King James Bible
King James Version (KJV)
STRONGS NUMBER H3611
Transliteration: keleb
Phonetic Spelling: (keh'-leb)
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Short Definition: a dog
Meaning: a dog, a male prostitute
Word Summary
keleb: a dog
Original Word: כֶּלֶבTransliteration: keleb
Phonetic Spelling: (keh'-leb)
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Short Definition: a dog
Meaning: a dog, a male prostitute
Strong's Concordance
dog From an unused root means. To yelp, or else to attack; a dog; hence (by euphemism) a male prostitute -- dog.
Brown-Driver-Briggs
H3611. keleb
כֶּ֫לֶב noun masculine1 Samuel 24:15 dog (Late Hebrew id.; Phoenician כלב; Aramaic כַּלְבָּא, , Arabic ; Ethiopic Assyrian kalbu DlHWB 328) — absolute ׳כ Judges 7:5 16t., כָּ֑לֶב Psalm 59:7; 59:15; plural כְּלָבִים 1 Kings 14:11-12t.; construct כַּלְבֵי Job 30:1; suffix כְּלָבֶיךָ Psalm 68:24; — dog:
a. literal 1 Kings 14:11; 16:4; 21:19 (twice in verse); 21:23-24, 22:38; 2 Kings 9:10, 36 (all of fierce, hungry dogs, devouring dead bodies and licking blood); compare Jeremiah 15:3 and (כְּלָבֶיךָ לְשׁוֺן) Psalm 68:24; eating torn flesh, Exodus 22:30 (E), צאֹנִי כַּלְבֵי = my sheep-dogs, only Job 30:1 (in both these with implied inferiority); dog-sacrifice was a heathen rite Isaiah 66:3 (Di and others); see especially RSSemitic i, 273 (291), 325 (343); invarious simile Judges 7:5; Proverbs 26:11, 17; Psalm 59:7; 59:15; in proverbial sayings: ׳יֶחֱרַץכֿ לִשֹׁנוֺ לֹא Exodus 11:7 (see I. חרץ); הַמֵּת הָאַרְיֵה ׳לְכ מִןֿ טוֺב מֵת Ecclesiastes 9:4.
b. applied, figurative, to men, in contempt 1 Samuel 17:43, so of psalmist's enemies Psalm 22:17; 22:21, or in excessive humility 2 Kings 8:13; still more emphatically ׳כ מֵת a dead dog, ׳הַכּ הַמֵּת 2 Samuel 9:8; 16:9; also כ ׳ראֹשׁ 3:8; אִלְּמִים כְּלָבִים Isaiah 56:10 (of misleading prophets), ׳הַכּ נֶפֶשׁ עַזֵּי 56:11 (id.); ׳כ was name given to male temple-prostitutes Deuteronomy 23:19 (see Dr; compare קָדֵשׁ).