H259 — אֶחָד (ʼechâd)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H259
Original: אֶחָד
Transliteration: ʼechâd
Pronunciation: ekh-awd'
Part of Speech: Adjective / numeral (also used substantivally and as an ordinal)
Root: Related to אַחַד (H258, "to unify"); most lexicographers take אֶחָד as the primary numeral from which the verbal root is derived.
Occurrences: 739 unique verses (980 tokens) across 34 OT books
First Occurrence: Gen 1:5 — "the evening and the morning were the first (ʼechâd) day"
Hapax Legomenon: No (one of the most frequent numerals in the OT)

Lexicon Definition¶

A numeral; properly, united, i.e. one; or (as an ordinal) first:—a, alike, alone, altogether, and, any(-thing), apiece, a certain, (daily), each (one), eleven, every, few, first, highway, a man, once, one, only, other, some, together.

Strong's explicitly glosses the core sense as "properly, united, i.e. one." The word functions as (1) the cardinal numeral "one," (2) the ordinal "first," (3) an indefinite article "a / a certain," and (4) a noun of unity when used absolutely.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
one	409	55.3%
One (sentence-initial)	49	6.6%
a / an	60	8.1%
the one / of the one / to the one	44	6.0%
another / the other / and the other	50	6.8%
first / the first / of the first / in the first / on the first	34	4.6%
once / Once / at once	17	2.3%
and one / of one / by one / with one / in one / to one / for one / like one / as one / but one / unto one	~60	~8%
every / each / any / only / alone / together / a certain / same	~40	~5%
eleven / eleventh / in the eleventh	11	1.5%
Other minor (certain, some, apiece, none, etc.)	~15	~2%

(Unique-verse counts from search_strongs.py --lookup H259; n = 739.)

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Numbers	122	9.5
Haggai	3	7.9
Ecclesiastes	16	7.2
1 Kings	51	6.2
Ezekiel	74	5.8
Exodus	69	5.7
Joshua	37	5.6
Obadiah	1	4.8
Leviticus	37	4.3
1 Samuel	33	4.1
Judges	25	4.0
2 Kings	29	4.0
Ezra	11	3.9
Daniel	14	3.9
2 Samuel	27	3.9
Zechariah	8	3.8
Malachi	2	3.6
2 Chronicles	25	3.0
Esther	5	3.0
Genesis	43	2.8
Deuteronomy	24	2.5
Nehemiah	9	2.2
Amos	3	2.1
Jonah	1	2.1
Zephaniah	1	1.9
1 Chronicles	13	1.4
Isaiah	17	1.3
Job	12	1.1
Jeremiah	11	0.8
Hosea	1	0.5
Psalms	9	0.4
Proverbs	2	0.2

Pattern: Density peaks in enumeration-heavy books (Numbers, 1 Kings, Ezekiel, Exodus, Leviticus, Joshua) where the numeral tallies offerings, measurements, tribes, days, and architectural parts. Sparse in poetry (Psalms, Proverbs). Genesis (43x) sets many of the theologically freighted uses: "one day," "one place," "one flesh," "one people," "one language."

Semantic Categories¶

The word shows a wide but coherent semantic range. Usage falls into the following patterns (all examples drawn from KJV text in the verse output):

1. Simple numerical "one" (cardinal)¶

Num 7:15 — "One (ʼechâd) young bullock, one (ʼechâd) ram, one (ʼechâd) lamb"
1 Ki 4:22 — "Solomon's provision for one (ʼechâd) day"
Gen 22:2 — "upon one (ʼechâd) of the mountains which I will tell thee of"
Judg 16:28 — "that I may be at once (ʼechâd) avenged"

This is the dominant use: a countable unit in enumerations, offerings, measurements, and time markers.

2. Ordinal "first"¶

Gen 1:5 — "the evening and the morning were the first (ʼechâd) day"
Gen 8:13 — "in the first (ʼechâd) month, the first (ʼechâd) day of the month"
Ezra 1:1 — "in the first (ʼechâd) year of Cyrus"
Ezek 26:1 — "in the eleventh year, in the first (ʼechâd) day of the month"

Hebrew uses the cardinal ʼechâd rather than a distinct ordinal for "first day," especially in calendar/date formulas.

3. Indefinite "a / a certain" (one of a class)¶

1 Sam 1:1 — "there was a certain (ʼechâd) man of Ramathaimzophim"
Judg 13:2 — "there was a certain (ʼechâd) man of Zorah"
Dan 10:5 — "a certain (ʼechâd) man clothed in linen"
1 Ki 19:4 — "sat down under a juniper tree (ʼechâd)"

Functions like the English indefinite article, introducing a new but unspecified individual.

4. "One of" (partitive) and "the one… the other" (distributive)¶

Gen 3:22 — "become as one (ʼechâd) of us"
Exod 1:15 — "the name of the one (ʼechâd) was Shiphrah, and the name of the other was Puah"
1 Sam 1:2 — "the name of the one (ʼechâd) was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah"
Eccl 4:9 — "Two are better than one (ʼechâd)"

Used in contrastive pairs with שֵׁנִי (H8145, "second") or אַחֵר (H312, "other") to distinguish members of a pair.

5. Compound / collective unity — a single entity composed of parts¶

Gen 2:24 — "they shall be one (ʼechâd) flesh" (two persons → one bāśār)
Num 13:23 — "one (ʼechâd) cluster of grapes" (many grapes → one eshkol)
Gen 11:6 — "the people is one (ʼechâd), and they have all one (ʼechâd) language"
Gen 34:16 — "we will become one (ʼechâd) people"
Exod 26:6 — "couple the curtains together… and it shall be one (ʼechâd) tabernacle" (many curtains → one miškān)
Ezek 37:17 — "join them one to another into one (ʼechâd) stick; and they shall become one in thine hand"
Ezek 37:22 — "I will make them one (ʼechâd) nation… and one (ʼechâd) king"
2 Chr 30:12 — "the hand of God was to give them one (ʼechâd) heart"

This is the well-known "compound unity" usage: ʼechâd describes the singleness of a whole that is made up of plural constituents.

6. Absolute / unified "one" of God¶

Deut 6:4 — "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one (ʼechâd) LORD" (the Shema)
Zech 14:9 — "in that day shall there be one (ʼechâd) LORD, and his name one (ʼechâd)"
Mal 2:10 — "Have we not all one (ʼechâd) father? hath not one (ʼechâd) God created us?"
Mal 2:15 — "And did not he make one (ʼechâd)? Yet had he the residue of the spirit"

The form of the adjective in the Shema is the same word used elsewhere for compound and numerical oneness; the text does not select a grammatically distinct "absolute" form. Interpretation of what KIND of oneness is meant is an exegetical question about the referent (YHWH), not a lexical property of ʼechâd itself.

7. Emphatic unity of action or will ("as one man")¶

Judg 6:16 — "thou shalt smite the Midianites as one (ʼechâd) man"
Judg 20:1, 8, 11 — "all the congregation… as one (ʼechâd) man"
1 Sam 11:7 — "they came out with one (ʼechâd) consent"
Ezra 2:64; Neh 7:66 — "the whole congregation together (ʼechâd) was forty and two thousand"

Idiom for corporate solidarity: plural subjects acting with a single purpose.

8. Temporal "once / at once / in one moment"¶

2 Sam 17:12 — "and of all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one (ʼechâd)"
Isa 66:8 — "shall a nation be born at once (ʼechâd)?"
Hag 2:6 — "Yet once (ʼechâd), it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
עַל (ʻal)	H5921	156x (21%)	"upon one [altar/day/place]" — locative with counted items
בֵּן (bēn)	H1121	147x (20%)	"sons of... one" — genealogies, enumerations of sons
יְהֹוָה (YHWH)	H3068	140x (19%)	formulas like Deut 6:4, Zech 14:9, "one LORD"
אֲשֶׁר (ʼăsher)	H834	137x (19%)	relative clause introducing the "one"
אָמַר (ʼāmar)	H559	136x (18%)	speech formulas introducing enumerated speakers
כֹּל (kôl)	H3605	134x (18%)	"all… one" (totality + unity)
שְׁנַיִם (shĕnayim)	H8147	124x (17%)	"one… two" — pairing with the number two
עָשָׂה (ʻāsāh)	H6213	103x (14%)	"make one [tabernacle/nation/stick]" — constitutive acts
אִישׁ (ʼîysh)	H376	90x (12%)	"as one man" (Judg 6:16; 20:1) — corporate unity idiom
יִשְׂרָאֵל (Yisrāʼēl)	H3478	84x (11%)	nation-unity contexts
מֶלֶךְ (melek)	H4428	82x (11%)	"one king" over united people (Ezek 37:22)
שָׁנֶה (shāneh)	H8141	74x (10%)	"in the first year" — calendar formulas
יוֹם (yôwm)	H3117	71x (10%)	"one day / first day" — time formulas

Word Family / Cognates¶

H258 אָחַד (ʼāchad) — verb "to unify, be united" (rare; Ezek 21:16); cognate root sense.
H2297 חַד (chad) — Hebrew variant "one" (e.g., Ezek 33:30; 2 Sam 13:30).
H2298 חַד (chad, Aramaic) — Aramaic equivalent, used in Daniel and Ezra (e.g., Dan 2:9 "one decree").
H3162 יַחַד (yachad) — adverb "together, as a unit"; derived from same conceptual cluster ("properly, a unit").
H3173 יָחִיד (yâchîyd) — adjective "only, solitary, unique" — see dedicated entry and comparison below.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared KJV Translation	Key Difference
יָחִיד (yâchîyd)	H3173	"only" (4x for H259)	yachid = sole, unique, "only-begotten," emphasizing solitariness and preciousness (Gen 22:2 "thine only son"). ʼechâd = "one" as numerical or unitive, with NO built-in sense of "solitary."
בַּד (bad)	H905	"alone" (4x)	bad = separation/apart, emphasizing isolation. ʼechâd focuses on unity, not separation.
אִישׁ (ʼîysh)	H376	"one" (63x), "a" (35x), "certain" (8x), "each" (6x)	ʼîysh = "(a) man / each" as a person. ʼechâd = number. Frequently paired: "every man [ʼîysh] … to one [ʼechâd]."
זֶה (zeh)	H2088	"the one" (3x), "the other" (3x)	zeh = demonstrative "this (one)." ʼechâd = numerical "one."
שֵׁנִי (shēnîy)	H8145	contrasts as "the other"	Ordinal "second." Regularly paired with ʼechâd in distributive constructions.
אַחֵר (ʼachēr)	H312	"another" (24x), "the other"	"another, different." Used with ʼechâd in "one… another" distinctions (distributive rather than unitive).
רִאשׁוֹן (riʼshôwn)	H7223	"first" (14x for H259)	Standalone ordinal "first" (place/time/rank). ʼechâd is frequently used in its place, especially for calendar day-one.

Comparison: H259 ʼechâd vs. H3173 yâchîyd¶

Feature	H259 ʼechâd	H3173 yâchîyd
Occurrences	739 verses (980 tokens)	12 tokens total
Core gloss	"one, united, first"	"only, solitary, unique, beloved"
Typical subjects	days, items, people, God, nations, flesh	only children, solitary individuals
Key texts	Deut 6:4 (Shema); Gen 2:24; Num 13:23	Gen 22:2, 12, 16 ("thine only son" of Isaac); Judg 11:34 (Jephthah's daughter); Zech 12:10 ("mourn… as for an only son"); Amos 8:10
Ever used of God?	Yes (Deut 6:4; Zech 14:9; Mal 2:10)	No — never applied to YHWH in the Hebrew Bible
Composable?	Freely — "one flesh" (plural parts), "one people" (many persons)	Expresses uniqueness/solitariness; not applied to a composite
LXX rendering	εἷς / μία / ἕν (G1520) dominant	ἀγαπητός (G27, "beloved"), μονογενής (G3439, "only-begotten"), μόνος (G3441)

This distribution is a lexical fact, not a theological argument: yachid is the word the Hebrew Bible reaches for when it wants "solitary / only one / unique"; ʼechâd is the general-purpose numeral/unity word.

Synonyms¶

No synonyms returned by search_relationships.py for H259.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms returned by search_relationships.py for H259.

UBS Semantic Domains¶

Code	Domain Label	Notes
002001001042	Quantity	Core numerical domain for H259 as the basic cardinal "one."
002001003009	Frequency	Secondary adverbial/iterative domain covering uses such as "once" or "one by one."

LXX Mapping (Hebrew → Greek)¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occ	PMI	Score	Notes
εἷς / μία / ἕν (heîs)	G1520	588	4.80	30.63	Dominant equivalent — used for the full semantic range of ʼechâd (numerical, ordinal "first" in some contexts, unitive). Deut 6:4 LXX: κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν κύριος εἷς ἐστιν.
ἀμνός (amnós)	G286	37	3.72	13.53	"lamb" — reflects "one lamb" offering formulas in Numbers/Leviticus.
σεμίδαλις (semídalis)	G4585	24	3.75	12.08	"fine flour" — sacrificial formula "one tenth deal of fine flour."
τρύβλιον (trýblion)	G5165	13	4.53	11.96	"dish/charger" — "one charger" in Num 7 offerings.
δεύτερος (deúteros)	G1208	45	2.99	11.43	"second" — appears because ʼechâd in "the one… the other" pairs is rendered with ὁ εἷς… ὁ δεύτερος.
ἕνδεκα (héndeka)	G1733	10	4.74	11.36	"eleven" — from compound numerals ʼachad ʻasar.
δύο (dýo)	G1417	87	2.50	11.19	"two" — pair collocations again.
ἅπαξ (hápax)	G530	14	3.95	10.70	"once" — renders ʼechâd in temporal uses (Hag 2:6).
πλήρης (plḗrēs)	G4134	27	3.14	10.47	"full" — from phrases like "a full year / one full…"
ἀμφότερος (amphóteros)	G297	25	3.06	9.97	"both" — from pair contexts.

The primary LXX equivalent is εἷς (G1520) by a wide margin. Crucially, εἷς in Greek has the same semantic elasticity as ʼechâd: it covers numerical "one," indefinite "a," and unitive "one" (cf. John 10:30 ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν; John 17:21 ἵνα πάντες ἓν ὦσιν; Gal 3:28; 1 Cor 6:16–17 where "one flesh" is ἓν σῶμα / σάρξ).

Key Verses (for quick reference)¶

Gen 1:5 — "the evening and the morning were the first day" (first occurrence; calendar ordinal)
Gen 1:9 — "let the waters… be gathered together unto one place"
Gen 2:24 — "they shall be one flesh"
Gen 11:6 — "the people is one, and they have all one language"
Gen 22:2 — "thine only (yāchîyd) son… upon one (ʼechâd) of the mountains" (both words side-by-side)
Gen 34:16 — "we will become one people"
Exod 26:6 — "it shall be one tabernacle" (many curtains → one structure)
Num 13:23 — "one cluster of grapes"
Deut 6:4 — "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD" (Shema)
Judg 6:16 — "thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man"
2 Chr 30:12 — "to give them one heart"
Ezek 37:17, 22 — "one stick… one nation… one king"
Zech 14:9 — "one LORD, and his name one"
Mal 2:10 — "one father… one God"