כֹּפֶרkôpher
כֹּפֶר: the price of a life, ransom
Pronunciation: ko'-fer · Hebrew/Aramaic (Old Testament) · H3724
Meanings
1. a price for ransom of a life (Job 33:24; Job 36:18; Exodus 21:30)
2. a half shekel of the sanctuary paid by each male above twenty years at the census (Exodus 30:12)
כֹּ֫פֶר: pitch (Genesis 6:14)
כֹּ֫פֶר: name of a plant (Song of Solomon 1:14; Song of Solomon 4:13)
כֹּפֶר: village (1 Samuel 6:18)
Same root
Where it appears
Appears 17 times in the Bible.
- Genesis 6:14 “Build a large boat from cypress wood and waterproof it with tar, inside and out. Then construct decks and stalls throughout its interior.
- Exodus 21:30 However, the dead person’s relatives may accept payment to compensate for the loss of life. The owner of the ox may redeem his life by paying whatever is demanded.
- Exodus 30:12 “Whenever you take a census of the people of Israel, each man who is counted must pay a ransom for himself to the Lord. Then no plague will strike the people as you count them.
- Numbers 35:31 Also, you must never accept a ransom payment for the life of someone judged guilty of murder and subject to execution; murderers must always be put to death.
- Numbers 35:32 And never accept a ransom payment from someone who has fled to a city of refuge, allowing a slayer to return to his property before the death of the high priest.
- 1 Samuel 6:18 The five gold rats represented the five Philistine towns and their surrounding villages, which were controlled by the five rulers. The large rock at Beth-shemesh, where they set the Ark of the Lord, still stands in the field of Joshua as a witness to what happened there.
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).