Biblical names
The animals of the Tanakh — 162 words, every animal the twenty-four books name, from the donkey of Bereshit 12 to the legendary creatures of Iyov and the Psalms. Each was enumerated from our own lexicon layer and read against the corpus: the count on a row is the count its door opens, the first appearance is the word's own, and where the tradition discusses what a word names, the row says so instead of inventing certainty.
A spelling is not a word: rachel the ewe and Rachel the matriarch share their letters, and only the ewe is counted here — the rows count the word's own lexicon entry, and where one entry bundles a creature with something else, the row counts the creature's verses alone and its note tells you.
Where the Torah names a kind, it rules the name: the kinds Devarim permits and the birds Vayikra prohibits are ruled by name, certain even where what the name names is discussed. The rest are ruled the way the Torah rules them — beasts by the signs of Vayikra 11, birds by that enumeration and by the tradition a bird has to carry, since the Torah gave signs for beasts and none for birds. Where the tradition itself discusses a status the row says so, and the legendary and collective rows carry no ruling at all. The offering mark stands on the korban species — the herd, the flock, the turtledove and the dove.
Land animals
33 words — the beasts of field, flock and wilderness — every four-footed creature the books name
×96 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The everyday beast of burden of the whole Tanakh — Avraham saddles one, the Mashiach rides one in Zechariah. The same letters also write Chamor, the prince of Shechem, and that name is its own lexicon entry, not counted here.
See all 96 places it stands →×34 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The aton — Bilam's mount that saw the angel and spoke, and the she-donkeys Shaul went out to seek. The books treat her as her own word, not the feminine of chamor.
See all 34 places it stands →×54 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The camel — Rivkah is found at the well watering them, and Iyov's wealth is counted in them.
See all 54 places it stands →×10 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The pere, the onager of the open land — free of the driver's shout in Iyov 39, the figure of Yishmael in Bereshit 16.
See all 10 places it stands →×9 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The ayir, the young donkey — Yaakov's blessing binds it to the vine, and Zechariah's king rides one. The same letters far more often write ir, a city; that is a different word with its own lexicon entry, and it is not counted here.
See all 9 places it stands →×139 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The war-horse of Pharaoh's chariots and of Iyov 39's great speech. Two of this entry's places are not the horse at all — in Yeshayahu 38:14 and Yirmiyahu 8:7 the same word is a bird, the sus, which has its own row among the birds.
See all 139 places it stands →×89 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The ari — Yehudah's blessing, Shimshon's riddle, David's boast before Golyat, and the den of the Aramaic chapters of Daniel, whose spelling is counted with this row. The Tanakh has more words for the lion than for any other beast; each stands as its own row.
See all 89 places it stands →×14 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The lavi — the couched lion and lioness of Bilam's oracle and Yaakov's blessing; the tradition reads the fiercer, the mother of the pride.
See all 14 places it stands →×9 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The gur — 'a lion's cub is Yehudah.' The cub still in the lair, of blessings and laments alike.
See all 9 places it stands →×7 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The ze'ev — Binyamin the ravening wolf, the evening wolves of the prophets, and the wolf that will dwell with the lamb. Ze'ev the Midianite prince bears the word as his name; he is his own entry, on the names lists.
See all 7 places it stands →×32 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The kelev — against whom no dog whets its tongue at the Exodus; the dogs of Izevel's judgment. Kalev the faithful spy bears his own name and his own entry, on the names lists.
See all 32 places it stands →×4 as the creature Not kosher First appearance:
The shafan — bringing up the cud without parting the hoof in the Torah's lists, at home in the crags in Tehillim, wise and small in Mishlei. Traditionally coney; the hyrax of the naturalists — the identification is discussed. The same lexicon entry carries Shaphan the scribe, so this row counts only the four verses of the creature.
See all 4 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The arnevet — named with the shafan in both kosher lists, bringing up the cud without parting the hoof.
See all 2 places it stands →×7 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The chazir — parting the hoof but not chewing the cud, the Torah's own emblem of the forbidden; the boar from the forest ravages the vine in Tehillim 80.
See all 7 places it stands →×32 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The kefir, the maned young lion in its strength — the roaring figure of the Psalms and the prophets. A handful of this entry's places are a different word, 'village'; the lexicon carries both together, so they are in this number.
See all 32 places it stands →×7 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The shu'al — Shimshon's three hundred, the little foxes of Shir HaShirim. Fox or jackal is discussed verse by verse; the Hebrew is one word.
See all 7 places it stands →×13 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The dov — the she-bear bereaved of her cubs, David's other adversary of the sheepfold, the second beast of Daniel's Aramaic vision, whose spelling is counted with this row.
See all 13 places it stands →×14 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The mule — Avshalom's mount, and the royal animal Shlomo rode to his anointing at Gichon.
See all 14 places it stands →×3 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The she-mule, the king's own — David's, on which Shlomo was set on the day of his anointing.
See all 3 places it stands →×4 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The rechesh — the fast horses of the king's service in Melachim, Michah and Esther. Whether a breed, a relay animal or simply the swiftest of the stable is discussed.
See all 4 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The kof — brought once every three years by Shlomo's ships of Tarshish, with the gold and the ivory. The corpus writes it only in the plural with a particle attached.
See all 2 places it stands →×7 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The namer — 'can a Kushite change his skin, or a leopard his spots?' The leopard lies down with the kid in Yeshayahu 11; Daniel's Aramaic vision writes it too, counted with this row.
See all 7 places it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once, in Yeshayahu 13:21 — the ochim that fill the houses of fallen Bavel. Traditionally a howling desert creature, perhaps the eagle-owl; the identification is discussed. The bare letters are everywhere else 'brother.'
See the one place it stands →×3 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The iyim that answer in the desolate palaces of Bavel and Edom — traditionally rendered wild dogs or hyenas; the identification is discussed. The same letters write iyim, islands; that is a different entry, not counted here.
See all 3 places it stands →×3 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The layish, the old strong lion of the poets — Iyov, Mishlei, Yeshayahu. The same letters write Layish the town that became Dan; that is its own entry, not counted here.
See all 3 places it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The becher, the young camel — once, in Yeshayahu 60:6, the young camels of Midian and Eifah; the corpus writes it only with a suffix, never bare.
See the one place it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once, in Yeshayahu 66:20, among the mounts that will carry the exiles home. Traditionally the dromedary, from a root of dancing speed; the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once, in Yirmiyahu 2:23 — the swift young she-camel crossing her paths, the prophet's figure for restless Israel.
See the one place it stands →×7 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The shachal — the roarer of Iyov and Hoshea, one of the Tanakh's five words for the lion, kept mostly for poetry.
See all 7 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The tannim of the wilderness — the howlers of Malachi's ruined Esav and of Iyov's lament. The lexicon writes most of the desolation prophecies' jackals under the tannin entry, among the legendary creatures; this entry carries the remainder, and the tradition discusses which places are the beast and which the sea-creature.
See all 2 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The arod, named beside the pere in Iyov 39:5. Daniel 5:21 writes the same creature in Aramaic, and that spelling is counted with this row.
See all 2 places it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once in the books — the mare among Pharaoh's chariots to whom the beloved is compared in Shir HaShirim 1:9, written there with a suffix, never bare.
See the one place it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once, in Esther 8:10 — the couriers ride 'sons of the ramachim.' Traditionally brood mares of the royal stud; the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →Birds & winged creatures
24 words — the birds of the sky, the twenty of the kosher lists among them, and the winged things the Torah counts with them
×10 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The orev — first bird out of the Teivah, Eliyahu's provisioners at the brook Kerit. The same letters write 'evening' and other words under their own entries; only the raven is counted here.
See all 10 places it stands →×8 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The ayit, the swooping bird of prey as a kind — driven off the pieces by Avraham at the covenant, summoned to the feast by the prophets.
See all 8 places it stands →×4 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The netz — in both kosher lists 'after its kind,' and soaring by God's wisdom in Iyov 39:26. The lexicon carries 'blossom' under the same entry, and its one such place is in this number; the row says so.
See all 4 places it stands →×28 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The nesher — 'on eagles' wings' at Sinai, head of both kosher lists' forbidden birds, renewer of youth in Tehillim 103; Daniel's Aramaic chapters write it too, counted with this row. Eagle or griffon vulture is discussed; the Hebrew is one bird.
See all 28 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Named in both kosher lists among the forbidden birds. Traditionally the ossifrage, the bone-breaker vulture; the identification is discussed — as it is for most of the twenty birds of these lists, which the Gemara in Chullin already debates.
See all 2 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Named in both kosher lists among the forbidden birds. Traditionally the osprey or black vulture; the identification is discussed.
See all 2 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The da'ah of Vayikra's list; Devarim writes ra'ah, and the Gemara holds the two are one bird, so the two spellings are counted as one row. Traditionally the kite, the sharp-sighted glider; the identification is discussed.
See all 2 places it stands →×3 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The ayah of both kosher lists — and of Iyov 28, where the path no falcon's eye has seen measures the hiddenness of wisdom. Traditionally a hawk or kite; the identification is discussed.
See all 3 places it stands →×9 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The bat ha-ya'anah of both kosher lists, companion of the desolate places. Traditionally the ostrich; some render an owl — the identification is discussed.
See all 9 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Named in both kosher lists among the forbidden birds. The renderings run from owl to falcon to nighthawk; the identification is discussed.
See all 2 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Named in both kosher lists. Traditionally the sea-gull, the lean bird of the shore; the identification is discussed.
See all 2 places it stands →×3 as the creature Not kosher First appearance:
The kos — in both kosher lists, and the Psalmist alone 'like a kos of the ruins.' The same letters are far more often the cup, under the same lexicon entry, so this row counts only the three verses of the bird; the identification (a small owl) is discussed.
See all 3 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Named in both kosher lists. The Gemara reads its name from casting itself upon the sea for fish — the cormorant or fishing-owl; the identification is discussed.
See all 2 places it stands →×3 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
In both kosher lists, and haunting Edom's ruin in Yeshayahu 34:11. Traditionally an owl, named for the twilight or for its cry; the identification is discussed.
See all 3 places it stands →×3 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
One spelling, two creatures — Strong's own definition says as much. In Vayikra 11:18 it stands among the birds, traditionally a white owl; in 11:30 it closes the list of creeping things, traditionally the chameleon or mole. Both stands are counted in this one row, and the two identifications are each discussed.
See all 3 places it stands →×5 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
In both kosher lists, and the Psalmist's own figure of loneliness — 'I am like a ka'at of the wilderness.' Traditionally the pelican; the identification is discussed.
See all 5 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Named in both kosher lists. Traditionally a vulture — the Egyptian vulture of the naturalists — said to be tender to its young, from the letters of mercy; the identification is discussed. Those letters under their own entries — womb, compassion — are not counted here.
See all 2 places it stands →×6 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The chasidah — in both kosher lists, knowing her seasons in Yirmiyahu 8:7, nesting in the junipers in Tehillim 104. Named, the tradition says, for the kindness she does her own.
See all 6 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Named in both kosher lists, 'after its kind.' Traditionally the heron, named for its temper; the identification is discussed.
See all 2 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Named in both kosher lists. Traditionally the hoopoe, the crested wild-cock of the Gemara's discussion; the identification is discussed.
See all 2 places it stands →×3 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The atalef — a mammal by its kind, but the Torah lists it last of the twenty among the flying creatures, and it stands here where the text stands it. To the bats and the moles men will cast their idols, says Yeshayahu.
See all 3 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The dayah — in Devarim's list, and gathering each with her mate over Edom's ruin in Yeshayahu 34. Traditionally a kite; the Gemara discusses how she stands beside the ayah and the da'ah.
See all 2 places it stands →×3 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The kippod of the desolation prophecies — lodging in Bavel's pools and on Ninveh's capitals. Bittern by some renderings, hedgehog by Rashi and many others — in which case it is no bird at all; the identification is discussed, and the row stands where the verses perch it.
See all 3 places it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once, in Yeshayahu 34:15 — there the kippoz nests, lays, hatches and broods in her shadow. An owl by the nesting language, the arrow-snake by other renderings; the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →Creeping & swarming things
30 words — the serpents, the eight creeping things of Vayikra 11, the locusts and the swarms
×31 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The nachash — of Bereshit 3, of Moshe's staff, of the copper serpent in the wilderness. Nachash the Ammonite king bears the letters as his name, under his own entry on the names lists.
See all 31 places it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once, in Yaakov's blessing of Dan — the shefifon on the path that bites the horse's heels. Traditionally the horned adder lying in the sand; the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →×13 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The tzefardea — the second plague, coming up over Egypt into the houses and the ovens and the kneading-troughs, and remembered twice in Tehillim's psalms of the going out. At Shemot 8:2 the text writes it singular, one frog coming up over the land, and the tradition has read that singular closely. The books name it nowhere else.
See all 13 places it stands →×7 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The kinim of the third plague, when the dust of the land became lice through all Egypt. In Yeshayahu 51:6 the same entry's 'kein' is read 'like gnats' by some and 'in like manner' by others; the lexicon counts it here, and the row says so.
See all 7 places it stands →×43 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The tola'at — the worm that struck Yonah's kikayon and the manna kept overnight, and 'I am a worm and no man' in Tehillim 22. The same entry carries tola'at shani, the crimson of the Mishkan's dyed wool, and those places are in this number; the dye and the creature are one word.
See all 43 places it stands →×7 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The rimmah — of the manna that bred worms, and of Iyov's unsparing view of man. The same letters write Ramah the town, under its own entry on the names lists.
See all 7 places it stands →×3 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The tzir'ah sent before Israel to drive out the nations — thrice promised and once recalled. The plain sense is the hornet; some of the tradition reads a plague rather than the insect, and the discussion is old.
See all 3 places it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
First of the eight creeping things of Vayikra 11:29. Traditionally the weasel; the mole-rat by others — the identification is discussed. The same letters under a different entry are cheled, fleeting duration; that word is not counted here.
See the one place it stands →×6 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The achbar — second of Vayikra's eight, and the golden mice of the Pelishtim's guilt offering when the Ark plagued their land.
See all 6 places it stands →×1 as the creature Not kosher First appearance:
Third of Vayikra's eight. Traditionally the dab-lizard or tortoise; the identification is discussed. The same lexicon entry carries the covered wagons of Bamidbar and Yeshayahu, so this row counts only the one verse of the creature.
See the one place it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Of Vayikra 11:30's five — traditionally rendered from its wailing cry: gecko by the naturalists, ferret and hedgehog by older readers; the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →×1 as the creature Not kosher First appearance:
Of Vayikra 11:30's five. Everywhere else in the books this word is strength itself; as a creature it stands in this one verse — traditionally the monitor lizard or chameleon, and the identification is discussed. This row counts only the verse of the creature.
See the one place it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once, in Vayikra 11:30 — the leta'ah, traditionally the lizard proper; which lizard is discussed.
See the one place it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once, in Vayikra 11:30. The snail of Rashi's reading, the sand-lizard or skink of others; the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →×7 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The saraf — the burning serpents of Bamidbar 21 and the flying saraf of Yeshayahu's oracles. The seraphim of Yeshayahu 6, standing above the Throne, are written with the same word and are counted in this number; what is serpent and what is angel there is the tradition's own discussion, and this row claims nothing beyond the letters.
See all 7 places it stands →×4 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The devorah — swarming in pursuit in Devarim 1:44, encamped in the lion's carcass for Shimshon's riddle. Devorah the prophetess and Devorah Rivkah's nurse bear the word as their name, under its own entry on the names lists.
See all 4 places it stands →×6 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The akrav — of the great and dreadful wilderness of Devarim 8:15; Rechavam's threatened scourges borrow its name.
See all 6 places it stands →×6 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The peten — deaf to the charmer in Tehillim 58, safe beside the weaned child in Yeshayahu 11. Traditionally the cobra or asp; the identification is discussed.
See all 6 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The par'osh — David's own word for himself before Shaul, twice: 'after whom do you pursue? After a single flea.' Parosh the family of the returners is a different entry, on the names lists.
See all 2 places it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The zevuv — whistled up from Egypt's streams in Yeshayahu 7:18; dead flies turn the perfumer's oil in Kohelet. Baal-Zevuv of Ekron carries the word in an idol's name, under its own entry.
See all 2 places it stands →×5 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The tzefa, and its longer form tzif'oni — the serpent's own worse offspring in Yeshayahu 14:29, the uncharmable biters of Yirmiyahu 8:17. Traditionally the viper or adder; the identification is discussed.
See all 5 places it stands →×3 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The ef'eh — of the Negev's fauna in Yeshayahu 30:6, of Iyov's wicked man whose food turns within him. A venomous snake; which one is discussed.
See all 3 places it stands →×7 as the creature Not kosher First appearance:
The ash — the quiet destroyer of Yeshayahu's oracles and of Iyov's, eating a garment while nobody watches; 'as a moth to Efrayim,' says Hoshea. The same lexicon entry carries the Aramaic grass of Daniel's chapters, so this row counts only the seven verses of the creature.
See all 7 places it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
One verse — Yeshayahu 51:8, standing beside the ash in the same line: as a garment the moth eats them, and as wool the sas eats them. Another name for the moth, or for its grub; the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The akavish — its house the figure of the godless man's trust in Iyov, its webs the prophets' image of worthless works.
See all 2 places it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once, in Tehillim 58:9 — the shablul that melts as it goes. Traditionally the snail and its trail; the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once, in Tehillim 140:4 — 'the venom of the achshuv is under their lips.' Asp, adder or spider; the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →×2 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
The nemalah — 'go to the ant, sluggard'; a people not strong, yet they prepare their bread in summer. Twice, both in Mishlei.
See all 2 places it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once, in Mishlei 30:15 — the alukah with her two daughters crying 'give, give.' The leech by the plain sense; the tradition also reads a figure, and the discussion is old.
See the one place it stands →×1 in Tanakh Not kosher First appearance:
Once, in Mishlei 30:28 — the semamit you can catch in your hands, yet she is in kings' palaces. Spider or gecko; the identification is discussed.
See the one place it stands →Where these come from. The candidates were enumerated from the Hebrew lexicon our index carries — every entry whose definition names an animal sense — then each was verified against the corpus itself: its spelling, its count, its first stand. The gematria is computed by the same engine that runs every search, and the count on each row is the number of verses its door opens — the same walk, counted once. Deliberately absent: words that are only ever epithets (the אבירים of the Psalms), the scapegoat's destination עזאזל (the goat itself is the שעיר), and Yeshayahu 2:20's moles, which the ketiv writes across two words and are left to their verse.