קָרַחqârach
make bald, or a baldness, usually (by mourners) for the dead
Pronunciation: kaw-rakh' · Hebrew/Aramaic (Old Testament) · H7139
Meanings
Qal: make a baldness… for. (Leviticus 21:5; Deuteronomy 14:1; Micah 1:16)
Niph`al: shall, make themselves bald for them (Jeremiah 16:6)
Hiph`il: and they shall make a baldness, for thee (Ezekiel 27:31)
Hoph`al: every head made bald (Ezekiel 29:18)
Same root
- קֶרַחqerach · H7140ice (as if bald, i.e. smooth); hence, hail; by resemblance, rock crystal
- קֹרַחQôrach · H7141Korach, the name of two Edomites and three Israelites
- קֵרֵחַqêrêach · H7142bald (on the back of the head)
- קָרֵחַQârêach · H7143Kareach, an Israelite
- קׇרְחָהqorchâh · H7144baldness
- קָרַחַתqârachath · H7146a bald spot (on the back of the head); figuratively, a threadbare spot (on the back side of the cloth)
Where it appears
Appears 5 times in the Bible.
- Leviticus 21:5 “The priests must not shave their heads or trim their beards or cut their bodies.
- Jeremiah 16:6 Both the great and the lowly will die in this land. No one will bury them or mourn for them. Their friends will not cut themselves in sorrow or shave their heads in sadness.
- Ezekiel 27:31 They shave their heads in grief for you and dress themselves in burlap. They weep for you with bitter anguish and deep mourning.
- Ezekiel 29:18 “Son of man, the army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon fought so hard against Tyre that the warriors’ heads were rubbed bare and their shoulders were raw and blistered. Yet Nebuchadnezzar and his army won no plunder to compensate them for all their work.
- Micah 1:16 Oh, people of Judah, shave your heads in sorrow, for the children you love will be snatched away. Make yourselves as bald as a vulture, for your little ones will be exiled to distant lands.
Source: Brown, Driver and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain; markup by unfoldingWord, CC BY (github.com/unfoldingWord/Brown-Driver-Briggs-Enhanced).