Hebrew verb · H2658
חָפַר
chapharkhaw-far'
to search
22 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key
Concordance spelling: châphar
Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H2658is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.
- 9 of 39Old Testament books
- 20spellings
The definition in full
Strong's key (1890) · H2658
properly, to pry into; by implication, to delve, to explore
The King James renders it: dig, paw, search out, seek.
James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.
Summary
chaphar is rendered "to search". It stands 22 times in the Hebrew text, across nine books.
- Eight of the uses stand in Genesis, more than in any other book.
- Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Genesis 21:30He replied, “You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand as my witness that I dug this well.”
- The Greek text spells it twenty different ways.
The first use
He replied, “You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand as my witness that I dug this well.”
Genesis 21:30חָפַ֖רְתִּי
The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.
Where the word stands
Eight of the word's twenty-two uses are in Genesis.
What the word means
Each meaning, and the words it is translated by
How the Greek text is glossed, word by word
- and they dug3
- and he dug2
- they had dug2
- to spy out2
- and he has dug it1
- and I dug1
- and they dug for it1
- and you will be well protected1
- and you will dig1
- digs1
- I dug1
- it spies out1
and 5 more, 22 uses in all
The words built on the same word-part
Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.
All 22, in canonical order
Every use, in order
Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.
20 spellings and their grammar
STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.
How it is spelled
- חָֽפְרוּ֙2
- לַחְפֹּ֥ר2
- וָאֶחְפֹּ֗ר1
- וְ֝חָפַרְתָּ֗1
- וְחָפַרְתָּ֣ה1
- וַיַּחְפֹּר֙1
- וַיַּחְפֹּ֣ר׀1
- וַֽיַּחְפְּרֵ֑הוּ1
- וַֽ֝יַּחְפְּרֻ֗הוּ1
- וַיַּחְפְּר֥וּ1
- וַֽיַּחְפְּרוּ֙1
- וַיַּחְפְּר֧וּ1
and 8 more spellings in the ledger below.
The grammar of each form
- verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common plural4HVqp3cp
- Hc/Vqw3mp3Hc/Vqw3mp
- Hc/Vqq2ms2Hc/Vqq2ms
- Hc/Vqw3ms2Hc/Vqw3ms
- preposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)2HR/Vqcc
- HC/Vqu3mp1HC/Vqu3mp
- Hc/Vqw1cs1Hc/Vqw1cs
- Hc/Vqw3mp/Sp3ms1Hc/Vqw3mp/Sp3ms
- Hc/Vqw3ms/Sp3ms1Hc/Vqw3ms/Sp3ms
- verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine plural1HVqi3mp
- verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singular1HVqp1cs
- verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common plural + pronoun suffix · 3rd person feminine singular1HVqp3cp/Sp3fs
Genesis
eight uses
He replied, “You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand as my witness that I dug this well.”
- חָפַ֖רְתִּיchafartiverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: I dug
So the Philistines took dirt and stopped up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham.
- חָֽפְרוּ֙chaferuverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common pluraltagged: they had dug
Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. And he gave these wells the same names his father had given them.
- וַיַּחְפֹּ֣ר׀vaiyachporHc/Vqw3mstagged: and he dug
- חָֽפְרוּ֙chaferuverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common pluraltagged: people had dug
Then Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found a well of fresh water there.
- וַיַּחְפְּר֥וּvaiyachperuHc/Vqw3mptagged: and they dug
Then they dug another well and quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah.
- וַֽיַּחְפְּרוּ֙vaiyachperuHc/Vqw3mptagged: and they dug
He moved on from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Rehoboth and said, “At last the LORD has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”
- וַיַּחְפֹּר֙vaiyachporHc/Vqw3mstagged: and he dug
On that same day, Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. “We have found water!” they told him.
- חָפָ֑רוּchafaruverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common pluraltagged: they had dug
Exodus
one use
So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink the water from the river.
- וַיַּחְפְּר֧וּvaiyachperuHc/Vqw3mptagged: and they dug
Numbers
one use
The princes dug the well; the nobles of the people hollowed it out with their scepters and with their staffs.” From the wilderness the Israelites went on to Mattanah,
- חֲפָר֣וּהָchafaruhaverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common plural + pronoun suffix · 3rd person feminine singulartagged: they dug it
Deuteronomy
two uses
Then all of you approached me and said, “Let us send men ahead of us to search out the land and bring us word of what route to follow and which cities to enter.”
- וְיַחְפְּרוּ־veyachperu-HC/Vqu3mptagged: so they may spy out
And you must have a digging tool in your equipment so that when you relieve yourself you can dig a hole and cover up your excrement.
- וְחָפַרְתָּ֣הvechafartahHc/Vqq2mstagged: and you will dig
Joshua
two uses
And it was reported to the king of Jericho: “Behold, some men of Israel have come here tonight to spy out the land.”
- לַחְפֹּ֥רlachporpreposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to spy out
So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab and said, “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, for they have come to spy out the whole land.”
- לַחְפֹּ֥רlachporpreposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to spy out
Job
four uses
who long for death that does not come, and search for it like hidden treasure,
- וַֽ֝יַּחְפְּרֻ֗הוּvaiyachperuhuHc/Vqw3mp/Sp3mstagged: and they dug for it
You will be secure, because there is hope, and you will look around and lie down in safety.
- וְ֝חָפַרְתָּ֗vechafartaHc/Vqq2mstagged: and you will be well protected
He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; he charges into battle.
- יַחְפְּר֣וּyachperuverb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine pluraltagged: they paw
From there he spies out food; his eyes see it from afar.
- חָֽפַר־chafar-verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: it spies out
Psalms
two uses
He has dug a hole and hollowed it out; he has fallen into a pit of his own making.
- וַֽיַּחְפְּרֵ֑הוּvaiyachperehuHc/Vqw3ms/Sp3mstagged: and he has dug it
For without cause they laid their net for me; without reason they dug a pit for my soul.
- חָפְר֥וּchaferuverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common pluraltagged: they have dug
Ecclesiastes
one use
He who digs a pit may fall into it, and he who breaches a wall may be bitten by a snake.
- חֹפֵ֥רchoferverb · simple (qal), participle · masculine singulartagged: digs
Jeremiah
one use
So I went to Perath and dug up the loincloth, and I took it from the place where I had hidden it. But now it was ruined—of no use at all.
- וָאֶחְפֹּ֗רvaechporHc/Vqw1cstagged: and I dug
Where it leads
How the numbers are counted
Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.
Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.
The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.