Skip to the text

← Words

Hebrew

זֶ֫רַע ze·ra

“seed” · 229 times in the Old Testament

Through the Bible

Genesis: 59 timesExodus: 6 timesLeviticus: 24 timesNumbers: 9 timesDeuteronomy: 14 timesJoshua: onceJudges: 0 timesRuth: once1 Samuel: 6 times2 Samuel: 3 times1 Kings: 5 times2 Kings: 4 times1 Chronicles: 2 times2 Chronicles: 2 timesEzra: 2 timesNehemiah: 3 timesEsther: 5 timesJob: 3 timesPsalms: 18 timesProverbs: onceEcclesiastes: onceSong of Songs: 0 timesIsaiah: 26 timesJeremiah: 21 timesLamentations: 0 timesEzekiel: 6 timesDaniel: 2 timesHosea: 0 timesJoel: 0 timesAmos: onceObadiah: 0 timesJonah: 0 timesMicah: 0 timesNahum: 0 timesHabakkuk: 0 timesZephaniah: 0 timesHaggai: onceZechariah: onceMalachi: 2 timesMatthew: 7 timesMark: 5 timesLuke: 2 timesJohn: 3 timesActs: 4 timesRomans: 9 times1 Corinthians: once2 Corinthians: onceGalatians: 5 timesEphesians: 0 timesPhilippians: 0 timesColossians: 0 times1 Thessalonians: 0 times2 Thessalonians: 0 times1 Timothy: 0 times2 Timothy: onceTitus: 0 timesPhilemon: 0 timesHebrews: 3 timesJames: 0 times1 Peter: 0 times2 Peter: 0 times1 John: once2 John: 0 times3 John: 0 timesJude: 0 timesRevelation: onceLawHistoryWisdomProphetsGospelsLetters
  • “descendants” 82
  • “offspring” 41
  • “seed” 31
  • “children” 7
  • “semen” 5
  • other ways 63
  • sperma, the Greek the New Testament uses for it 43

In the New Testament it continues as sperma: Galatians 3:16 quotes Genesis 13:15, and puts this word in Greek.

As a table, book by book
BookTimes
Genesis59
Exodus6
Leviticus24
Numbers9
Deuteronomy14
Joshua1
Ruth1
1 Samuel6
2 Samuel3
1 Kings5
2 Kings4
1 Chronicles2
2 Chronicles2
Ezra2
Nehemiah3
Esther5
Job3
Psalms18
Proverbs1
Ecclesiastes1
Isaiah26
Jeremiah21
Ezekiel6
Daniel2
Amos1
Haggai1
Zechariah1
Malachi2
Matthew7
Mark5
Luke2
John3
Acts4
Romans9
1 Corinthians1
2 Corinthians1
Galatians5
2 Timothy1
Hebrews3
1 John1
Revelation1

How the BSB translates it

Each way the Berean Standard Bible puts it into English, and how often.

  1. descendants82
  2. offspring41
  3. seed31
  4. children7
  5. family5
  6. semen5
  7. grain3
  8. line3
  9. seed bearing3
  10. carnally2
  11. descended2
  12. descent2
  13. 37 other ways43
Its meanings, as STEP Bible divides them
  • children 177
  • seed 44
  • semen 8

With a pronoun joined

Hebrew joins “me”, “you”, “him” and the like to the end of a word.

Where it occurs

Grouped by how it’s translated, then by book. Each reference opens the verse.

“descendants” 82
  • Genesis 15

    • 9:9 …with you and your descendants after you…
    • 15:13 …Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in…
    • 15:18 …covenant with Abram saying To your descendants I have given this…
    • 17:8 …And to you and your descendants I will give the…
    • 17:9 …keep My covenant you and your descendants in the generations after…
    • 17:10 …is My covenant with you and your descendants after you which you…
    • 17:19 …as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him…
    • 22:17 …and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in…
    • 22:17 …sand on the seashore Your descendants will possess the gates…
    • 26:24 …bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of…
    • 28:4 …of Abraham to you and your descendants so that you may…
    • 28:13 …I will give you and your descendants the land on which…
    • 28:14 Your descendants will be like the…
    • 35:12 …will give this land to your descendants after you…
    • 48:4 …will give this land to your descendants after you as an…
  • Exodus 3

    • 28:43 …permanent statute for Aaron and his descendants
    • 32:13 …and I will give your descendants all this land that…
    • 33:1 …I will give it to your descendants
  • Leviticus 3

    • 21:17 …generations to come none of your descendants who has a physical…
    • 21:21 …No descendant of Aaron the priest…
    • 22:3 …to come if any of their descendants in a state of…
  • Numbers 3

    • 14:24 …land he has entered and his descendants will inherit it…
    • 16:40 …outsider who is not a descendant of Aaron should approach…
    • 25:13 …permanent priesthood for him and his descendants because he was zealous…
  • Deuteronomy 9

    • 1:8 …Abraham Isaac and Jacob and to their descendants after them…
    • 4:37 …your fathers He chose their descendants after them and brought…
    • 10:15 …He has chosen you their descendants after them above all…
    • 11:9 …fathers to give them and their descendants a land flowing with…
    • 28:46 …a wonder upon you and your descendants forever…
    • 30:6 …hearts and the hearts of your descendants and you will love…
    • 30:19 …life so that you and your descendants may live…
    • 31:21 …forgotten from the lips of their descendants For I know their…
    • 34:4 …said I will give it to your descendants I have let you…
  • Joshua 1

    • 24:3 …Canaan and I multiplied his descendants I gave him Isaac…
  • 1 Samuel 2

    • 20:42 …and me and between your descendants and mine forever Then…
    • 24:21 …will not cut off my descendants or wipe out my…
  • 2 Samuel 2

    • 7:12 …I will raise up your descendant after you who will…
    • 22:51 …His anointed to David and his descendants forever…
  • 1 Kings 2

    • 2:33 …forever but for David his descendants his house and his…
    • 11:39 …I will humble David’s descendants but not forever…
  • 2 Kings 2

    • 5:27 …will cling to you and your descendants forever And as Gehazi…
    • 17:20 …the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel He afflicted…
  • 1 Chronicles 1

    • 17:11 …I will raise up your descendant after you one of…
  • 2 Chronicles 1

    • 20:7 …and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham Your friend…
  • Nehemiah 1

    • 9:8 …Girgashites to give it to his descendants You have kept Your…
  • Esther 3

    • 9:27 …the custom that they and their descendants and all who join…
    • 9:28 …memory of them fade from their descendants
    • 9:31 …and had committed themselves and their descendants to the times of…
  • Job 1

    • 21:8 Their descendants are established around them…
  • Psalms 6

    • 18:50 …His anointed to David and his descendants forever…
    • 22:23 …LORD praise Him All descendants of Jacob honor Him…
    • 25:13 …will dwell in prosperity and his descendants will inherit the land…
    • 69:36 The descendants of His servants will…
    • 102:28 …servants will dwell securely and their descendants will be established before…
    • 112:2 His descendants will be mighty in…
  • Isaiah 9

    • 41:8 …whom I have chosen descendant of Abraham My friend…
    • 44:3 …out My Spirit on your descendants and My blessing on…
    • 45:19 …I did not say to the descendants of Jacob Seek Me…
    • 45:25 …In the LORD all descendants of Israel will be…
    • 48:19 Your descendants would have been as…
    • 54:3 …the right and left your descendants will dispossess the nations…
    • 61:9 Their descendants will be known among…
    • 65:9 …I will bring forth descendants from Jacob and heirs…
    • 66:22 …declares the LORD so your descendants and your name will…
  • Jeremiah 15

    • 7:15 …all your brothers all the descendants of Ephraim…
    • 22:28 …wants Why are he and his descendants hurled out and cast…
    • 22:30 …in his lifetime None of his descendants will prosper to sit…
    • 23:8 …who brought and led the descendants of the house of…
    • 29:32 …punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants He will have no…
    • 30:10 …of a distant place your descendants from the land of…
    • 31:36 …the LORD would Israel’s descendants ever cease to be…
    • 31:37 …reject all of Israel’s descendants because of all they…
    • 33:22 …too will I multiply the descendants of My servant David…
    • 33:26 …I would also reject the descendants of Jacob and of…
    • 33:26 …as not to take from his descendants rulers over the descendants…
    • 33:26 …his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham Isaac and…
    • 36:31 …will punish him and his descendants and servants for their…
    • 46:27 …of a distant place your descendants from the land of…
    • 49:10 …unable to conceal himself His descendants will be destroyed along…
  • Ezekiel 1

    • 20:5 …I swore an oath to the descendants of the house of…

And 2 more, on the full page.

“offspring” 41
  • Genesis 22

    • 7:3 …and female to preserve their offspring on the face of…
    • 12:7 …will give this land to your offspring So Abram built an…
    • 13:15 …will give to you and your offspring forever…
    • 13:16 …I will make your offspring like the dust of…
    • 13:16 …of the earth then your offspring could be counted…
    • 15:3 …have given me no offspring so a servant in…
    • 15:5 …told him So shall your offspring be…
    • 16:10 …I will greatly multiply your offspring so that they will…
    • 17:12 …those who are not your offspring
    • 21:12 …for through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned…
    • 21:13 …woman’s son because he is your offspring
    • 24:7 …me on oath saying To your offspring I will give this…
    • 24:60 …of thousands upon thousands May your offspring possess the gates of…
    • 26:3 …these lands to you and your offspring and I will confirm…
    • 28:14 …be blessed through you and your offspring
    • 32:12 …and I will make your offspring like the sand of…
    • 38:8 …law and raise up offspring for your brother…
    • 38:9 …But Onan knew that the offspring would not belong to…
    • 38:9 …he would not produce offspring for his brother…
    • 46:6 …and Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt…
    • 46:7 …daughters and granddaughters all his offspring
    • 48:19 …be greater than he and his offspring shall become a multitude…
  • Leviticus 2

    • 20:3 …people because by giving his offspring to Molech he has…
    • 21:15 …he does not defile his offspring among his people for…
  • Numbers 1

    • 18:19 …the LORD for you and your offspring
  • Ruth 1

    • 4:12 …to Judah because of the offspring the LORD will give…
  • 2 Samuel 1

    • 4:8 …the king against Saul and his offspring
  • Job 1

    • 5:25 …You will know that your offspring will be many your…
  • Psalms 6

    • 21:10 …descendants from the earth and their offspring from the sons of…
    • 22:23 …Jacob honor Him All offspring of Israel revere Him…
    • 37:28 …They are preserved forever but the offspring of the wicked will…
    • 89:4 …I will establish your offspring forever and build up…
    • 89:36 his offspring shall endure forever and…
    • 106:27 …to disperse their offspring among the nations and…
  • Proverbs 1

    • 11:21 …will not go unpunished but the offspring of the righteous will…
  • Isaiah 5

    • 14:20 …slaughtered your own people The offspring of the wicked will…
    • 43:5 …you I will bring your offspring from the east and…
    • 53:10 …offering He will see His offspring He will prolong His…
    • 57:3 …sons of a sorceress you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes…
    • 57:4 …not children of transgression offspring of deceit…
  • Malachi 1

    • 2:15 …Because He seeks godly offspring So guard yourselves in…
“seed” 31
  • Genesis 8

    • 1:11 …trees each bearing fruit with seed according to its kind…
    • 1:12 …and trees bearing fruit with seed according to their kinds…
    • 1:29 …tree whose fruit contains seed They will be yours…
    • 3:15 …the woman and between your seed and her seed He…
    • 3:15 …and between your seed and her seed He will crush your…
    • 4:25 …has granted me another seed in place of Abel…
    • 47:19 …to Pharaoh Give us seed that we may live…
    • 47:23 …Pharaoh this day here is seed for you to sow…
  • Exodus 1

    • 16:31 …was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers…
  • Leviticus 4

    • 11:37 …carcass falls on any seed for sowing the seed…
    • 11:38 …has been put on the seed and a carcass falls…
    • 26:16 …life You will sow your seed in vain because your…
    • 27:16 …every homer of barley seed
  • Numbers 2

    • 11:7 …the manna resembled coriander seed and its appearance was…
    • 24:7 …flow from his buckets and his seed will have abundant water…
  • Deuteronomy 2

    • 11:10 …come where you sowed your seed and irrigated on foot…
    • 28:38 …You will sow much seed in the field but…
  • 1 Kings 1

    • 18:32 …to hold two seahs of seed
  • Ezra 1

    • 9:2 …so that the holy seed has been mixed with…
  • Psalms 1

    • 126:6 …weeping bearing a trail of seed will surely return with…
  • Ecclesiastes 1

    • 11:6 …Sow your seed in the morning and…
  • Isaiah 4

    • 5:10 …wine and a homer of seed only an ephah of…
    • 6:13 …felled so the holy seed will be a stump…
    • 30:23 …He will send rain for the seed that you have sown…
    • 55:10 …and sprout and providing seed to sow and food…
  • Jeremiah 3

    • 2:21 …from the very best seed How could you turn…
    • 31:27 …the house of Judah with the seed of man and of…
    • 35:7 …a house or sow seed or plant a vineyard…
  • Amos 1

    • 9:13 …of grapes the sower of seed The mountains will drip…
  • Haggai 1

    • 2:19 …Is there still seed in the barn The…
  • Zechariah 1

    • 8:12 …For the seed will be prosperous the…
“children” 7
  • Genesis 1

    • 48:11 …has let me see your children as well…
  • Leviticus 1

    • 22:13 …priest’s daughter with no children becomes widowed or divorced…
  • Numbers 1

    • 5:28 …and able to conceive children
  • 1 Samuel 1

    • 2:20 …the LORD give you children by this woman in…
  • Psalms 2

    • 37:25 …seen the righteous abandoned or their children begging for bread…
    • 37:26 …and quick to lend and their children are a blessing…
  • Isaiah 1

    • 59:21 …or from the mouths of your children and grandchildren from now…
“semen” 5
  • Leviticus 5

    • 15:16 …man has an emission of semen he must bathe his…
    • 15:17 …there is an emission of semen must be washed with…
    • 15:18 …there is an emission of semen both must bathe with…
    • 15:32 …who has an emission of semen whereby he is unclean…
    • 22:4 …who has an emission of semen
“family” 5
  • 2 Kings 1

    • 25:25 …member of the royal family came with ten men…
  • Jeremiah 1

    • 41:1 …member of the royal family and one of the…
  • Ezekiel 2

    • 17:13 …member of the royal family and made a covenant…
    • 43:19 …priests who are of the family of Zadok who approach…
  • Daniel 1

    • 1:3 …Israelites from the royal family and the nobility…
“seed bearing” 3
  • Genesis 3

    • 1:11 …earth bring forth vegetation seed-bearing plants and fruit trees…
    • 1:12 …The earth produced vegetation seed-bearing plants according to their…
    • 1:29 …have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face…
“line” 3
  • Genesis 2

    • 19:32 …him and preserve his line
    • 19:34 …can preserve our father’s line
  • 1 Kings 1

    • 11:14 …Edomite from the royal line of Edom…
“grain” 3
  • Numbers 1

    • 20:5 …is not a place of grain figs vines or pomegranates…
  • 1 Samuel 1

    • 8:15 …will take a tenth of your grain and grape harvest and…
  • Job 1

    • 39:12 …him to bring in your grain and gather it to…
“through your offspring” 2
  • Genesis 2

    • 22:18 And through your offspring all nations of the…
    • 26:4 …them all these lands and through your offspring all nations of the…
“make your descendants” 2
  • Genesis 1

    • 26:4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the…
  • Exodus 1

    • 32:13 …self when You declared I will make your descendants as numerous as the…
“carnally” 2
  • Leviticus 2

    • 18:20 …You must not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife…
    • 19:20 …If a man lies carnally with a slave girl…
“heirs” 2
  • 2 Kings 1

    • 11:1 …annihilate all the royal heirs
  • 2 Chronicles 1

    • 22:10 …annihilate all the royal heirs of the house of…
“o offspring” 2
  • 1 Chronicles 1

    • 16:13 O offspring of His servant Israel…
  • Psalms 1

    • 105:6 O offspring of His servant Abraham…
“descended” 2
  • Ezra 1

    • 2:59 …prove that their families were descended from Israel…
  • Nehemiah 1

    • 7:61 …prove that their families were descended from Israel…
“descent” 2
  • Nehemiah 1

    • 9:2 …Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all…
  • Daniel 1

    • 9:1 …of Xerxes a Mede by descent who was made ruler…
“grandchildren” 2
  • Isaiah 2

    • 59:21 …of your children and grandchildren from now on and…
    • 59:21 …of your children and grandchildren from now on and…
“people” 2
  • Isaiah 2

    • 61:9 …will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed…
    • 65:23 …to disaster for they will be a people blessed by the LORD…
“seedtime” 1
  • Genesis 1

    • 8:22 …as the earth endures seedtime and harvest cold and…
“after you” 1
  • Genesis 1

    • 17:7 …you and your descendants after you to be your God…
“god of your descendants” 1
  • Genesis 1

    • 17:7 …to be your God and the God of your descendants after you…
“them” 1
  • Genesis 1

    • 26:4 …and I will give them all these lands and…
“as seed” 1
  • Genesis 1

    • 47:24 …fifths will be yours as seed for the field and…
“aaron and his descendants” 1
  • Exodus 1

    • 30:21 …be a permanent statute for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to…
“any of your children” 1
  • Leviticus 1

    • 18:21 …You must not give any of your children to be sacrificed to…
“any of his children” 1
  • Leviticus 1

    • 20:2 …in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech must be…
“one of his children” 1
  • Leviticus 1

    • 20:4 …the man who gives one of his children to Molech…
“if a descendant” 1
  • Leviticus 1

    • 22:4 If a descendant of Aaron has a…
“until sowing time” 1
  • Leviticus 1

    • 26:5 …grape harvest will continue until sowing time you will have your…
“seed required for it” 1
  • Leviticus 1

    • 27:16 …valuation shall be proportional to the seed required for it fifty shekels of silver…
“whether from the seed” 1
  • Leviticus 1

    • 27:30 …tithe from the land whether from the seed of the land or…
“another man” 1
  • Numbers 1

    • 5:13 …by sleeping with another man and it is concealed…
“produce” 1
  • Deuteronomy 1

    • 14:22 …a tenth of all the produce brought forth each year…
“both the crop” 1
  • Deuteronomy 1

    • 22:9 …harvest will be defiled both the crop you plant and the…
“bring upon you and your descendants” 1
  • Deuteronomy 1

    • 28:59 …He will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary disasters severe and…
“son” 1
  • 1 Samuel 1

    • 1:11 …maidservant but giving her a son then I will dedicate…
“mine” 1
  • 1 Samuel 1

    • 20:42 …between your descendants and mine forever Then David got…
“descendants forever” 1
  • 1 Kings 1

    • 2:33 …heads of Joab and his descendants forever but for David his…
“since” 1
  • Esther 1

    • 6:13 …Zeresh said to him Since Mordecai before whom your…
“countrymen” 1
  • Esther 1

    • 10:3 …speaking peace to all his countrymen
“posterity” 1
  • Psalms 1

    • 22:30 Posterity will serve Him they…
“line forever” 1
  • Psalms 1

    • 89:29 …I will establish his line forever his throne as long…
“brood” 1
  • Isaiah 1

    • 1:4 …people laden with iniquity a brood of evildoers children who…
“help your seed” 1
  • Isaiah 1

    • 17:11 …and on that morning you help your seed sprout yet the harvest…
“came the grain” 1
  • Isaiah 1

    • 23:3 …On the great waters came the grain of Shihor the harvest…
“and” 1
  • Jeremiah 1

    • 31:27 …the seed of man and of beast…
“crops” 1
  • Jeremiah 1

    • 35:9 …any vineyards or fields or crops
“some of the seed” 1
  • Ezekiel 1

    • 17:5 …He took some of the seed of the land and…
“fertile” 1
  • Ezekiel 1

    • 17:5 …the land and planted it in fertile soil he placed it…

In our notes

The Hebrew and Greek words, their glosses and grammar: STEP Bible (CC BY 4.0). The English: the Berean Standard Bible, which also gives which English words render which. Counts are ours.