Biblica Analytica

כָּתַב

ka.tav (H3789)

to write

224 verses 25 books OT 212 / NT 0
AI Word Study

# כָּתַב (katav): The Hebrew Word for Writing The Hebrew verb כָּתַב (katav) appears 224 times throughout the Hebrew Bible and carries the fundamental meaning "to write." This frequency establishes writing as a significant action in biblical texts, reflecting the importance of recorded communication in ancient Israelite culture. The word's prevalence across the biblical corpus indicates that writing was not merely a peripheral activity but a central practice worthy of repeated mention and documentation. Based on the lexical data provided, katav functions as a straightforward action verb denoting the physical or intentional act of inscribing text. With 224 occurrences spanning the full range of biblical literature, the word demonstrates consistent semantic stability—it maintained its core meaning of "to write" across different genres, time periods, and contexts within the biblical tradition. This consistency suggests the term was a standard, recognizable vocabulary item that ancient audiences would have understood without ambiguity. The sheer number of times katav appears in scripture underscores how central the written word was to biblical culture. Whether recording laws, preserving prophecies, documenting history, or communicating messages, the act of writing represented a deliberate attempt to make language permanent and transmissible. The word's ubiquity reflects a civilization that valued the power of written communication to establish authority, preserve memory, and convey divine instruction across generations.

AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.

Exodus 17:14

Yahweh said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky.”

Exodus 24:4

Moses wrote all Yahweh’s words, then rose up early in the morning and built an altar at the base of the mountain, with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.

Exodus 24:12

Yahweh said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay here, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commands that I have written, that you may teach them.”

Exodus 31:18

When he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave Moses the two tablets of the covenant, stone tablets, written with God’s finger.

Exodus 32:15

Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand; tablets that were written on both their sides. They were written on one side and on the other.

Exodus 32:32

Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.”

Exodus 34:1

Yahweh said to Moses, “Chisel two stone tablets like the first. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

Exodus 34:27

Yahweh said to Moses, “Write these words; for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

Exodus 34:28

He was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

Exodus 39:30

They made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote on it an inscription, like the engravings of a signet: “HOLY TO YAHWEH”.

Numbers 5:23

“ ‘The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall wipe them into the water of bitterness.

Numbers 11:26

But two men remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad; and the Spirit rested on them. They were of those who were written, but had not gone out to the Tent; and they prophesied in the camp.

Numbers 17:2

“Speak to the children of Israel, and take rods from them, one for each fathers’ house, of all their princes according to their fathers’ houses, twelve rods. Write each man’s name on his rod.

Numbers 17:3

You shall write Aaron’s name on Levi’s rod. There shall be one rod for each head of their fathers’ houses.

Numbers 33:2

Moses wrote the starting points of their journeys by the commandment of Yahweh. These are their journeys according to their starting points.

Deuteronomy 4:13

He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten commandments. He wrote them on two stone tablets.

Deuteronomy 5:22

Yahweh spoke these words to all your assembly on the mountain out of the middle of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice. He added no more. He wrote them on two stone tablets, and gave them to me.

Deuteronomy 6:9

You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 9:10

Yahweh delivered to me the two stone tablets written with God’s finger. On them were all the words which Yahweh spoke with you on the mountain out of the middle of the fire in the day of the assembly.

Deuteronomy 10:2

I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.”

Deuteronomy 10:4

He wrote on the tablets, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which Yahweh spoke to you on the mountain out of the middle of the fire in the day of the assembly; and Yahweh gave them to me.

Deuteronomy 11:20

You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates;

Deuteronomy 17:18

It shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write himself a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the Levitical priests.

Deuteronomy 24:1

When a man takes a wife and marries her, then it shall be, if she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a certificate of divorce, put it in her hand, and send her out of his house.

Deuteronomy 24:3

If the latter husband hates her, and write her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; or if the latter husband dies, who took her to be his wife;

Deuteronomy 27:3

You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have passed over, that you may go in to the land which Yahweh your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you.

Deuteronomy 27:8

You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly.”

Deuteronomy 28:58

If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, YAHWEH your God,

Deuteronomy 28:61

Also every sickness and every plague which is not written in the book of this law, Yahweh will bring them on you until you are destroyed.

Deuteronomy 29:20

Yahweh will not pardon him, but then Yahweh’s anger and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book will fall on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under the sky.

Deuteronomy 29:21

Yahweh will set him apart for evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the law.

Deuteronomy 29:27

Therefore Yahweh’s anger burned against this land, to bring on it all the curses that are written in this book.

Deuteronomy 30:10

if you will obey Yahweh your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law; if you turn to Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 31:9

Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, and to all the elders of Israel.

Deuteronomy 31:19

“Now therefore write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.

Deuteronomy 31:22

So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel.

Deuteronomy 31:24

When Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished,

Joshua 1:8

This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.

Joshua 8:31

as Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of uncut stones, on which no one had lifted up any iron. They offered burnt offerings on it to Yahweh and sacrificed peace offerings.

Joshua 8:32

He wrote there on the stones a copy of Moses’ law, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel.

Joshua 8:34

Afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law.

Joshua 10:13

The sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation had avenged themselves of their enemies. Isn’t this written in the book of Jashar? The sun stayed in the middle of the sky, and didn’t hurry to go down about a whole day.

Joshua 18:4

Appoint for yourselves three men from each tribe. I will send them, and they shall arise, walk through the land, and describe it according to their inheritance; then they shall come to me.

Joshua 18:6

You shall survey the land into seven parts, and bring the description here to me; and I will cast lots for you here before Yahweh our God.

Joshua 18:8

The men arose and went. Joshua commanded those who went to survey the land, saying, “Go walk through the land, survey it, and come again to me. I will cast lots for you here before Yahweh in Shiloh.”

Joshua 18:9

The men went and passed through the land, and surveyed it by cities into seven portions in a book. They came to Joshua to the camp at Shiloh.

Joshua 23:6

“Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that you not turn away from it to the right hand or to the left;

Joshua 24:26

Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of Yahweh.

Judges 8:14

He caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him; and he described for him the princes of Succoth, and its elders, seventy-seven men.

1 Samuel 10:25

Then Samuel told the people the regulations of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before Yahweh. Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house.

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