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Hebrew

Head

רֵאשׁStrong’s H7218

resh

Appears in 548 verses of the Old Testament

In short

Resh is the Hebrew word usually translated “head of”, “head his” and “top of”. It appears in 548 verses of the Old Testament.

“And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort? then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king.”
Daniel 1:10 KJV
Meaning
  1. Chief, headhead (of man) · head (as seat of visions) · chief · sum (essential content)
  2. Rosh, a tite for a chief or prince
How it's translated
  • head of 71
  • head his 53
  • top of 35
  • head my 28
  • chiefs of 25
  • heads of 24
  • the chief 21
  • leaders of 18

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

Where it's used most
  • 1 Chronicles 63
  • Leviticus 38
  • Ezekiel 38
  • Numbers 36
  • Psalms 32
  • Judges 28

35 books in all.

Related words
Explore in Scripture
All 548 verses, by book
Ecclesiastes 3
2:143:119:8
Song of Solomon 7
2:64:84:145:25:117:58:3
Daniel 1
1:10
Hosea 2
1:114:13
Joel 3
2:53:43:7
Obadiah 1
1:15
Jonah 3
2:54:64:8
Nahum 1
3:10
Habakkuk 2
3:133:14
Zechariah 4
1:213:54:26:11
Hebrew dictionary

רֵאשׁ resh · head

1) chief, head 1a) head (of man) 1b) head (as seat of visions) 1c) chief 1d) sum (essential content)

רֹאשׁ rosh · prince

Rosh, a tite for a chief or prince

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

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

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

HEAD, noun

hed.

  1. The uppermost part of the human body, or the foremost part of the body of prone and creeping animals.
  2. An animal; an individual; as, the tax was raised by a certain rate per head And we use the singular number to express many.
  3. A chief; a principal person; a leader; a commander; one who has the first rank or place, and to whom others are subordinate; as the head of an army; the head of a sect or party. Ephesians 5:23
  4. The first place; the place of honor, or of command.
All definitions and other forms of “head”
  1. Countenance; presence; in the phrases, to hide the head to show the head
  2. Understanding; faculties of the mind; sometimes in a ludicrous sense; as, a man has a good head or a strong head These men laid their heads together to form the scheme.
  3. Face; front; forepart.
  4. Resistance; successful opposition; in the phrase, to make head against, that is, to advance, or resist with success.
  5. Spontaneous will or resolution; in the phrases, of his own head on their own head But of is more usual than on.
  6. State of a deer's horns by which his age is known.
  7. The top of a thing, especially when larger than the rest of the thing; as the head of a spear; the head of a cabbage; the head of a nail; the head of a mast.
  8. The forepart of a thing, as the head of a ship, which includes the bows on both sides; also, the ornamental figure or image erected on or before the stem of a ship.
  9. The blade or cutting part of an ax, distinct from the helve.
  10. That which rises on the top; as the head or yeast of beer.
  11. The upper part of a bed, or bed-stead.
  12. The brain.
  13. The dress of the head; as a laced head [Unusual.]
  14. The principal source of a stream; as the head of the Nile.
  15. Altitude of water in ponds, as applicable to the driving of mill-wheels.
  16. Topic of discourse; chief point or subject; a summary; as the heads of a discourse or treatise.
  17. Crisis; pitch; highth.
  18. Influence; force; strength; pitch.
  19. Body; conflux.
  20. Power; armed force.
  21. Liberty; freedom from restrain; as, to give a horse the head Hence,
  22. License; freedom from check, control or restraint.
  23. The hair of the head; as a head of hair.
  24. The top of corn or other plant; the part on which the seed grows.
  25. The end, or the boards that form the end; as the head of a cask.
  26. The part most remote from the mouth or opening into the sea; as the head of a bay, gulf or creek.
  27. The maturated part of an ulcer or boil; hence, to come to a head is to suppurate.

HEAD, verb transitive

hed. To lead; to direct; to act as leader to; as, to head an army; to head an expedition; to head a riot.

  1. To behead; to decapitate. [Unusual.]
  2. To form a head to; to fit or furnish with a head; as, to head a nail.
  3. To lop; as, to head trees.
  4. To go in front of; to get into the front; as, to head a drove of cattle.
  5. To set on the head; as, to head a cask.
  6. To oppose; to veer round and blow in opposition to the course of a ship; as, the wind heads us.

HEAD, verb intransitive

hed. To originate; to spring; to have its source, as a river.

    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.