מָכַר
to sell
‘to sell’ is one of 2 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Niphal
- Usually the simple passive or reflexive of the Qal (“he was written”).
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”).
- Hithpael
- The reflexive or reciprocal stem (the subject acts on itself).
Form
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
- Infinitive Absolute
- An unbound verbal noun, often intensifying or standing in for a finite verb.
- Cohortative
- A first-person volitional form expressing wish or resolve (“let me / let us write”).
- Participle Passive
- A verbal adjective expressing action received (“written”).
- Jussive
- A third- or second-person volitional form expressing wish or command (“let him write”).
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Person
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Every verse where H4376 appears in the Book of Ruth — 1 distinct verse. 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.
Ruth
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.
מכר (mâkar) is a Hebrew verb most often rendered “to sell.” Debuting at Genesis 25:31, it then recurs through the corpus. With 74 verses in 20 books, it is a moderately common word in the Hebrew Bible. As a verb its force shifts by stem, across 3 stems (Qal, Niphal, and more). From the same root come מכר, ממכר and מכיר. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H4376 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 →
- 74
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 74 distinct verses.
- 20 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 20 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #501
- by frequency
- Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 501 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 74 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 74 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 38 verses · 51%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 25 verses · 34%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 11 verses · 15%
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: Sell 9×, Sold 7×, He sold 6×
- American Standard Version: Sell 7×, Sold 7×, He sold 5×
- Berean Standard Bible: Sell 7×, Sold 6×, Sells 4×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Sell 6×, Be sold 4×, Shall 4×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H4376 across 80 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 41 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 H4376 across 80 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 42 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 H4376 across 79 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 39 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 H4376 across 91 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 40 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
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. This entry also uses Hithpael (reflexive or reciprocal).
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 3 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. מ׳ Lv 27:20 + 2 times; sf. מְכָרוֹ Ex 21:37 + 2 times; 1 s. מָכַרְתִּי Is 50:1 + 2 times, etc.; Impf. יִמְכֹּר Ex 21:7 +, etc.; Imv. מִכְרָ֫ה Gn 25:31; fs. מִכְרִי 2 K 4:7; Inf. abs. מָכֹר Dt 14:21; 21:14; cstr. מְכוֹר Ne 10:32; sf. מָכְרָהּ Ex 21:8; מִכְרָם Am 2:6 Ne 13:15 (cf. BaNB 104); Pt. מֹכֵר (מוֹכֵר) Lv 25:16 + 3 times; f. מֹכֶרֶת Na 3:4, etc.;—sell (c. בְּ pret. Am 2:6 Jo 4:3 ψ 44:13) sq. acc. e.g. land Gn 47:20, 22 (J), Lv 25:14 (acc. cogn.), v 25 (H; sq. מֵאֲחֻזָּתוֹ) cf. Ez 48:14 (sq. מִן partit.), Lv 25:15 (no obj. expr.), so v 27; 27:20 (H), Ru 4:3; house Lv 25:29 (H); beast Ex 21:35, 37 (E); flesh Dt 14:21 (no obj.); crop Lv 25:16 (H); food Ne 10:32; 13:15, 16, cf. v 20 (sq. מִמְכָר); oil 2 K 4:7; linen Pr 31:24; birthright Gn 25:31, 33 (J); most often human beings, e.g. as slaves Gn 37:27, 28, 36; 45:4, 5 (all JE), Ex 21:16 (E), Dt 21:14(×2); 24:7, cf. Am 2:6 Ne 5:8 Zc 11:5 Jo 4:3, 6, 7, 8(×2); especially daughters Ex 21:7, 8 (E); in marriage Gn 31:15 (E); Pt. = seller Is 24:2 Ez 7:12, 13; fig., obj. truth Pr 23:23; of Nineveh, selling nations גּוֹיִם Na 3:4; especially י׳ selling his people (to enemies), i.e. giving it entirely into their power: Dt 32:30 ψ 44:13 Is 50:1, also (מ׳ בְּיַד) Ju 2:14; 3:8; 4:2; 10:7; 1 S 12:9; cf. Ju 4:9 (Sisera to woman); also Ez 30:12 (del. Co after B al.) e.g. Leviticus 27:20
Niphal
- Pf. נִמְכַּר Lv 25:48 + 5 times, etc.; Impf. יִמָּכֵר Lv 25:34 + 3 times, etc.; Inf. הִמָּֽכְרוֹ Lv 25:20; Pt. pl. נִמְכָּרִים Ne 5:8;—be sold, of land Lv 25:23, 34; beast Lv 27:27; cf. v 28 (all P); of human beings as slaves Ex 22:2; for (בְּ) theft (E), Lv 25:42 (P), ψ 105:17 Est 7:4; sell oneself Lv 25:39, 47, 48, 50 (PH), Dt 15:12 Je 34:14 Ne 5:8(×2); fig. of Isr., sold by י׳, Is 50:1 for (בְּ) their sins, 52:3; cf. Est 7:4 = given over to death. e.g. Leviticus 25:48
Hithpael
- Pf. הִתְמַכֵּר 1 K 21:25; וְהִתְמַכַּרְתֶּם consec. Dt. 28:68; וַיִּתְמַכְּרוּ 2 K 17:17; Inf. הִתְמַכֶּרְךָ 1 K 21:20; sell oneself as slave Dt 28:68; fig. 1 K 21:20, 25 2 K 17:17, all sq. לַעֲשׂוֹת הָרַע. e.g. 1 Kings 21:25
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. sell (NH id.; Ph. מכר; Zinj. מכרו price, DHMSendsch. 60; Aramaic ܡܟܰܪ, מְכַר marry (i.e. buy as a wife); cf. Assyrian makkûru, namkur(r)u, nakkuru, possession, property, DlHWB 408);—
— 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.
מָכַר
- to sell. Sifré Deut. 169 (ref. to Deut. XVIII, 8) מה מָכְרוּ וכ׳ what have the fathers sold to one another? (Answ. the weekly turns); Succ. 56ᵃ; Y. ib. V, end, 55ᵈ. B. Bath. 64ᵇ, a. fr. מוֹכֵר בעין יפה מוכר the seller is presumed to sell liberally, i.e. to sell all except that which is specified as excluded; מ׳ בעיין רעה מ׳ he sells only that which is specified as sold. Ib. IV, 1 …המוכר … לא מ׳ וכ׳ if one sells …, he has not implicitly sold &c. Sot. III, 8 אין האשה מוֹכֶרֶת וכ׳ a woman cannot sell her daughter; a. v. fr.—Part. pass. מָכוּר; f. מְכוּרָה; pl. מְכוּרִים מְכוּרִין; מְכוּרוֹת. Tosef. Ab. Zar. III (IV), 18 הרי זה מ׳ he is sold (the sale is valid). B. Bath. IV, 3. Tosef. B. Kam. VII, 8 חביות המ׳ וכ׳ wine casks which have been sold to the shopkeeper (awaiting delivery); a. v. fr. e.g. Deuteronomy 18:8
- to be sold. Sot. l. c. האיש נ׳ … נִמְכֶּרֶת a man can be sold for his theft, but a woman cannot &c. Mekh. Mishp. s. 2; a. fr.
*מְכַר
- , Ithpa. אִתְמַכַּר (denom. of מַכָּר) to be made acquainted. Targ. Prov. XIX, 14 Var. ed. Lag. (ed. מתמסרא, v. מְסַר).
מֶכֶר
- sale. Kidd. 6ᵇ במ׳ לא קנה if the transaction is a sale (of land), he has not acquired possession (by delivering the purchasing money as a loan). Ib. 47ᵃ ושוין במ׳ and they agree in the case of a sale. Keth. XI, 4 מִכְרָהּ בטל her sale is invalid; a. fr.—V. מִמְכָּר.
מַכָּר
- acquaintance, friend. Y. Gitt. III, 45ᵃ ויש מ׳ לעני has the poor man a friend?, i.e., is he who separates the poor man’s tithes permitted to reserve them for a certain person?—Pl. מַכָּרִים, constr. מַכָּרֵי. Ib. במ׳ כהונה וכ׳ the Mishnah speaks of friends of priests or Levites (to whom the owner is in the habit of giving the priestly shares); Bab. Gitt. 30ᵃ. Ib. במ׳ לא קתני (sub. כהונה) the Mishnah does not distinctly speak of friends. Ḥull. 133ᵃ; a. fr.
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 75 distinct written forms H4376 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.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 15 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H4376, 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
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 5 — not the complete family. 2 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 65 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 74 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
- Genesis 25:31
- Exodus 21:7
- Leviticus 25:14
- Deuteronomy 14:21
- Judges 2:14
- Ruth 4:3
- 1 Samuel 12:9
- 1 Kings 21:20
- 2 Kings 4:7
- Esther 7:4
- Psalms 44:12
- Proverbs 31:24
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.
