חָקַר
to search
also: search for, search out, examine, investigate fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Qal verb in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”). Here: ‘search’
- Niphal
- Usually the simple passive or reflexive of the Qal (“he was written”).
- Piel
- An intensive or resultative active stem.
Form
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
- Cohortative
- A first-person volitional form expressing wish or resolve (“let me / let us write”).
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Person
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Grammatical forms 17 distinct
- Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct 5 times (19%)
- Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 3 times (11%)
- Verb, Niphal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 times (7%)
- Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 2 times (7%)
- Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 times (7%)
- Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular 2 times (7%)
- Verb, Niphal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural 1 time (4%)
- Verb, Piel, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 time (4%)
+9 more forms (9 occurrences)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (morphhb / Westminster Leningrad Codex — WLC text public domain, morphhb tagging CC BY 4.0), counted across 27 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where H2713 appears — 26 distinct verses across 14 books. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Deuteronomy 1 verse
Judges 1 verse
1 Samuel 1 verse
2 Samuel 1 verse
1 Kings 1 verse
1 Chronicles 1 verse
2 Chronicles 1 verse
Job 6 verses
- Job 5:27 חֲקַרְנ֥וּ/הָ Qal pf 1cp + sfx pers 3fs Look this, we have searched it, so it is; Hear it, and know it for your good."
- Job 13:9 יַחְקֹ֣ר Qal impf 3ms Is it good that he should search you out? Or as one deceives a man, will you deceive him?
- Job 28:3 חוֹקֵ֑ר Qal ptcp.act ms Man sets an end to darkness, And searches out, to the furthest bound, The stones of obscurity and of thick darkness.
- Job 28:27 חֲקָרָֽ/הּ Qal pf 3ms + sfx pers 3fs Then did he see it, and declare it. He established it, yes, and searched it out.
- Job 29:16 אֶחְקְרֵֽ/הוּ Qal impf 1cs + sfx pers 3ms I was a father to the needy. The cause of him who I didn't know, I searched out.
- Job 32:11 תַּחְקְר֥וּ/ן Qal impf 2mp + sfx n "Behold, I waited for your words, And I listened for your reasoning, While you searched out what to say.
Psalms 3 verses
- Psalms 44:21 יַֽחֲקָר Qal impf 3ms Won't God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart.
- Psalms 139:1 חֲ֝קַרְתַּ֗/נִי Qal pf 2ms + sfx pers 1cs Yahweh, you have searched me, And you know me.
- Psalms 139:23 חָקְרֵ֣/נִי Qal impv 2ms + sfx pers 1cs Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.
Proverbs 4 verses
- Proverbs 18:17 וַ/חֲקָרֽ/וֹ conj + Qal pf 3ms + sfx pers 3ms He who pleads his cause first seems right; Until another comes and questions him.
- Proverbs 23:30 לַ/חְקֹ֥ר prep + Qal inf.cs Those who stay long at the wine; Those who go to seek out mixed wine.
- Proverbs 25:2 חֲקֹ֣ר Qal inf.cs It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.
- Proverbs 28:11 יַחְקְרֶֽ/נּוּ Qal impf 3ms + sfx pers 3ms The rich man is wise in his own eyes; But the poor who has understanding sees through him.
Ecclesiastes 1 verse
Jeremiah 3 verses
- Jeremiah 17:10 חֹקֵ֥ר Qal ptcp.act ms I, Yahweh, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.
- Jeremiah 31:37 וְ/יֵחָקְר֥וּ conj + Niphal impf 3mp Thus says Yahweh: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then will I also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 46:23 יֵֽחָקֵ֑ר Niphal impf 3ms They shall cut down her forest, says Yahweh, though it can't be searched; because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable.
Lamentations 1 verse
Ezekiel 1 verse
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
חקר (châqar) is a Hebrew verb most often rendered “to search.” It first appears in Deuteronomy 13:14. It turns up in 26 verses across 14 books, a moderately common footprint. The verb spans 3 stems, from Qal to Niphal. From the same root come חקר and מחקר. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H2713 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 26
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 26 distinct verses.
- 14 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 14 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #1,226
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 1,226 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 26 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 26 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 17 verses · 65%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 8 verses · 31%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 1 verse · 4%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Search 5×
- American Standard Version: Search 3×, Could not be found out 2×, Searcheth him out 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Explore 3×, Be determined 2×, Searched out 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Explore 2×, Search out 2×, Was 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H2713 across 27 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 22 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H2713 across 27 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 20 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H2713 across 26 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 19 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H2713 across 29 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 23 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
8 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB
Hebrew verbs can shift meaning by stem (binyan): Qal is the basic action, Niphal is often passive or reflexive, Piel often intensifies or makes it factitive, and Hiphil is typically causative. The senses below are grouped under the stem BDB assigns to each.
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 8 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
Qal
- Pf. 3 ms. sf. וַחֲקָרוֹ consec. Pr 18:17; חֲקָרָהּ Jb 28:27; וְחָֽקַרְתָּ֫ Dt 13:15 etc.; Impf. יַחְקֹר Jb 13:19; יַחֲקָר־ ψ 44:22; יַחְקְרֶנּוּ Pr 28:11; אֶחְקֹר 1 S 20:12; תַּחְקְרוּן Jb 32:11; נַחְקֹ֑רָה La 3:40 etc.; Imv. חָקְרֵנִי ψ 139:23; חִקְרוּ Ju 18:2; Inf. חֲקֹר 2 S 10:3 + 2 times; לַחְקוֹר Pr 23:30; לְחָקְרָהּ Ju 18:2;— e.g. Proverbs 18:17
- 1. search (for), sq. acc. Pr 23:30; Jb 32:11; abs. וְדָרַשְׁתָּ֫ וְחָקַרְתָּ֫ וְשָׁאַלְתָּ֫ הֵיטֵיב Dt 13:15; lit. Ez 39:14 (i.e. for bones unburied). e.g. Proverbs 23:30
- 2.
- a. search through, explore, lit., obj. הארץ Ju 18:2 (‖ רַגֵּל) v 2, 1 Ch 19:3 (‖ id.); city העיר 2 S 10:3 (‖ id.), of mining Jb 28:3; search out a subject or matter Jb 5:27; 28:27; Pr 25:2 ψ 44:22. e.g. Judges 18:2
- b. search a man, find out his sentiments (AV sound him) 1 S 20:12. e.g. 1 Samuel 20:12
- c. of י׳ searching man, c. acc. ψ 139:1 (‖ ידע), v 23 (‖ id.) Jb 13:9, cf. Je 17:10 (obj. לֵב). e.g. Psalms 139:1
- d. of examining thoroughly, so as to expose weakness in a case Jb 29:16; Pr 18:17, cf. 28:11; so of self-examination ח׳ דרכים La 3:40 (‖ חפשׂ). e.g. Job 29:16
Niphal
- Pf. נֶחְקַר 1 K 7:47; 2 Ch 4:18; Impf. יֵחָקֵר Je 46:23; יֵחָֽקְרוּ Je 31:37 be searched out, found out, ascertained, 1 K 7:47; 2 Ch 4:18 (weight of the bronze used in temple utensils), of forest Je 46:23; searched out, Je 31:37 subj. מוסדי־ארץ. e.g. 1 Kings 7:47
Piel
- Pf. חִקֵּר Ec 12:9 he sought out many proverbs (מְשָׁלִים; ‖ אִזֵּן). e.g. Ecclesiastes 12:9
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
vb. search (NH id., Niph. pass., Aramaic חֲקַר)—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: a primitive root
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
חָקַר
- (b. h.) to go around, to espy, to examine; esp. to cross-examine, v. חֲקִירָה. Ab. I, 9 הוי מרבה לַחְקוֹר וכ׳ cross-examine witnesses as much as possible. Snh. 40ᵇ מדהוי ליה … חָקוֹר תַּחְקוֹר the text might have read (for emphasis) thou shalt diligently inquire, or thou shalt diligently investigate (instead of the unusual phrase ודרשת היטב, Deut. XVII, 4); a. e. e.g. Deuteronomy 17:4
- to be investigated, examined. Koh. R. to I, 16 הלב נ׳ the heart is examined (by the Lord). R. Hash. III, 1 נֶחְקְרוּ העדים when the evidence was closed. Tosef. Snh. VI, 4 עד שתֵּחָקֵר עדותן וכ׳ until their examination in court has been closed; נֶחְקְרָה עדותן וכ׳ after it has been closed, they cannot retract. Ib. 5; a. fr.
חֲקַר
- Targ. II Sam. X, 3. Targ. Ps. CXXXIX, 23; a. e.
חֵקֶר
- preced.) search.—אין (להם) ח׳ unsearchable, innumerable. Num. R. s. 19; Tanḥ. Ḥuck. 20.
חָקָר
- , constr. חָקַר m. (preced. wds.) examiner. Targ. Jer. XVII, 10.
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 26 distinct written forms H2713 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H2713, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derived from this word
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 23 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 26 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Deuteronomy 13:14
- Judges 18:2
- 1 Samuel 20:12
- 2 Samuel 10:3
- 1 Kings 7:47
- 1 Chronicles 19:3
- 2 Chronicles 4:18
- Job 5:27
- Psalms 139:1
- Proverbs 18:17
- Ecclesiastes 12:9
- Jeremiah 17:10
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
