H3556 — כּוֹכָב (kôwkâb)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H3556
Original: כּוֹכָב
Transliteration: kôwkâb (kokab)
Pronunciation: ko-kawb'
Part of Speech: Masculine noun
Root: Probably from an unused root meaning "to roll" or "to blaze" (denoting the star as round or as shining)
Occurrences: 37 unique verses across 18 books
First Occurrence: Gen 1:16 — "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars (kôwkâb) also."
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

Probably from the same (unused root) as in the sense of rolling or in the sense of blazing; a star (as round or as shining); figuratively, a prince — star, stargazer.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
the stars / stars / ye stars	14	37.8%
as the stars	8	21.6%
and the stars / and stars / and of the stars	5	13.5%
of the stars / the stars thereof	3	8.1%
a Star	1	2.7%
above the stars	1	2.7%
like to the stars	1	2.7%
or the stars	1	2.7%
the star	1	2.7%
the stargazers	1	2.7%
yea, the stars	1	2.7%

Every rendering translates kôwkâb as some form of "star" or "stargazer" (Isa 47:13). KJV translators treated the word as semantically unitary; the figurative/symbolic nuances are always carried by the surrounding context, not by alternate glosses.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Obadiah	1	4.8
Joel	2	2.7
Nahum	1	2.1
Amos	1	0.7
Daniel	2	0.6
Nehemiah	2	0.5
Job	5	0.5
Ecclesiastes	1	0.5
Deuteronomy	4	0.4
Genesis	5	0.3
Judges	1	0.2
Isaiah	3	0.2
Psalms	4	0.2
Exodus	1	0.1
Numbers	1	0.1
1 Chronicles	1	0.1
Jeremiah	1	0.1
Ezekiel	1	0.1

Patterns: Densest in the minor prophets (Obadiah, Joel, Nahum, Amos) where star imagery drives Day-of-the-LORD rhetoric. Heavy concentration in Job (wisdom/creation reflection) and Genesis (Abrahamic promise). Notably present in both apocalyptic books available to the OT writer — Daniel (8:10; 12:3) — and across Torah in patriarchal covenant contexts.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Literal Astronomical Bodies (Created Luminaries)¶

Gen 1:16 — "he made the stars also" — paired with sun and moon as created lights.
Psalm 8:3 — "the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained."
Psalm 147:4 — "He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by [their] names."
Jer 31:35 — "the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night."

2. Covenant Multitude (Abrahamic Promise)¶

Gen 15:5 — "tell the stars, if thou be able to number them... So shall thy seed be."
Gen 22:17; 26:4 — "I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven."
Exod 32:13; Deut 1:10; 10:22; 28:62; Neh 9:23; 1 Chr 27:23; Nah 3:16 — Abrahamic multiplication formula repeatedly invoked.

3. Symbolic for Angelic / Heavenly Beings¶

Job 38:7 — "When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy" — parallel stichos equates "morning stars" with "sons of God."
Judg 5:20 — "They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera" — celestial combatants acting on Israel's behalf.
Isa 14:13 — "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God" — the usurper ascends over God's heavenly court.
Dan 8:10 — "cast down [some] of the host and of the stars to the ground" — stars paired with "host of heaven."

4. Symbolic for a Ruler / Prince (Royal Figure)¶

Num 24:17 — "there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel" — Balaam's oracle; "Star" parallels "Sceptre" denoting a royal deliverer.
Amos 5:26 — "the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves" — a rival deity/cultic figure borne in procession.

5. Symbolic for Saints / Wise Ones¶

Dan 12:3 — "they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever" — the righteous likened to stars for eschatological glory.

6. Cosmic Signs — Day-of-the-LORD Darkening¶

Isa 13:10 — "the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light."
Ezek 32:7 — "I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark."
Joel 2:10; 3:15 — "the stars shall withdraw their shining."
Job 3:9; 9:7; Eccl 12:2 — stars darkened as reversal of Gen 1 order.

7. Height / Pride Metaphor¶

Obad 1:4 — "though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down."
Isa 14:13 — usurper's boast (also Category 3).
Job 22:12 — "behold the height of the stars, how high they are!"

8. Purity / Brightness Standard¶

Job 25:5 — "yea, the stars are not pure in his sight" — even stars fall short of divine holiness.
Ps 148:3 — "stars of light" — summoned to praise.

9. Astrologers / Occult Practitioners¶

Isa 47:13 — "the astrologers, the stargazers (hōḇrē šāmayim / hakkôwkāḇîm), the monthly prognosticators" — Babylonian celestial divination condemned.

10. Calendrical / Temporal Marker¶

Neh 4:21 — "from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared" — stars mark the working day.

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) "heaven(s)"	H8064	20x (54%)	"stars of heaven" — the canonical compound phrase
יָרֵחַ (yareach) "moon"	H3394	12x (32%)	sun/moon/stars triad of luminaries
שֶׁמֶשׁ (shemesh) "sun"	H8121	9x (24%)	sun/moon/stars triad; darkening oracles
רָבָה (rabah) "multiply / be many"	H7235	7x (19%)	Abrahamic multiplication: "multiply thy seed as the stars"
אוֹר (ʼor) "light"	H216	6x (16%)	"stars of light" / stars as luminaries / giving light
זֶרַע (zera) "seed"	H2233	4x (11%)	"thy seed as the stars" — patriarchal promise
רֹב (rob) "multitude"	H7230	4x (11%)	"as the stars for multitude"
חָשַׁךְ (chashak) "be dark"	H2821	3x (8%)	Day-of-the-LORD darkening (Joel, Isa, Ezek)
יָצָא (yatsa) "go forth / come out"	H3318	3x (8%)	Stars come out (Neh 4:21); Star out of Jacob (Num 24:17)

Word Family / Cognates¶

No verbal cognates in the canonical Hebrew corpus; kôwkâb is treated as a primary noun derived from an otherwise unused root (√ כבב "roll" or "blaze").

Synonyms¶

H8121 שֶׁמֶשׁ — neighboring celestial luminary in the recurring sun/moon/stars triad.
H3394 יָרֵחַ — the moon, repeatedly paired with kôwkâb in creation and darkening texts.
צְבָא הַשָּׁמַיִם — the collective "host of heaven," the broader heavenly array to which the stars belong.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for H3556.

Easily Confused Words / Semantic Neighbors¶

Word	Strong's	Overlap	Key Difference
צָבָא (tsaba) "host"	H6635	"host of heaven" often parallels or pairs with stars (Dan 8:10; Deut 4:19)	tsaba = the whole array/army of heaven (sometimes including sun, moon, stars AND angels); kôwkâb = individual stellar members
מַזָּרוֹת (mazzaroth) "constellations"	H4216	astronomical context (Job 38:32)	mazzaroth = named constellations/zodiacal groups; kôwkâb = generic stars
כִּימָה (kimah) "Pleiades"	H3598	astronomical context (Job 9:9; 38:31; Amos 5:8)	kimah = specific constellation (Pleiades); kôwkâb = generic term
כְּסִיל (kesil) "Orion"	H3685	astronomical context (Job 9:9; 38:31; Isa 13:10)	kesil = specific constellation (Orion); kôwkâb = generic term
שַׁחַר (shachar) "dawn / morning star"	H7837	Isa 14:12 (hēlēl ben-shachar, "day star, son of the morning")	shachar = dawn itself; kôwkâb is not the word used for the "Lucifer" title in Isa 14:12 (that is hēlēl), though stars of God appear in v.13
אַסְטֵר / ἀστήρ (aster)	G792	shared KJV translation "stars" in NT	Greek NT cognate-free term for the same referent; primary LXX bridge
ἄστρον (astron)	G798	shared KJV "stars" (e.g., Acts 7:43 quoting Amos 5:26)	LXX's preferred rendering of kôwkâb in ~20 passages

LXX Mapping (Hebrew → Greek)¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occ	PMI	Notes
ἄστρον (astron)	G798	20	9.10	Primary LXX equivalent; also used in NT at Luke 21:25; Acts 7:43; Heb 11:12
ἀστήρ (aster)	G792	15	9.12	Second primary equivalent; dominates NT usage (Matt 2; Rev)
σελήνη (selene) "moon"	G4582	12	8.08	Contextual collocation (triad), not translation equivalent
οὐρανός (ouranos) "heaven"	G3772	18	4.65	Collocation, not equivalent — "stars of heaven"
ἥλιος (helios) "sun"	G2246	10	4.85	Collocation (sun/moon/stars triad)
φῶς (phos) "light"	G5457	5	4.75	Collocation ("stars of light," giving light)

Bridge note: The Hebrew ↔ Greek equivalence for "star" is nearly 1:1 — both ἄστρον and ἀστήρ render kôwkâb with overwhelming consistency. This makes the OT symbolic register (angelic host, Davidic/royal Star, righteous shining) directly retrievable by NT writers using astēr (Matt 2:2, 9-10; Matt 24:29; 1 Cor 15:41; 2 Pet 1:19; Rev 1:16, 20; 2:28; 6:13; 8:10-12; 9:1; 12:1, 4; 22:16).

Semantic Domains¶

UBS / Relationship Domains¶

[001001002] Celestial Bodies — search_relationships.py places kôwkâb in the astronomical field with neighbors such as H1966 הֵילֵל, H2535 חַמָּה, H2775/H2776 חֶרֶס, H3394 יָרֵחַ, and H3684 כְּסִיל.