Bible word study

Labab (Strong’s H3823): Meaning in the Bible

Labab (לָבַב) is the Hebrew word numbered H3823 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as properly, to be enclosed (as if with fat); by implication (as denominative from H3824); to unheart; i.e. (in a good sense) transport (with love), or (in a bad sense) stultify; to make cakes. In the King James Bible it is translated make cakes, ravish, be wise..

• Original wordלָבַב
• Transliterationlâbab
• Pronunciationlaw-bab'
• Part of speechverb (v)
• Strong’s numberH3823
• LanguageHebrew

The full Strong’s definition

Derivation. a primitive root;

How the King James Bible translates it

Where Labab appears in the Bible

In the King James Bible’s text tagged with Strong’s numbers, Labab (H3823) stands behind 5 English renderings in 4 verses across 3 of the 66 books. It is most frequent in 2 Samuel (2), Song of Solomon (2), Job (1).

How the King James Bible renders Labab, by count

• heart2 of 5 (40 percent)
• cakes1 of 5 (20 percent)
• make1 of 5 (20 percent)
• wise1 of 5 (20 percent)

Three places to read Labab

• 2 Samuel 13:6 So Amnon lay down, and made himself sick: and when the king was come to see him, Amnon said unto the king, I pray thee, let Tamar my sister come, and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat at her hand.
• 2 Samuel 13:8 So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house; and he was laid down. And she took flour, and kneaded it, and made cakes in his sight, and did bake the cakes.
• Job 11:12 For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt.

Counts are made at build time from the King James text tagged with Strong’s numbers (eBible.org, public domain). Verses are read from the stored King James text, never typed.

Why the word matters

Every word the biblical writers chose carries weight. Studying Labab in the original Hebrew lets you read the passages where it appears more carefully, closer to what the first hearers understood, so the meaning is drawn from the text itself rather than from the English alone.

The lexical data on this page comes from the public-domain Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890), a Hebrew and Greek dictionary keyed to the King James Bible. It is a reference tool, not a settled verdict: no single word decides a doctrine, and meaning is finally shaped by how a word is used in its sentences. Read the passages themselves, prayerfully, and in full.

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