דָבַר
da.var (H1696G)
to speak: speak
AI Word Study
# דָבַר (dabar): The Primary Hebrew Word for Speaking The Hebrew verb *dabar* is among the most frequently used words in the Hebrew Bible, appearing 1,058 times across biblical texts. Its core meaning is straightforward: "to speak." This high frequency of occurrence reflects the word's fundamental role in biblical communication and narrative, serving as the primary verbal expression for how humans and God convey thoughts, commands, and messages to one another. While the lexicon entry provides the essential definition, the sheer number of occurrences suggests that *dabar* functions across a wide range of contexts and registers. With over one thousand instances, this verb appears in diverse situations—from everyday conversation to formal declarations, divine pronouncements to legal testimonies. This breadth of usage indicates that *dabar* is not limited to casual speech but encompasses the full spectrum of utterance in biblical Hebrew, making it foundational to understanding how the biblical writers represented communication as a central human and divine activity. The prominence of *dabar* in biblical literature underscores the importance of speech itself in the Hebrew biblical worldview. By relying on this single verb so consistently across nearly every book, biblical writers established speaking as a primary means through which relationships are formed, commands are issued, narratives are advanced, and meaning is conveyed.
AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.
God spoke to Noah, saying,
So Abram went, as Yahweh had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
She called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees,” for she said, “Have I even stayed alive after seeing him?”
When he finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.
Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house, and all who were bought with his money: every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the same day, as God had said to him.
I will get a piece of bread so you can refresh your heart. After that you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant.” They said, “Very well, do as you have said.”
Abraham answered, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, although I am dust and ashes.
He spoke to him yet again, and said, “What if there are forty found there?” He said, “I will not do it for the forty’s sake.”
He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?” He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
He said, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. What if there are twenty found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the twenty’s sake.”
He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake.”
Yahweh went his way, as soon as he had finished communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.
Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up! Get out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city!” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking.
He said to him, “Behold, I have granted your request concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.
Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ear. The men were very scared.
Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
Abraham rose up from before his dead and spoke to the children of Heth, saying,
He talked with them, saying, “If you agree that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar,
He spoke to Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, “But if you will, please hear me. I will give the price of the field. Take it from me, and I will bury my dead there.”
Yahweh, the God of heaven—who took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my birth, who spoke to me, and who swore to me, saying, ‘I will give this land to your offspring—he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there.
Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher on her shoulder.
When he saw the ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, “This is what the man said to me,” he came to the man. Behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring.
Food was set before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told my message.” Laban said, “Speak on.”
Before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her pitcher on her shoulder. She went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’
Then Laban and Bethuel answered, “The thing proceeds from Yahweh. We can’t speak to you bad or good.
Behold, Rebekah is before you. Take her, and go, and let her be your master’s son’s wife, as Yahweh has spoken.”
Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.
Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, “Behold, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother, saying,
Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done what you asked me to do. Please arise, sit and eat of my venison, that your soul may bless me.”
While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she kept them.
God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad.”
It is in the power of my hand to hurt you, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad.’
He commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the herds, saying, “This is how you shall speak to Esau, when you find him.
His soul joined to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young lady, and spoke kindly to the young lady.
Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to talk with him.
Hamor talked with them, saying, “The soul of my son, Shechem, longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.
The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit when they spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister,
Hamor and Shechem, his son, came to the gate of their city, and talked with the men of their city, saying,
God went up from him in the place where he spoke with him.
Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it.
Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him “Bethel”.
His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and couldn’t speak peaceably to him.
As she spoke to Joseph day by day, he didn’t listen to her, to lie by her, or to be with her.
She spoke to him according to these words, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought to us, came in to me to mock me,
When his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, “This is what your servant did to me,” his wrath was kindled.
Then the chief cup bearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, “I remember my faults today.
Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, “In my dream, behold, I stood on the brink of the river;
That is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do.
Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized them, but acted like a stranger to them, and spoke roughly with them. He said to them, “Where did you come from?” They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”
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