Hebrew

Priest

כֹּהֵןStrong’s H3548

kohen (ko-hen)

Appears in 653 verses of the Old Testament

In short

Kohen is the Hebrew word usually translated “priest”, “priests” and “priest of”. It appears in 653 verses of the Old Testament.

“And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.”

Zechariah 3:1 KJV

Meaning

Priest, principal officer or chief rulerpriest-king (Melchizedek, Messiah) · pagan priests · priests of Jehovah · Levitical priests · Zadokite priests · Aaronic priests · the high priest

How it's translated

the priest 355
the priests 179
and the priests 30
a priest 25
priests 24
priest of 15
to the priest 15
to the priests 14

Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.

Where it's used most

Leviticus 153
2 Chronicles 72
Numbers 63
Nehemiah 42
Jeremiah 38
2 Kings 35

29 books in all.

Related words

Explore in Scripture

All 653 verses, by book

Genesis 6: 14:18 41:45 41:50 46:20 47:22 47:26
Exodus 11: 2:16 3:1 18:1 19:6 19:22 19:24 29:30 31:10 35:19 38:21 39:41
Leviticus 153: 1:5 1:7 1:8 1:9 1:11 1:12 1:13 1:15 1:17 2:2 2:8 2:9 2:16 3:2 3:11 3:16 4:3 4:5 4:6 4:7 4:10 4:16 4:17 4:20 4:25 4:26 4:30 4:31 4:34 4:35 5:6 5:8 5:10 5:12 5:13 5:16 5:18 6:6 6:7 6:10 6:12 6:22 6:23 6:26 6:29 7:5 7:6 7:7 7:8 7:9 7:14 7:31 7:32 7:34 12:6 12:8 13:2 13:3 13:4 13:5 13:6 13:7 13:8 13:9 13:10 13:11 13:12 13:13 13:15 13:16 13:17 13:19 13:20 13:21 13:22 13:23 13:25 13:26 13:27 13:28 13:30 13:31 13:32 13:33 13:34 13:36 13:37 13:39 13:43 13:44 13:49 13:50 13:53 13:54 13:55 13:56 14:2 14:3 14:4 14:5 14:11 14:12 14:13 14:14 14:15 14:16 14:17 14:18 14:19 14:20 14:23 14:24 14:25 14:26 14:27 14:28 14:29 14:31 14:35 14:36 14:38 14:39 14:40 14:44 14:48 15:14 15:15 15:29 15:30 16:32 16:33 17:5 17:6 19:22 21:1 21:9 21:10 21:21 22:10 22:11 22:12 22:13 22:14 23:10 23:11 23:20 27:8 27:11 27:12 27:14 27:18 27:21 27:23
Numbers 63: 3:3 3:6 3:32 4:16 4:28 4:33 5:8 5:9 5:10 5:15 5:16 5:17 5:18 5:19 5:21 5:23 5:25 5:26 5:30 6:10 6:11 6:16 6:17 6:19 6:20 7:8 10:8 15:25 15:28 16:37 16:39 18:28 19:3 19:4 19:6 19:7 25:7 25:11 26:1 26:3 26:63 26:64 27:2 27:19 27:21 27:22 31:6 31:12 31:13 31:21 31:26 31:29 31:31 31:41 31:51 31:54 32:2 32:28 33:38 34:17 35:25 35:28 35:32
Deuteronomy 13: 17:9 17:12 17:18 18:1 18:3 19:17 20:2 21:5 24:8 26:3 26:4 27:9 31:9
Joshua 34: 3:3 3:6 3:8 3:13 3:14 3:15 3:17 4:3 4:9 4:10 4:11 4:16 4:17 4:18 6:4 6:6 6:8 6:9 6:12 6:13 6:16 8:33 14:1 17:4 19:51 20:6 21:1 21:4 21:13 21:19 22:13 22:30 22:31 22:32
Judges 13: 17:5 17:10 17:12 17:13 18:4 18:6 18:17 18:18 18:19 18:20 18:24 18:27 18:30
1 Samuel 26: 1:3 1:9 2:11 2:13 2:14 2:15 2:28 2:35 5:5 6:2 14:3 14:19 14:36 21:1 21:2 21:4 21:5 21:6 21:9 22:11 22:17 22:18 22:19 22:21 23:9 30:7
2 Samuel 8: 8:17 8:18 15:27 15:35 17:15 19:11 20:25 20:26
1 Kings 28: 1:7 1:8 1:19 1:25 1:26 1:32 1:34 1:38 1:39 1:42 1:44 1:45 2:22 2:26 2:27 2:35 4:2 4:4 4:5 8:3 8:4 8:6 8:10 8:11 12:31 12:32 13:2 13:33
2 Kings 35: 10:11 10:19 11:9 11:10 11:15 11:18 12:2 12:4 12:5 12:6 12:7 12:8 12:9 12:10 12:16 16:10 16:11 16:15 16:16 17:27 17:28 17:32 19:2 22:4 22:8 22:10 22:12 22:14 23:2 23:4 23:8 23:9 23:20 23:24 25:18
1 Chronicles 17: 9:2 9:10 9:30 13:2 15:11 15:14 15:24 16:6 16:39 18:16 23:2 24:6 24:31 27:5 28:13 28:21 29:22
2 Chronicles 72: 4:6 4:9 5:5 5:7 5:11 5:12 5:14 6:41 7:2 7:6 8:14 8:15 11:13 11:15 13:9 13:10 13:12 13:14 15:3 17:8 19:8 19:11 22:11 23:4 23:6 23:8 23:9 23:14 23:17 23:18 24:2 24:5 24:11 24:20 24:25 26:17 26:18 26:19 26:20 29:4 29:16 29:21 29:22 29:24 29:26 29:34 30:3 30:15 30:16 30:21 30:24 30:25 30:27 31:2 31:4 31:9 31:10 31:15 31:17 31:19 34:5 34:9 34:14 34:18 34:30 35:2 35:8 35:10 35:11 35:14 35:18 36:14
Ezra 25: 1:5 2:36 2:61 2:63 2:69 2:70 3:2 3:8 3:10 3:12 6:20 7:5 7:7 7:11 8:15 8:24 8:29 8:30 8:33 9:1 9:7 10:5 10:10 10:16 10:18
Nehemiah 42: 2:16 3:1 3:20 3:22 3:28 5:12 7:39 7:63 7:65 7:70 7:72 7:73 8:2 8:9 8:13 9:32 9:34 9:38 10:8 10:28 10:34 10:36 10:37 10:38 10:39 11:3 11:10 11:20 12:1 12:7 12:12 12:22 12:26 12:30 12:35 12:41 12:44 13:4 13:5 13:13 13:28 13:30
Job 1: 12:19
Psalms 5: 78:64 99:6 110:4 132:9 132:16
Isaiah 6: 8:2 24:2 28:7 37:2 61:6 66:21
Jeremiah 38: 1:1 1:18 2:8 2:26 4:9 5:31 6:13 8:1 8:10 13:13 14:18 18:18 19:1 20:1 21:1 23:11 23:33 23:34 26:7 26:8 26:11 26:16 27:16 28:1 28:5 29:1 29:25 29:26 29:29 31:14 32:32 33:18 33:21 34:19 37:3 48:7 49:3 52:24
Lamentations 6: 1:4 1:19 2:6 2:20 4:13 4:16
Ezekiel 23: 1:3 7:26 22:26 40:45 40:46 42:13 42:14 43:19 43:24 43:27 44:15 44:21 44:22 44:30 44:31 45:4 45:19 46:2 46:19 46:20 48:10 48:11 48:13
Hosea 4: 4:4 4:9 5:1 6:9
Joel 3: 1:9 1:13 2:17
Amos 1: 7:10
Micah 1: 3:11
Zephaniah 2: 1:4 3:4
Haggai 8: 1:1 1:12 1:14 2:2 2:4 2:11 2:12 2:13
Zechariah 6: 3:1 3:8 6:11 6:13 7:3 7:5
Malachi 3: 1:6 2:1 2:7

Hebrew dictionary

כֹּהֵן kohen · priest

1) priest, principal officer or chief ruler 1a) priest-king (Melchizedek, Messiah) 1b) pagan priests 1c) priests of Jehovah 1d) Levitical priests 1e) Zadokite priests 1f) Aaronic priests 1g) the high priest Aramaic equivalent: ka.hen (כָּהֵן "priest" H3549)

From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

How the English word “priest” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.

PRIEST, noun

[Latin proestes, a chief, one that presides; proe, before, and sto, to stand, or sisto.]

A man who officiates in sacred offices.“Every priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins” Hebrews 5:1
In the modern church, a person who is set apart or consecrated to the ministry of the gospel; a man in orders or licensed to preach the gospel; a presbyter.

Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.

Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.