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Hebrew verb · H8446

תּוּר

turtoor

to spy

24 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key

Concordance spelling: tûwr

Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H8446is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.

  • 9 of 39
    Old Testament books
  • 18
    spellings

The definition in full

Strong's key (1890) · H8446

to meander (causatively, guide) about, especially fortrade or reconnoitring

The King James renders it: chap(-man), sent to descry, be excellent, merchant(-man), search (out), seek, (e-) spy (out).

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

tur is rendered "to spy". It stands 24 times in the Hebrew text, across nine books.

  • Fourteen of the uses stand in Numbers, more than in any other book.
  • Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Numbers 10:33So they set out on a three-day journey from the mountain of the LORD, with the ark of the covenant of the LORD traveling ahead of them for those three days to seek a resting place for them.
  • The Greek text spells it eighteen different ways.

The first use

So they set out on a three-day journey from the mountain of the LORD, with the ark of the covenant of the LORD traveling ahead of them for those three days to seek a resting place for them.

Numbers 10:33לָת֥וּר

The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.

Where the word stands

Fourteen of the word's twenty-four uses are in Numbers.

The other 30 Old Testament books never use the word.

What the word means

Each meaning, and the words it is translated by

How the Greek text is glossed, word by word

  • to spy out6
  • the merchants2
  • to seek out2
  • and they caused to spy out1
  • and they spied out1
  • and to discover1
  • and to examine1
  • from spying out1
  • he makes a search1
  • I had selected1
  • I searched1
  • it explores1

and 5 more, 24 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.

תּוּשִׁיָּהtushiahwisdomUses12
תּוּבtubto return: returnUses8
תּוּגָהtugahgriefUses4

All 24, in canonical order

Every use, in order

Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.

18 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

  • לָת֣וּר4
  • לָת֥וּר3
  • תַּ֣רְתִּי2
  • הַתָּרִ֖ים1
  • הַתָּרִ֔ים1
  • הַתָּרִ֛ים1
  • וַיָּתִ֥ירוּ1
  • וְיָתֻ֙רוּ֙1
  • וַיָּתֻ֣רוּ1
  • וְלָתוּר֙1
  • וְלָת֔וּר1
  • יְת֣וּר1

and 6 more spellings in the ledger below.

The grammar of each form

  • preposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)9HR/Vqcc
  • the definite article (“the”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine plural3HTd/Vqrmpa
  • conjunction (“and”) + preposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)2HC/R/Vqcc
  • verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singular2HVqp1cs
  • Hc/Vhw3mp1Hc/Vhw3mp
  • HC/Vqu3mp1HC/Vqu3mp
  • Hc/Vqw3mp1Hc/Vqw3mp
  • verb · causative (hiphil), jussive (“let him”) · 3rd person masculine singular1HVhj3ms
  • verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine plural1HVqi2mp
  • verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine singular1HVqi3ms
  • verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 2nd person masculine plural1HVqp2mp
  • verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common plural1HVqp3cp

Numbers

fourteen uses
  • So they set out on a three-day journey from the mountain of the LORD, with the ark of the covenant of the LORD traveling ahead of them for those three days to seek a resting place for them.

    Numbers 10:33

    • לָת֥וּרlaturpreposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to seek out
  • “Send out for yourself men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each of their fathers’ tribes send one man who is a leader among them.”

    Numbers 13:2

    • וְיָתֻ֙רוּ֙veyaturuHC/Vqu3mptagged: so they may spy out
  • These were the names of the men Moses sent to spy out the land; and Moses gave to Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.

    Numbers 13:16

    • לָת֣וּרlaturpreposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to spy out
  • When Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he told them, “Go up through the Negev and into the hill country.

    Numbers 13:17

    • לָת֖וּרlaturpreposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to spy out
  • So they went up and spied out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo-hamath.

    Numbers 13:21

    • וַיָּתֻ֣רוּvaiyaturuHc/Vqw3mptagged: and they spied out
  • After forty days the men returned from spying out the land,

    Numbers 13:25

    • מִתּ֣וּרmiturpreposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: from spying out
  • So they gave the Israelites a bad report about the land that they had spied out: “The land we explored devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw there are great in stature.

    Numbers 13:32

    • תָּר֣וּtaruverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common pluraltagged: they had spied out
    • לָת֣וּרlaturpreposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to spy out
  • Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes

    Numbers 14:6

    • הַתָּרִ֖יםhatarimthe definite article (“the”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine pluraltagged: those spied out
  • and said to the whole congregation of Israel, “The land we passed through and explored is an exceedingly good land.

    Numbers 14:7

    • לָת֣וּרlaturpreposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to spy out
  • In keeping with the forty days you spied out the land, you shall bear your guilt forty years—a year for each day—and you will experience My alienation.

    Numbers 14:34

    • תַּרְתֶּ֣םtartemverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 2nd person masculine pluraltagged: you spied out
  • So the men Moses had sent to spy out the land, who had returned and made the whole congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report about the land—

    Numbers 14:36

    • לָת֣וּרlaturpreposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to spy out
  • Of those men who had gone to spy out the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive.

    Numbers 14:38

    • לָת֥וּרlaturpreposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to spy out
  • These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the commandments of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by following your own heart and your own eyes.

    Numbers 15:39

    • תָתֻ֜רוּtaturuverb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 2nd person masculine pluraltagged: you will go about

Deuteronomy

one use
  • who went before you on the journey, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day, to seek out a place for you to camp and to show you the road to travel.

    Deuteronomy 1:33

    • לָת֥וּרlaturpreposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: to seek out

Judges

one use
  • They sent spies to Bethel (formerly known as Luz),

    Judges 1:23

    • וַיָּתִ֥ירוּvaiyatiruHc/Vhw3mptagged: and they caused to spy out

1 Kings

one use
  • not including the revenue from the merchants, traders, and all the Arabian kings and governors of the land.

    1 Kings 10:15

    • הַתָּרִ֔יםhatarimthe definite article (“the”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine pluraltagged: the merchants

2 Chronicles

one use
  • not including the revenue from the merchants and traders. And all the Arabian kings and governors of the land also brought gold and silver to Solomon.

    2 Chronicles 9:14

    • הַתָּרִ֛יםhatarimthe definite article (“the”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine pluraltagged: the merchants

Job

one use
  • He roams the mountains for pasture, searching for any green thing.

    Job 39:8

    • יְת֣וּרyeturverb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: it explores

Proverbs

one use
  • A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the ways of the wicked lead them astray.

    Proverbs 12:26

    • יָתֵ֣רyaterverb · causative (hiphil), jussive (“let him”) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he makes a search

Ecclesiastes

three uses
  • And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them!

    Ecclesiastes 1:13

    • וְלָתוּר֙velaturconjunction (“and”) + preposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: and to discover
  • I sought to cheer my body with wine and to embrace folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—until I could see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.

    Ecclesiastes 2:3

    • תַּ֣רְתִּיtartiverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: I searched
  • I directed my mind to understand, to explore, to search out wisdom and explanations, and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the folly of madness.

    Ecclesiastes 7:25

    • וְלָת֔וּרvelaturconjunction (“and”) + preposition + verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: and to examine

Ezekiel

one use
  • On that day I swore to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands.

    Ezekiel 20:6

    • תַּ֣רְתִּיtartiverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: I had selected

The letters

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.

Hebrew and Greek text, word tagging and grammar: STEP Bible (www.STEPBible.org), Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0. Their grammar codes are written out in English here and shown as tagged beside each one.

Meaning and senses: STEP Bible TBESH gloss (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary key: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890, public domain). English verse text: Berean Standard Bible (public domain, 2023).

Revised 2026-09-05. Every cited work, the sources registry →