3826. libbah
Lexical Summary
libbah: Heart, inner self, mind

Original Word: לִבָּה
Part of Speech: Noun Feminine
Transliteration: libbah
Pronunciation: lib-bah'
Phonetic Spelling: (lib-baw')
KJV: heart
NASB: heart
Word Origin: [feminine of H3820 (לֵב - heart)]

1. the heart

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
heart

Feminine of leb; the heart -- heart.

see HEBREW leb

NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Origin
from the same as lebab
Definition
heart
NASB Translation
heart (1).

Brown-Driver-Briggs
[לִבָּה] suffix לִבָּתֵךְ Ezekiel 16:30 should be corrected to לִבְרִיתֵךְ (see Co). > older view, as feminine of לֵבּ.



Topical Lexicon
Linguistic and Figurative Profile

Libbāh is the feminine counterpart of lēḇ (heart) and accentuates the interior life—thoughts, motives, conscience, and moral character. Whereas lēḇ can bear a collective or even national nuance, libbāh consistently focuses on the individual’s inmost self, the place where decisions are weighed and loyalties are forged.

Canonical Distribution

The term appears eight times, exclusively in poetry and prophetic literature: Psalm 7:9; Psalm 125:4; Proverbs 15:11; Proverbs 17:3; Proverbs 21:2; Proverbs 24:12; Isaiah 44:18; Ezekiel 16:30. This limited spread concentrates its theological force on divine scrutiny and moral accountability.

Divine Omniscience and Judgment

Five of the eight occurrences emphasize God’s searching, testing, or weighing of the heart.
Psalm 7:9: “O righteous God, who searches hearts and minds, let an end come to the violence of the wicked, and establish the righteous.”
Proverbs 17:3 parallels the smelting process: “A crucible for silver and a furnace for gold, but the LORD is the tester of hearts.”

In each case libbāh underscores that no outward piety can shield the hidden person from the Lord’s comprehensive gaze (compare Hebrews 4:12).

Inner Moral Orientation

Proverbs 21:2 warns of self-justification: “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the hearts.” Libbāh thus becomes the arena where self-deception is exposed. Psalm 125:4 couples upright conduct with an upright heart, asserting that true covenant fidelity begins within.

Refinement and Formation

The metallurgy image of Proverbs 17:3 reveals that divine testing is not merely evaluative but formative. Like silver refined to purity, the believer’s libbāh is purified through trials (see also 1 Peter 1:7). Ministry application: suffering may be viewed as the Lord’s crucible designed to bring integrity where duplicity once resided.

Spiritual Blindness and Idolatry

Isaiah 44:18 locates the problem of idolatry in the heart’s dullness: “He has shut their eyes so they cannot see and closed their minds so they cannot understand.” The text ties heart-blindness to the fashioning of idols, teaching that external idolatry springs from internal incapacity to perceive truth. Likewise Ezekiel 16:30 exposes covenant infidelity by diagnosing a “weak” heart—a moral frailty that pursues spiritual adultery.

Ethical Accountability

Proverbs 24:12 confronts passive complicity: “If you say, ‘Behold, we did not know this,’ does not He who weighs hearts consider it?” The implication is that ignorance claims cannot excuse injustice, because the Lord reads the heart’s motives. This principle undergirds Christian ethics: sins of omission are judged alongside overt transgressions.

Historical and Cultural Background

In Ancient Near Eastern anthropology the heart was the seat of intellect and volition, not merely emotion. Israel’s Scriptures adopt that framework yet deepen it: the heart is the covenantal control center where obedience or rebellion germinates. Libbāh therefore serves as a theological shorthand for the entire inner life responsible before God.

Pastoral and Homiletical Significance

1. Self-examination: Regular prayer echoing Psalm 139:23, “Search me, O God,” invites the Spirit to expose and heal hidden motives.
2. Integrity in leadership: Those entrusted with teaching or governance must recognize that visible success cannot compensate for a compromised heart (James 3:1).
3. Evangelism and discipleship: Genuine conversion involves the heart; therefore proclamation aims not only at intellect but at the will (Acts 2:37).
4. Comfort in persecution: The believer maligned by false accusation may rest in the Lord who knows the heart, assuring ultimate vindication (1 Corinthians 4:5).

Trajectory into the New Covenant

The Old Testament insistence on a purified libbāh prepares for the promise of a new heart in Ezekiel 36:26 and its fulfillment in the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). The feminine nuance of libbāh subtly anticipates the Church as the Bride whose heart is cleansed for communion with Christ (Ephesians 5:25-27).

Summary

Libbāh concentrates the Bible’s teaching that authentic faith is internal before it is external. God’s omniscient testing, gracious refinement, and covenantal demand for integrity converge in this word, urging every generation to “guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23).

Forms and Transliterations
בְּלִבּוֹתָֽם׃ בלבותם׃ לִ֭בּ֗וֹת לִבָּתֵ֔ךְ לִבֹּתָֽם׃ לִבּ֣וֹת לִבּ֥וֹת לִבּ֨וֹת ׀ לבות לבתך לבתם׃ bə·lib·bō·w·ṯām belibboTam bəlibbōwṯām lib·bā·ṯêḵ lib·bō·ṯām lib·bō·wṯ libbaTech libbāṯêḵ libBot libboTam libbōṯām libbōwṯ
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Interlinear GreekInterlinear HebrewStrong's NumbersEnglishman's Greek ConcordanceEnglishman's Hebrew ConcordanceParallel Texts
Englishman's Concordance
Psalm 7:9
HEB: צַ֫דִּ֥יק וּבֹחֵ֣ן לִ֭בּ֗וֹת וּכְלָי֗וֹת אֱלֹהִ֥ים
KJV: God trieth the hearts and reins.
INT: the righteous tries the hearts and minds God

Psalm 125:4
HEB: לַטּוֹבִ֑ים וְ֝לִֽישָׁרִ֗ים בְּלִבּוֹתָֽם׃
KJV: and [to them that are] upright in their hearts.
INT: who are upright their hearts

Proverbs 15:11
HEB: אַ֝֗ף כִּֽי־ לִבּ֥וֹת בְּֽנֵי־ אָדָֽם׃
KJV: [are] before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children
INT: How then the hearts of the children man

Proverbs 17:3
HEB: לַזָּהָ֑ב וּבֹחֵ֖ן לִבּ֣וֹת יְהוָֽה׃
KJV: but the LORD trieth the hearts.
INT: gold tests the hearts the LORD

Proverbs 21:2
HEB: בְּעֵינָ֑יו וְתֹכֵ֖ן לִבּ֣וֹת יְהוָֽה׃
KJV: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.
INT: eyes weighs the hearts the LORD

Proverbs 24:12
HEB: הֲ‍ֽלֹא־ תֹ֘כֵ֤ן לִבּ֨וֹת ׀ הֽוּא־ יָבִ֗ין
KJV: it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider
INT: who weighs the heart he consider

Isaiah 44:18
HEB: עֵֽינֵיהֶ֔ם מֵהַשְׂכִּ֖יל לִבֹּתָֽם׃
KJV: that they cannot see; [and] their hearts, that they cannot understand.
INT: their eyes comprehend their hearts

Ezekiel 16:30
HEB: מָ֤ה אֲמֻלָה֙ לִבָּתֵ֔ךְ נְאֻ֖ם אֲדֹנָ֣י
NAS: languishing is your heart, declares
KJV: How weak is thine heart, saith
INT: How languishing is your heart declares the Lord

8 Occurrences

Strong's Hebrew 3826
8 Occurrences


bə·lib·bō·w·ṯām — 1 Occ.
lib·bā·ṯêḵ — 1 Occ.
lib·bō·wṯ — 5 Occ.
lib·bō·ṯām — 1 Occ.

3825
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