Rosh (רֹאשׁ, Strong's H7218) is a Hebrew word. Strong's defines it as the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itc.). The King James Bible translates it as band, beginning, captain, chapiter, chief(-est place, man, things), company, end, × every (man), excellent, first, forefront, (be-)head, height, (on) high(-est part, (priest)), × lead, × poor, principal, ruler, sum, top.

What is the Strong's number for Rosh?

The Strong's number for Rosh (רֹאשׁ) is H7218. It is a Hebrew word from Strong's public-domain dictionary keyed to the King James Bible.

Bible word study

Rosh (Strong’s H7218): Meaning in the Bible

Rosh (רֹאשׁ) is the Hebrew word numbered H7218 in Strong’s concordance of the Bible. Strong’s defines it as the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itc.). In the King James Bible it is translated band, beginning, captain, chapiter, chief(-est place.

רֹאשׁ

rôʼsh · Hebrew

Strong’s H7218 · roshe

Original wordרֹאשׁ
Transliterationrôʼsh
Pronunciationroshe
Part of speechnoun (masculine) (n-m)
Strong’s numberH7218
LanguageHebrew

The full Strong’s definition

the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itc.)

Derivation. from an unused root apparently meaning to shake;

How the King James Bible translates it

band, beginning, captain, chapiter, chief(-est place, man, things), company, end, × every (man), excellent, first, forefront, (be-)head, height, (on) high(-est part, (priest)), × lead, × poor, principal, ruler, sum, top. (The × marks places where the word shapes the phrasing rather than being rendered by a single English word.)

Where Rosh appears in the Bible

In the King James Bible’s text tagged with Strong’s numbers, Rosh (H7218) stands behind 598 English renderings in 548 verses across 35 of the 66 books. It is most frequent in 1 Chronicles (73), Numbers (41), Leviticus (40).

How the King James Bible renders Rosh, by count

head264 of 598 (44 percent)
chief91 of 598 (15 percent)
heads85 of 598 (14 percent)
top65 of 598 (11 percent)
beginning12 of 598 (2 percent)
sum9 of 598 (2 percent)

Three places to read Rosh

Genesis 2:10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
1 Samuel 17:38 And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail.
Esther 2:17 And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.

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 Rosh 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.

Related words

Reshith (H7225)All Bible word studies

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