H1698 — דֶּבֶר (deber)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H1698
Original: דֶּבֶר
Transliteration: deber
Pronunciation: deh'-ber
Part of Speech: Masculine noun
Root: דָּבַר (dabar) — in the sense of destroying
Occurrences: 48 unique verses (52 tokens) across 14 books
First Occurrence: Exo 5:3 — "lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From H1696 (in the sense of destroying); a pestilence: -- murrain, pestilence, plague.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
pestilence (all phrases)	46	95.8%
murrain	1	2.1%
plagues (thy plagues)	1	2.1%

The word is translated with remarkable consistency: "pestilence" in 46 of 48 verses. The sole "murrain" (Exo 9:3) refers specifically to livestock disease. The unique "thy plagues" in Hos 13:14 is a personified address.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Habakkuk	1	1.8
Jeremiah	17	1.2
Ezekiel	11	0.9
Amos	1	0.7
Hosea	1	0.5
2 Chronicles	3	0.4
2 Samuel	2	0.3
Exodus	3	0.2
1 Chronicles	2	0.2
Leviticus	1	0.1
Deuteronomy	1	0.1
Numbers	1	0.1
1 Kings	1	0.1
Psalms	3	0.1

Heavily concentrated in the prophets: Jeremiah (17) and Ezekiel (11) together account for 58% of all uses. The Pentateuch provides foundational occurrences (6 total). Notably absent from Isaiah, Daniel, and all post-exilic prophets except as background.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Triad of Covenant Judgment: Sword, Famine, Pestilence¶

The dominant usage pattern. Deber appears alongside chereb (sword) and ra'ab (famine) as the standard trio of covenant-curses, particularly in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. - Jer 14:12 — "I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence" - Jer 21:9 — "He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence" - Eze 5:12 — "A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed... a third part shall fall by the sword" - Eze 6:12 — "He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth... shall die with the famine"

2. Direct Divine Weapon Against Nations¶

God sends or threatens pestilence as a direct instrument of judgment, without the triad framing. - Exo 9:15 — "I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence" - Num 14:12 — "I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them" - 2 Sam 24:15 — "the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel... and there died of the people... seventy thousand men" - Eze 28:23 — "I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets"

3. Covenant Warning and Prayer Context¶

Deber appears in covenant-warning passages and in prayers that anticipate or respond to God's judgments on Israel. - Lev 26:25 — "when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you" - Deut 28:21 — "The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee" - 1 Ki 8:37 — "If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence..." - 2 Chr 20:9 — "the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house... and cry unto thee"

4. David's Census Judgment¶

A specific narrative triad: famine, military defeat, or pestilence offered as choices. - 2 Sam 24:13 — "Shall seven years of famine come unto thee... or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land?" - 1 Chr 21:12 — "three years' famine; or three months to be destroyed... or else three days the sword of the LORD, even the pestilence" - 1 Chr 21:14 — "the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men"

5. Personified / Eschatological Force¶

Rare poetic uses where pestilence is personified as a force attending God. - Hab 3:5 — "Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet" - Psa 91:3 — "he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence" - Psa 91:6 — "the pestilence that walketh in darkness" - Hos 13:14 — "O death, I will be thy plagues (deber)"

6. Livestock Disease (Murrain)¶

One occurrence uses deber for animal plague specifically. - Exo 9:3 — "the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle... there shall be a very grievous murrain"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
רָעָב (ra'ab)	H7458	27x (56%)	Sword-famine-pestilence triad
יְהֹוָה (YHWH)	H3068	17x (35%)	"the LORD sent pestilence" / "saith the LORD"
נָתַן (nathan)	H5414	12x (25%)	City "given into the hand of" the Chaldeans alongside pestilence
שָׁלַח (shalach)	H7971	12x (25%)	"I will send pestilence"
אֶרֶץ (erets)	H776	11x (23%)	"pestilence in the land"
מוּת (muth)	H4191	11x (23%)	"shall die by... the pestilence"
עִיר (iyr)	H5892	8x (17%)	"this city" — siege context in Jeremiah
נָפַל (naphal)	H5307	7x (15%)	"fall by the sword" alongside pestilence

Synonyms¶

H7451 רָעָה (ra'ah) — near-neighbor in the disaster/calamity field; not every use of ra'ah means pestilence, but search_relationships.py groups it with deber inside judgment-language overlap.
קֶּטֶב — destruction / plague term in the same pestilence field, especially close to deber in poetic judgment contexts.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for H1698.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
מַגֵּפָה (maggephah)	H4046	plague	maggephah = a striking blow or slaughter (from nagaph, "to strike"); deber = epidemic disease sent by God
נֶגַע (nega)	H5061	plague	nega = a physical mark or lesion (esp. leprosy); deber = mass epidemic
מָוֶת (maveth)	H4194	pestilence (figurative)	maveth = death itself; deber = the specific instrument of pestilence causing death
G3061 λοιμός (loimos)	G3061	pestilence (NT)	loimos = NT Greek equivalent; used in Luke 21:11 parallel to deber's OT semantic range

Semantic Domains¶

UBS / Relationship Domains¶

[002001001064] Weak — search_relationships.py places deber in a sickness / debilitating field with neighbors such as H535 אמל, H537 אֲמֵלָל, H536 אֻמְלַל, and H605 אנשׁ.

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occurrences	Notes
θάνατος (thanatos) G2288	34	Primary LXX rendering — "death" used to translate the consequence of pestilence
λιμός (limos) G3042	24	Co-occurrence from the triad context (limos = famine, not a translation of deber)
ῥομφαία (rhomphaia) G4501	14	Co-occurrence from triad (rhomphaia = sword)

The LXX typically renders deber as thanatos ("death") rather than using a specific Greek word for pestilence. This reflects the LXX translators treating the disease as equivalent to its fatal outcome. The NT equivalent for the concept is loimos (G3061, Luke 21:11; Acts 24:5 figuratively).