כּוֹרֶשׁ
𐤊𐤅𐤓𐤔
Koresh
H3566 noun
SILEX Entry
Definition
Proper name referring to Cyrus II, known as Cyrus the Great, founder and first king of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. In the Hebrew Bible, 'Kôwresh' designates the Persian ruler who conquered Babylon and issued an edict allowing the exiled Israelites to return to their land and rebuild the Jerusalem temple. The term functions solely as a personal name and carries no lexical meaning beyond its referent. Contextually, it is recognized as the name of a historical foreign monarch.
Semantic Range
Cyrus (Cyrus II the Great of Persia), the Persian king who conquered Babylon; proper name of a foreign ruler
Root / Etymology
Borrowed directly from Old Persian, probably from the name 'Kūruš.' The root is foreign to Hebrew and does not derive from any known Hebrew root. Etymology uncertain within Hebrew; it is a phonetic adaptation of the foreign royal name.
Historical & Contextual Notes
'Kôwresh' is used in post-exilic biblical texts to refer to the historical figure Cyrus II (reigned 559–530 BCE). It appears primarily in texts concerned with the return from Babylonian exile (Ezra, Nehemiah, 2 Chronicles, Isaiah). The name is always applied to a non-Israelite, non-Judahite king; there is never any suggestion of ethnic, religious, or geographic affiliation with Israelite or Judean identities. In English translations, the name is typically rendered 'Cyrus,' following the Greek and Latin tradition, though the Hebrew form attempts to preserve the original Persian pronunciation more closely. Interpretations that associate the referent with religious deliverance (as in later Jewish or Christian tradition) are not dictated by the lexical content of the word itself. There are no significant differences in meaning across different biblical books, though the role and characterization of Cyrus vary according to the literary and theological purpose of each text.
Original Strong's Gloss (1890)
or (Ezra 1:1 (last time),2) כֹּרֶשׁ; from the Persians; Koresh (or Cyrus), the Persian king; Cyrus.
Bantu Hebrew
No Bantu Hebrew comparisons have been submitted for this word yet.
+ Add Bantu Hebrew WordRoot Family
(foreign origin) (Kūrush (Old Persian)) — proper name, personal royal name
| Strong's | Lemma | SIBI-P1 |
|---|---|---|
| H3567 | כּוֹרֶשׁ | to Cyrus |
Word Forms
2 distinct forms
| SIDANCE | Surface | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H3566-01 |
כֹּ֣רֶשׁ | koresh | HNp |
Cyrus | Cyrus | 9 |
H3566-02 |
לְ/כ֨וֹרֶשׁ֙ | lekhoresh | HR/Np |
of Cyrus | to Cyrus | 6 |
Occurrences in Scripture
15 total occurrences
| SIDANCE | Reference | Word | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H3566-02 |
Isaiah 44:28 | לְ/כ֨וֹרֶשׁ֙ | lekhoresh | HR/Np |
to Cyrus | to Cyrus |
H3566-02 |
Isaiah 45:1 | לְ/כ֣וֹרֶשׁ | lekhoresh | HR/Np |
to Cyrus | to Cyrus |
H3566-02 |
Daniel 1:21 | לְ/כ֥וֹרֶשׁ | lekhoresh | HR/Np |
of Cyrus | to Cyrus |
H3566-02 |
Daniel 10:1 | לְ/כ֨וֹרֶשׁ֙ | lekhoresh | HR/Np |
of Cyrus | to Cyrus |
H3566-02 |
Ezra 1:1 | לְ/כ֨וֹרֶשׁ֙ | lekhoresh | HR/Np |
of Cyrus | to Cyrus |
H3566-01 |
Ezra 1:1 | כֹּ֣רֶשׁ | koresh | HNp |
of Cyrus | Cyrus |
H3566-01 |
Ezra 1:2 | כֹּ֚רֶשׁ | koresh | HNp |
Cyrus | Cyrus |
H3566-01 |
Ezra 1:7 | כּ֔וֹרֶשׁ | koresh | HNp |
Cyrus | Cyrus |
H3566-01 |
Ezra 1:8 | כּ֚וֹרֶשׁ | koresh | HNp |
Cyrus | Cyrus |
H3566-01 |
Ezra 3:7 | כּ֥וֹרֶשׁ | koresh | HNp |
of Cyrus | Cyrus |