תּוּר
tur (H8446)
to spy
AI Word Study
# The Hebrew Word תּוּר (tur): "To Spy" The Hebrew verb תּוּר (tur) carries the primary meaning "to spy," denoting the act of surveying or reconnoitering territory, typically to gather intelligence. Appearing 24 times throughout the biblical text, this word refers to deliberate observation missions undertaken to assess conditions, resources, or military situations. The verb describes a purposeful, often covert examination rather than casual looking, suggesting both intentionality and strategic motivation behind the action. The word's usage reflects practical scenarios of reconnaissance in biblical narrative contexts. While the lexicon data provided does not detail specific occurrences, the relatively modest frequency of the term (24 instances) indicates it served as a specialized vocabulary item for particular military or exploratory contexts rather than everyday observation. The word's consistency in meaning across its biblical appearances suggests it functioned as a straightforward descriptor of a recognized activity—sending individuals to examine territory before military campaigns or settlement decisions. This verb represents an important semantic category in biblical Hebrew, distinguishing between general seeing and the specific strategic activity of intelligence-gathering. Its presence in the biblical text reflects the practical realities of ancient Near Eastern military and settlement practices, where advance surveying of land was a recognized necessity before major undertakings.
AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.
They set forward from the Mount of Yahweh three days’ journey. The ark of Yahweh’s covenant went before them three days’ journey, to seek out a resting place for them.
“Send men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers, you shall send a man, every one a prince among them.”
These are the names of the men who Moses sent to spy out the land. Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.
Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up this way by the South, and go up into the hill country.
So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath.
They returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days.
They brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out to the children of Israel, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eats up its inhabitants; and all the people who we saw in it are men of great stature.
Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes.
They spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.
After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you will know my alienation.’
The men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing up an evil report against the land,
But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land.
It shall be to you for a fringe, that you may see it, and remember all Yahweh’s commandments, and do them; and that you don’t follow your own heart and your own eyes, after which you used to play the prostitute;
who went before you on the way, to seek out a place for you to pitch your tents in: in fire by night, to show you by what way you should go, and in the cloud by day.
The house of Joseph sent to spy out Bethel. (The name of the city before that was Luz.)
in addition to that which the traders brought, and the traffic of the merchants, and of all the kings of the mixed people, and of the governors of the country.
in addition to that which the traders and merchants brought. All the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.
The range of the mountains is his pasture, He searches after every green thing.
A righteous person is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.
I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky. It is a heavy burden that God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.
I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold of folly, until I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their lives.
I turned around, and my heart sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness.
in that day I swore to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands.