Grow With Me
Grow With Me

דָּרַשׁ

darash · seek, inquire

Hebrew word · Strong’s number H1875 · appears 164 times in the Bible

What is the Strong number?Strong’s number identifies this word: use it to find the same word in other study tools.

What it means

darash (דָּרַשׁ) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “seek, inquire”.

Seek earnestly; inquire; require an account. Turned toward God, consult him or seek him.

How to say it

da·rash

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

  1. To pursue something earnestly, or care for it.
  2. To turn to YHWH to ask him, pray to him.
  3. To investigate, or hold to account.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To seek earnestly; to inquire, to require an account; directed toward God, to consult him or seek him. BDB: properly to tread or frequent; usually to follow (for pursuit or search); by implication, to seek or ask; specifically, to worship.

Historical and cultural background

1 Samuel 9:9 explains a custom: formerly in Israel, the one who went “to inquire of Elohim” said “Come, let us go to the seer”, for “the prophet of today was formerly called the seer”.

How we translate it

“Seek” 55 times, “consult” 23, “sought” 21, “inquire” 16, “I will require” 6, “let myself be consulted” 5… It is “inquire” or “consult” when YHWH or a prophet is asked, “seek” when it is turning to him, and “require” when something is demanded. With the land, “cares for”.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

  • seek ×55
  • consult ×23
  • sought ×21
  • inquire ×16
  • I will require ×6
  • seeks ×6
  • let myself be consulted ×5
  • inquired ×3
  • seeking ×3
  • who seeks ×3
  • others ×23

Related words

Words that come from it

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

  • Genesis 9:5

    And surely your blood, for your lives, I will require; from the hand of every animal I will require it, and from the hand of the human being, from the hand of each one for his brother, I will require the life of the human being.

  • Genesis 25:22

    The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If so, why me?” So she went to inquire of YHWH.

  • Genesis 42:22

    Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do not sin against the child’? But you did not listen. And look, his blood too is being required.”

  • Exodus 18:15

    Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of Elohim.

  • Leviticus 10:16

    Moses searched diligently for the goat of the sin offering, and look, it had been burned; and he was angry with Eleazar and with Ithamar, the remaining sons of Aaron, saying,

  • Deuteronomy 4:29

    But from there you will seek YHWH your Elohim, and you will find him, if you search for him with all your heart and with all your soul.

  • Deuteronomy 11:12

    a land that YHWH your Elohim cares for; the eyes of YHWH your Elohim are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

  • Deuteronomy 12:5

    But you shall seek the place that YHWH your Elohim chooses out of all your tribes to put his name there for his dwelling, and you shall go there.

  • Deuteronomy 12:30

    guard yourself so that you are not snared into following them after they have been destroyed before you, and so that you do not seek their gods, saying, “How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.”

  • Deuteronomy 13:14

    then you shall seek and investigate and ask thoroughly. And look, if it is true and the matter certain, that this abomination has been done among you,

  • Deuteronomy 17:4

    and it is told to you and you hear of it, then you shall seek thoroughly. And look, if it is true and the matter certain, that this abomination has been done in Israel,

  • Deuteronomy 17:9

    And you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge who is in those days, and you shall inquire, and they shall announce to you the word of judgment.

  • Deuteronomy 18:11

    or a charmer casting spells, or one who consults those who call up the dead, or a spiritist, or one who seeks the dead.

  • Deuteronomy 18:19

    And the man who does not listen to my words that he speaks in my name, I will require it of him.

  • Deuteronomy 19:18

    And the judges shall inquire thoroughly, and look, if the witness is a false witness, if he has testified falsely against his brother,

  • Deuteronomy 22:2

    And if your brother is not near you, or you do not know him, then you shall gather it into your house, and it shall be with you until your brother seeks it, and you shall return it to him.

  • Deuteronomy 23:6

    You shall not seek their peace or their good all your days, forever.

  • Deuteronomy 23:21

    When you make a vow to YHWH your Elohim, you shall not delay to pay it, for YHWH your Elohim will surely require it of you, and it will be sin in you.

  • Judges 6:29

    They said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” They inquired and searched, and they said, “Gideon son of Joash has done this thing.”

  • 1 Samuel 9:9

    (Formerly in Israel, this is what a man said when he went to inquire of Elohim: “Come, let us go to the seer”; for the prophet of today was formerly called the seer.)

  • 1 Samuel 28:7

    Saul said to his servants, “Seek for me a woman who calls up the dead, that I may go to her and consult through her.” His servants said to him, “Look, there is a woman who calls up the dead at Endor.”

  • 2 Samuel 11:3

    David sent and inquired about the woman, and someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

  • 1 Kings 14:5

    But YHWH had said to Ahijah, “Look, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to seek a word from you about her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus you shall speak to her. And it will be, when she comes in, that she will be pretending to be another woman.”

  • 1 Kings 22:5

    Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire today for the word of YHWH.”

  • 1 Kings 22:7

    Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here still a prophet of YHWH, that we may inquire through him?”

  • 1 Kings 22:8

    The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man through whom to inquire of YHWH, but I hate him, for he does not prophesy good about me, but evil: Micaiah son of Imlah.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.”

  • 2 Kings 1:2

    Ahaziah fell through the lattice of his upper room that was in Samaria and became sick. He sent messengers and said to them, “Go, consult Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will live through this sickness.”

  • 2 Kings 1:3

    But the angel of YHWH spoke to Elijah the Tishbite, “Get up, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no Elohim in Israel that you are going to consult Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’

  • 2 Kings 1:6

    They said to him, “A man came up to meet us and said to us, ‘Go, return to the king who sent you and speak to him, “Thus says YHWH, ‘Is it because there is no Elohim in Israel that you are sending to consult Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore from the bed to which you have gone up you will not come down, but you will surely die.’”’”

  • 2 Kings 1:16

    He spoke to him, “Thus says YHWH, ‘Because you sent messengers to consult Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no Elohim in Israel to consult his word? Therefore from the bed to which you have gone up you will not come down, but you will surely die.’”

  • 2 Kings 3:11

    Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here a prophet of YHWH, that we may consult YHWH through him?” One of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said, “Elisha son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.”

  • 2 Kings 8:8

    The king said to Hazael, “Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of Elohim, and consult YHWH through him, saying, ‘Will I live through this sickness?’”

  • 2 Kings 22:13

    “Go, consult YHWH for me and for the people and for all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the fury of YHWH that is kindled against us, because our fathers did not listen to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”

  • 2 Kings 22:18

    But to the king of Judah, who sent you to consult YHWH, thus you shall say to him: Thus says YHWH, the Elohim of Israel: As for the words that you have heard,

  • 1 Chronicles 10:13

    So Saul died for his unfaithfulness that he committed against YHWH, because of the word of YHWH that he did not keep, and also for asking by calling up the dead, to consult,

  • 1 Chronicles 10:14

    and he did not consult YHWH; and he put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.

  • 1 Chronicles 13:3

    and let us bring back the ark of our Elohim to us, for we did not consult it in the days of Saul.”

  • 1 Chronicles 15:13

    Because the first time it was not you, YHWH our Elohim made a breach in us, for we did not consult him according to the rule.”

  • 1 Chronicles 16:11

    Seek YHWH and his strength; seek his face continually.

  • 1 Chronicles 21:30

    but David could not go before it to consult Elohim, for he was terrified because of the sword of the angel of YHWH.

And 124 more times.