Midvash

דָּבָרdâbâr

speech, word

Pronunciation: daw-baw' · Hebrew/Aramaic (Old Testament) · H1697

Meanings

I. speech, discourse, saying, word, as the sum of that which is spoken

1. of men

a. discreet in speech, speech of lips (1 Samuel 16:18; Psalms 59:13; Isaiah 36:5)

b. word of command, royal edict (1 Chronicles 21:4; 1 Chronicles 21:6; Esther 1:12)

c. message, report, tidings (Exodus 33:4; 1 Kings 20:12; 1 Kings 10:6)

e. request (2 Samuel 14:15; 2 Samuel 14:22)

f. promise (Numbers 30:3; Nehemiah 5:13)

g. charge, complaint (Deuteronomy 22:20; Deuteronomy 13:15; Deuteronomy 17:4)

h. decision, sentence (Deuteronomy 17:9; Deuteronomy 17:10; Deuteronomy 17:11)

i. theme, story (Psalms 45:2; Job 41:4)

2. word of God, as a divine communication in the form of commandments, prophecy, and words of help to his people

a. then the word of Yahweh came unto, unto me a word was brought by stealth (1 Samuel 15:10; 2 Samuel 7:4; 1 Chronicles 17:3)

b. thy word, holy word (Deuteronomy 9:5; 1 Samuel 1:23; 1 Kings 2:4)

II. saying, utterance, sentence, as a section of a discourse

1. of men

a. a word in due season, words of the song (Proverbs 15:23; Job 4:2; Proverbs 12:25)

b. title of writings (Ecclesiastes 1:1; Proverbs 30:1; Proverbs 31:1)

c. name of a work, acts (2 Chronicles 33:18; 2 Chronicles 33:19; 2 Chronicles 12:15)

2. of God (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13; Deuteronomy 10:4)

III. a word, words

1. of men (Genesis 11:1; Psalms 19:4; Exodus 4:10)

2. of God, It is difficult to determine how many of the following should come under II.2 (Genesis 20:8; Exodus 19:6; Numbers 12:6)

matter, affair, thing about which one speaks

1. business, occupation (1 Samuel 21:9; 1 Chronicles 26:32; 1 Chronicles 27:1)

2. acts (1 Kings 11:41; 1 Chronicles 29:29; 2 Chronicles 12:15)

3. matter, affair (1 Kings 15:5; Job 19:28; 1 Samuel 4:16)

4. events, things (Genesis 15:1; Genesis 22:1; Genesis 40:1)

5. cause, case for judicial investigation (Exodus 18:16; Exodus 18:22; Exodus 22:8)

6. something, anything, (indefinite) (Genesis 22:16; Isaiah 42:16; Genesis 18:14)

7. way, manner (Deuteronomy 15:2; Esther 1:13; Genesis 18:25)

8. reason, cause (1 Kings 9:15; Joshua 5:4; 1 Kings 11:27)

Same root

Where it appears

Appears 1,441 times in the Bible.

  • Genesis 11:1 At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words.
  • Genesis 12:17 But the Lord sent terrible plagues upon Pharaoh and his household because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
  • Genesis 15:1 Some time later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.”
  • Genesis 15:4 Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.”
  • Genesis 18:14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
  • Genesis 18:25 Surely you wouldn’t do such a thing, destroying the righteous along with the wicked. Why, you would be treating the righteous and the wicked exactly the same! Surely you wouldn’t do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”
See every passage

Source: Brown, Driver and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain; markup by unfoldingWord, CC BY (github.com/unfoldingWord/Brown-Driver-Briggs-Enhanced).