Hebrew verb (Aramaic) · H3790
כְּתַב
kethabketh-ab'
to write
8 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key
Concordance spelling: kᵉthab
Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H3790is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.
- 2 of 39Old Testament books
- 8spellings
The definition in full
Strong's key (1890) · H3790
{to grave, by implication, to write (describe, inscribe, prescribe, subscribe)}
The King James renders it: write(-ten).
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
kethab is rendered "to write". It stands 8 times in the Hebrew text, across two books.
- Four of the uses stand in Ezra, more than in any other book.
- Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Ezra 4:8Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote the letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows:
- The Greek text spells it eight different ways.
The first use
Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote the letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows:
Ezra 4:8כְּתַ֛בוּ
The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.
Where the word stands
What the word means
Each meaning, and the words it is translated by
How the Greek text is glossed, word by word
- he wrote2
- it was written2
- and writing1
- they wrote1
- we will write1
- writing1
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 8, in canonical order
Every use, in order
Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.
8 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
- וְכָֽתְבָן֙1
- כְתַ֔ב1
- כְּ֠תַב1
- כָתְבָֽה׃1
- כְּתַ֛בוּ1
- כְּתִ֣יב1
- כְּתִ֥יב1
- נִכְתֻּ֥ב1
The grammar of each form
- verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singular2AVqp3ms
- verb · passive (qal passive), participle · masculine singular2AVQrmsa
- conjunction (“and”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · feminine plural1AC/Vqrfpa
- verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 1st person common plural1AVqi1cp
- verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine plural1AVqp3mp
- verb · simple (qal), participle · feminine singular1AVqrfsa
Ezra
four uses
Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote the letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows:
- כְּתַ֛בוּketavuverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine pluraltagged: they wrote
The report they sent him read as follows: To King Darius: All peace.
- כְּתִ֣יבketivverb · passive (qal passive), participle · masculine singulartagged: it was written
We also asked for their names, so that we could write down the names of their leaders for your information.
- נִכְתֻּ֥בnikhtuvverb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 1st person common pluraltagged: we will write
And a scroll was found in the fortress of Ecbatana, in the province of Media, with the following written on it: Memorandum:
- כְּתִ֥יבketivverb · passive (qal passive), participle · masculine singulartagged: it was written
Daniel
four uses
At that moment the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. As the king watched the hand that was writing,
- וְכָֽתְבָן֙vekhatevanconjunction (“and”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · feminine pluraltagged: and writing
- כָתְבָֽה׃khatevahverb · simple (qal), participle · feminine singulartagged: writing
Then King Darius wrote to the people of every nation and language throughout the land: “May your prosperity abound.
- כְּ֠תַבketavverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he wrote
In the first year of the reign of Belshazzar over Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he lay on his bed. He wrote down the dream, and this is the summary of his account.
- כְתַ֔בkhetavverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he wrote
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.