Midvash

סָפַרçâphar

סָפַר: recount, relate, probably ancient denominative from סֵפֶר

Pronunciation: saw-far' · Hebrew/Aramaic (Old Testament) · H5608

Meanings

Qal

1. count (Genesis 15:5; 2 Samuel 24:10; 2 Chronicles 2:16)

2. number, = take account of, carefully observe and consider, reckon (Job 14:16; Job 31:4; Job 38:37)

Niph`al: be counted, numbered (Hosea 2:1; 1 Kings 8:5; 2 Chronicles 5:6)

Pi`el: recount, rehearse, declare (Psalms 119:26; Psalms 119:13; Judges 6:13)

1. recount (Judges 6:13; Judges 7:13; Genesis 24:66)

2. talk, apparently, in weakened sense (Psalms 59:13; Psalms 64:6; Psalms 73:15)

3. count exactly, accurately (Psalms 22:18; Psalms 40:6; Job 38:37)

Pu`al: be recounted, related, rehearsed (Isaiah 52:15; Job 37:20; Psalms 22:31)

סֹפֵר: enumerator, muster-officer, secretary, scribe

1.

a. enumerator, muster-officer (Judges 5:14)

b. secretary, king's official = (2 Samuel 8:17; 2 Samuel 20:25; 1 Chronicles 18:16)

c. in Persia, secretaries who wrote out (king's) decrees (Esther 3:12; Esther 8:9)

d. man of learning (2 Chronicles 26:11; 1 Chronicles 2:55; 2 Chronicles 34:13)

2. professional class of learned men, 'scribes' able to read and write (Jeremiah 36:26; Jeremiah 36:32; Psalms 45:2)

3. specifically of Ezra, at once priest (כֹּהֵן) and learned in the law (סֹפֵר) (Ezra 7:11; Ezra 7:12; Ezra 7:21)

Same root

Where it appears

Appears 159 times in the Bible.

  • Genesis 15:5 Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”
  • Genesis 16:10 Then he added, “I will give you more descendants than you can count.”
  • Genesis 24:66 Then the servant told Isaac everything he had done.
  • Genesis 29:13 As soon as Laban heard that his nephew Jacob had arrived, he ran out to meet him. He embraced and kissed him and brought him home. When Jacob had told him his story,
  • Genesis 32:12 But you promised me, ‘I will surely treat you kindly, and I will multiply your descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore—too many to count.’”
  • Genesis 37:9 Soon Joseph had another dream, and again he told his brothers about it. “Listen, I have had another dream,” he said. “The sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed low before me!”
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).