H2076 — זָבַח (zâbach)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H2076
Original: זָבַח
Transliteration: zâbach
Pronunciation: zaw-bakh'
Part of Speech: Verb
Root: Primitive root (cognate noun H2077 zebach — "sacrifice, slaughter")
Occurrences: 127 unique verses (149 tokens) in the OT, across 24 books
First Occurrence: Gen 31:54 — "Then Jacob offered sacrifice (zabach) upon the mount, and called his brethren to eat bread"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primitive root; to slaughter an animal (usually in sacrifice): — kill, offer, (do) sacrifice, slay.

Zabach denotes the specific act of ritually killing an animal, typically in a cultic context. It is the verbal counterpart of the noun zebach (H2077) — the slaughtered victim. The verb encompasses both legitimate worship-slaughter (covenantal, peace, and thank offerings) and illegitimate slaughter to rival deities or at unauthorized high places.

Verb Stem Distribution¶

Stem	Count	Typical Meaning
Qal	112	to slaughter, sacrifice (perform a sacrifice)
Piel	22	to sacrifice repeatedly / habitually (often iterative or pejorative — sacrificing at high places, to idols)

Tallied from hebrew_parser.py --lemma output. The Piel is concentrated in texts describing persistent illicit worship (1-2 Kings "sacrificed in the high places", Hosea, 2 Chr). The Qal covers the full semantic range; the Piel intensifies toward habitual/ongoing cultic action.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
sacrifice / sacrificed / sacrificeth / sacrificing / to sacrifice	~71	56%
offer / offered / offering / to offer	~30	24%
slay / slew / hath slain	~7	6%
kill / killed	~4	3%
do sacrifice	~5	4%
Other (conjunctions, modal phrases)	~10	7%

"Sacrifice" is the dominant rendering; "offer(ed)" is a close secondary, chiefly where an English object noun is added (e.g., "offered a sacrifice"). "Slay/kill" appears when the slaughter is described in non-ritual or ambiguous terms (Adonijah's feast in 1 Ki 1; Deut 12:15 secular slaughter).

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Jonah	2	4.2
Malachi	2	3.6
Hosea	6	3.0
Habakkuk	1	1.8
1 Samuel	14	1.7
1 Kings	14	1.7
2 Chronicles	13	1.6
Exodus	17	1.4
Deuteronomy	12	1.3
2 Kings	8	1.1
Leviticus	5	0.6
Nehemiah	2	0.5
Ecclesiastes	1	0.5
Zechariah	1	0.5
Psalms	9	0.4
Ezra	1	0.4
Ezekiel	5	0.4
Judges	2	0.3
2 Samuel	2	0.3
1 Chronicles	3	0.3
Joshua	1	0.2
Isaiah	3	0.2
Genesis	2	0.1
Numbers	1	0.1

Highest density in the prophets (Hosea, Malachi, Habakkuk, Jonah) where the critique or right use of sacrifice is a theme. Note the relatively low density in Leviticus: the technical priestly cult prefers qarab (H7126, "bring near / present") and alah hiphil (H5927, "cause to go up") for procedural prescriptions, reserving zabach for the moment of slaughter and for the zebach shelamim peace offering. Historical books (Samuel, Kings, Chronicles) dominate by raw count, describing royal and national sacrificial activity.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Covenantal and Legitimate Worship-Slaughter¶

Gen 31:54 — Jacob "offered sacrifice upon the mount" to ratify the covenant with Laban.
Exo 24:5 — young men "sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD" at Sinai covenant ratification.
Exo 20:24 — "shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings."
Jos 8:31 — Joshua at Ebal "sacrificed thereon peace offerings" per Mosaic law.

2. Festival and Pilgrimage Sacrifice (Passover / Tabernacles)¶

Exo 3:18; 5:3; 8:27 — the Exodus demand: "let us go... that we may sacrifice (zabach) unto the LORD."
Deu 16:2, 5, 6 — "thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God."
1 Sa 1:3, 21 — Elkanah's yearly pilgrimage "to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh."

3. Royal and National Sacrifice (Dedications, Enthronements)¶

2 Sa 6:13 — David "sacrificed oxen and fatlings" at the ark's procession.
1 Ki 3:4 — Solomon at Gibeon: "a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer (ʿalah) upon that altar" preceded by "the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice (zabach) there."
1 Ki 8:5, 62-63 — temple dedication: "sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be told nor numbered."
2 Ch 7:4-5 — Solomon's dedicatory "sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen."

4. Illegitimate Sacrifice at High Places¶

1 Ki 3:2-3; 22:43; 2 Ki 12:3; 14:4; 15:4, 35; 16:4 — recurring formula: "the people sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places."
2 Ch 28:4; 33:17, 22 — evaluative refrain about Judah's kings.
Hos 4:13 — "They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains."

5. Idolatry and Sacrifice to Other Gods / Demons¶

Exo 22:20 — "He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed."
Exo 34:15 — "do sacrifice unto their gods."
Lev 17:7; Deu 32:17; Psa 106:37 — "sacrificed unto devils (shedim), not to God."
1 Ki 11:8 — Solomon's wives "burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods."
2 Ki 17:35-36; Hos 11:2; Hab 1:16 — sacrificing to Baalim / to the net.

6. Prophetic Critique: Sacrifice Without Obedience¶

1 Sa 15:15, 21 — Saul's spared Amalekite spoil "to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God."
Psa 50:14, 23; 51:16-19 (context); Psa 107:22; 116:17 — "sacrifice unto God thanksgiving" reframed as praise.
Isa 66:3 — "he that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck."
Hos 8:13 — "They sacrifice flesh... but the LORD accepteth them not."
Mal 1:8, 14 — sacrificing the blind, lame, and blemished animals.

7. Secular / Non-Cultic Slaughter¶

Deu 12:15, 21 — "thou mayest kill (zabach) and eat flesh in all thy gates" — permission for non-sacrificial slaughter after centralization.
1 Ki 1:9, 19, 25 — Adonijah "slew (zabach) sheep and oxen" at his self-coronation feast.
2 Ch 18:2 — "Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance" for Jehoshaphat's visit.
Eze 34:3 — shepherds "kill them that are fed" — denunciatory metaphor.

8. Eschatological Sacrifice (of Enemies as Victims)¶

Eze 39:17, 19 — "of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you" (Gog-Magog banquet).
Isa 34:6; Zep 1:7-8 (related imagery) — YHWH's slaughter of the nations depicted as cultic sacrifice.

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
יְהֹוָה (Yhwh)	H3068	63x (50%)	"sacrifice unto the LORD" — default theological object
זֶבַח (zebach)	H2077	38x (30%)	Figura etymologica: "sacrificed a sacrifice" (verb + cognate noun)
אֱלֹהִים (elohim)	H430	36x (28%)	"sacrifice unto God / other gods"
עַם (am) — people	H5971	22x (17%)	"the people sacrificed in the high places"
צֹאן (tson) — flock	H6629	16x (13%)	Victim: sheep / goats
בָּקָר (baqar) — herd	H1241	15x (12%)	Victim: cattle / oxen
עָלָה (alah hiph)	H5927	16x (13%)	Paired with burnt offerings ("offered up... and sacrificed")
קָטַר (qatar)	H6999	15x (12%)	"sacrificed and burnt incense" — twin high-place formula
בָּמָה (bamah)	H1116	14x (11%)	"sacrificed in the high places"
מֶלֶךְ (melek) — king	H4428	14x (11%)	Royal sacrificer

Word Family / Cognates¶

H2076 זָבַח (zabach) — verb (this entry)
H2077 זֶבַח (zebach) — noun: sacrifice, slaughtered victim, esp. shared/peace sacrifice (162 OT occurrences)
H4196 מִזְבֵּחַ (mizbeach) — noun: altar (literally "place of slaughter") — derived from the same root, 401 OT occurrences

Synonyms¶

עלה (H5927) — returned by search_relationships.py as a close sacrificial neighbor where the offering act is in view.
קטר (H6999) — surfaced by search_relationships.py as a cultic near-neighbor, especially in the recurring pattern "sacrificed and burnt incense."
שׁחט (H7819) — returned as the closest slaughter-verb parallel to zâbach within the sacrificial field.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms returned by search_relationships.py for H2076.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
עָלָה (alah, hiph.)	H5927	"offered / to offer"	alah = to cause to go up, specific to burnt offering smoke/ascent; zabach = the slaughter itself
קָרַב (qarab, hiph.)	H7126	"offer / to offer"	qarab = to bring near / present at altar (procedural language of Lev); zabach = the kill step
קָטַר (qatar, hiph.)	H6999	"burn incense / offer"	qatar = to make smoke / burn on altar; follows zabach in "sacrificed and burnt incense" pairs
נָסַךְ (nasak)	H5258	"offer / pour out"	nasak = pour a libation; zabach = slaughter an animal
עָשָׂה (asah)	H6213	"sacrificed / made"	asah = generic "make / perform"; used of sacrifices as "perform the offering"
שָׁחַט (shachat)	H7819	"kill / slaughter"	shachat = the technical priestly slaughter stroke (Lev 1-7 preferred verb); zabach = broader act including the whole sacrificial event

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occ	PMI	Notes
θύω (thyo)	G2380	90	7.23	Primary equivalent — dominates LXX renderings; the cognate verb "to sacrifice"
θυσία (thysia)	G2378	35	4.45	Cognate-noun overlap where verb renders with + noun ("offer a sacrifice")
ὑψηλός (hypselos)	G5308	18	4.32	Collocation with "high place" (bamah) contexts
μόσχος (moschos)	G3448	18	3.97	Victim: young bull
ἀρήν (arēn)	G704	4	6.92	Victim: lamb
πρόβατον (probaton)	G4263	15	3.44	Victim: sheep
σωτήριον (sōtērion)	G4992	10	3.87	Collocation: peace/salvation offering
θυμιάω (thymiao)	G2370	6	4.70	Collocation: burn incense (renders qatar in paired texts)
δαιμόνιον (daimonion)	G1140	3	6.28	"Sacrificed to demons" contexts (Deu 32:17; Psa 106:37)

The LXX bridge is exceptionally strong: θύω (G2380) is the standard equivalent for zabach, and this pairing carries directly into NT citations and allusions (e.g., 1 Cor 10:20; Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7).

Semantic Domains¶

UBS / Relationship Domains¶

[002001001019] Dead — search_relationships.py places zâbach partly in the death/slaughter field, reflecting the lethal act involved in sacrificial slaughter; neighboring entries returned by the tool include A7 אבד, H6 אבד, H8 אֹבֵד, H12 אַבְדָן, H13 אָבְדָן, and A69 אֶבֶן.
[002003002020] Sacrifice — the same relationship data places zâbach in the sacrifice field, alongside neighbors such as H801 אִשֶּׁה, H818 אָשֵׁם, H817 אָשָׁם, H819 אַשְׁמָה, A1684 דבח, and A1685 דְּבַח.