jav["utuh"]·KO["온전한"]·PT["inteiro"]·RU["целом"]·ES["íntegro"]·SW["kamili"]·TR["tam"]·urd["کامل"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)H3045 1. Qal: to know, perceive, understand (829×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)H5315 1. soul, inner being (647×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† לֵבָב251 † לֵבָב251 n.m. ψ 104:15 inner man, mind, will, heart;—abs. ל׳ Dt 28:28 + 31 times; cstr. לְבַב Dt 20:8 + 22 times; sf. לְבָבִי Is 21:4 + 24 times; לְבָֽבְךָ Dt 4:29 + 35 times; לְבָבֶ֑ךָ Dt 4:39 + 21 times; לְבָבֵךְ 1 S 1:8 + 3 times; לְבָבוֹ Dt 2:30 + 37 times; לְבָבָהּ Zp 2:15 + 3 times; לְבָבֵנוּ Dt 1:28 + 3 times; לְּבַבְכֶם Dt 10:16 + 37 times; לְּבָבָם Lv 26:41 + 22 times; pl.…