חָרַשׁ
cha.rash (H2790A)
to plow/plot
AI Word Study
# חָרַשׁ (Charash): Plowing and Plotting The Hebrew verb חָרַשׁ (charash) carries the primary meaning "to plow," referring to the fundamental agricultural practice of turning soil for cultivation. With 27 occurrences in the biblical text, this word appears frequently enough to represent a significant concept in ancient Israelite life. The term encompasses both the literal physical action of working the land and related agricultural activities, anchoring it in the practical, material world of farming communities for whom plowing was essential to survival. The lexical data indicates the word has an extended semantic range beyond simple agricultural labor, as suggested by the alternative definition "to plot." This expansion from physical action to figurative meaning suggests that biblical writers employed the imagery of plowing to represent scheming or planning—activities involving deliberate, methodical effort similar to the careful work of turning soil. This metaphorical extension demonstrates how ancient Hebrew drew linguistic connections between observable, concrete activities and abstract mental processes. The consistent presence of this term across 27 biblical passages reflects its cultural importance in an agrarian society where plowing was not merely one activity among many but central to economic survival and daily life. The word's dual potential—both literal and figurative—made it a versatile tool for biblical communication, allowing writers to describe both agricultural necessity and cunning human intention within a single linguistic framework.
AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.
Zillah also gave birth to Tubal Cain, the forger of every cutting instrument of bronze and iron. Tubal Cain’s sister was Naamah.
You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.
The men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” He said to them, “If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, you wouldn’t have found out my riddle.”
He will appoint them to him for captains of thousands, and captains of fifties; and he will assign some to plow his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and the instruments of his chariots.
David knew that Saul was devising mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.”
He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill, to work all works in bronze. He came to king Solomon, and performed all his work.
So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. Elijah went over to him, and put his mantle on him.
that there came a messenger to Job, and said, “The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them,
According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity, and sow trouble, reap the same.
The plowers plowed on my back. They made their furrows long.
Don’t devise evil against your neighbor, since he dwells securely by you.
in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who always sows discord.
a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief,
Deceit is in the heart of those who plot evil, but joy comes to the promoters of peace.
Don’t they go astray who plot evil? But love and faithfulness belong to those who plan good.
The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter; therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing.
Does he who plows to sow plow continually? Does he keep turning the soil and breaking the clods?
“The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond. It is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of your altars.
“Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “ ‘Zion will be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.’
Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh; so I will put a yoke on her beautiful neck. I will set a rider on Ephraim. Judah will plow. Jacob will break his clods.
You have plowed wickedness. You have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, for you trusted in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men.
Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness;
“Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the one treading grapes him who sows seed; and sweet wine will drip from the mountains, and flow from the hills.
Therefore Zion for your sake will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the mountain of the temple like the high places of a forest.