סֵפֶר
sefer · writing, book
Hebrew word · Strong’s number H5612 · appears 186 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
sefer (סֵפֶר) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “writing, book”.
Writing, document, book (in ancient times, a scroll).
How to say it
se·fer
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
- A scroll of skin or papyrus on which law, history or a record is written.
- A writing sent to someone with a message or an order, like a king's letter.
- An official paper, like one granting divorce.
- Knowing how to read; learning.
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)
Word study
A writing: a book, a letter, a document; also the art of writing. BDB: properly writing (the art or a document); by implication, a book.
- A book: “Write this as a memorial in a book” Exodus 17:14Joshua 1:8
- The book of the law found in the temple 2 Kings 22:8
- A letter 2 Samuel 11:14
- A legal document: of divorce Deuteronomy 24:1
- “The book of the living” Psalms 69:28
Historical and cultural background
Deuteronomy 24:1 orders that whoever sends away his wife “writes for her a document of divorce and puts {it} in her hand and sends her away from his house”.
How we translate it
“Book” 134 times, “books” 2, “letters” 20, “letter” 12, “deed” 7, “document” 4, “writing” 2, “scroll” 2… The context calls for each form: “letter” when it is sent to someone, “deed” or “document” in a legal act, “writing” when it is the art of writing (Daniel 1:4).
How it is translated
The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.
- book ×134
- letters ×20
- letter ×12
- deed ×7
- document ×4
- books ×2
- deeds ×2
- scroll ×2
- writing ×2
- certificate ×1
Where it appears
- Genesis×1
- Exodus×4
- Numbers×2
- Deuteronomy×11
- Joshua×7
- 1 Samuel×1
- 2 Samuel×3
- 1 Kings×16
- 2 Kings×44
- 1 Chronicles×1
- 2 Chronicles×23
- Nehemiah×9
- Esther×11
- Job×2
- Psalms×4
- Ecclesiastes×1
- Isaiah×12
- Jeremiah×26
- Ezekiel×1
- Daniel×5
- Nahum×1
- Malachi×1
- Genesis 5:1
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that Elohim created the human being, in the likeness of Elohim he made him.
- Exodus 17:14
YHWH said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book, and put it in the hearing of Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”
- Exodus 24:7
Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, “All that YHWH has spoken we will do, and we will listen.”
- Exodus 32:32
But now, if you will forgive their sin… and if not, blot me out, please, from your book that you have written.”
- Exodus 32:33
And YHWH said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, him I will blot out from my book.
- Numbers 5:23
And the priest shall write these imprecations in a scroll and wipe them off into the water of bitterness.
- Numbers 21:14
Therefore it is said in the book of the Wars of YHWH: “Waheb in Suphah, and the brooks of the Arnon,
- Deuteronomy 17:18
And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this instruction in a book, from the one that is before the priests, the Levites.
- Deuteronomy 24:1
When a man takes a woman and becomes her husband, and it happens, if she does not find favor in his eyes because he has found in her a nakedness of something, and he writes for her a document of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her away from his house,
- Deuteronomy 24:3
and the latter man hates her and writes for her a document of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her away from his house, or if the latter man who took her to himself as a wife dies,
- Deuteronomy 28:58
If you do not take care to do all the words of this instruction that are written in this book, to fear this glorious and awesome name, YHWH your Elohim,
- Deuteronomy 28:61
Also every sickness and every blow that is not written in the book of this instruction, YHWH will bring them up on you until you are destroyed.
- Deuteronomy 29:20
YHWH will not be willing to forgive him, for then the anger of YHWH and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and every oath of imprecation written in this book will settle on him, and YHWH will blot out his name from under the heavens.
- Deuteronomy 29:21
And YHWH will single him out for evil from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the oaths of imprecation of the covenant written in this book of the instruction.
- Deuteronomy 29:27
So the anger of YHWH burned against that land, to bring on it all the curse written in this book.
- Deuteronomy 30:10
if you listen to the voice of YHWH your Elohim, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this book of the instruction, if you return to YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul.
- Deuteronomy 31:24
And it happened, when Moses had finished writing the words of this instruction in a book to the end,
- Deuteronomy 31:26
“Take this book of the instruction and put it beside the ark of the covenant of YHWH your Elohim, and it shall be there as a witness against you.
- Joshua 1:8
This book of the instruction shall not depart from your mouth, and you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosper, and then you will act wisely.
- Joshua 8:31
just as Moses the servant of YHWH had commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the instruction of Moses: an altar of whole stones, on which no iron had been lifted. And they offered up on it burnt offerings to YHWH, and sacrificed peace offerings.
- Joshua 8:34
And afterward he read all the words of the instruction, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the instruction.
- Joshua 10:13
And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on its enemies. Is it not written in the book of the Upright? The sun stopped in the middle of the heavens and did not hurry to go down for about a whole day.
- Joshua 18:9
And the men went and passed through the land and wrote it by cities in seven portions in a book; and they came to Joshua, to the camp, at Shiloh.
- Joshua 23:6
And be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the instruction of Moses, not turning aside from it to the right or to the left,
- Joshua 24:26
And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the instruction of Elohim; and he took a great stone and set it up there under the oak that was in the sanctuary of YHWH.
- 1 Samuel 10:25
Then Samuel told the people the right of the kingship, and he wrote it in the scroll and laid it before YHWH. And Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his house.
- 2 Samuel 1:18
and he said to teach the sons of Judah the song of the Bow. Look, it is written in the Book of the Upright:
- 2 Samuel 11:14
And it happened in the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
- 2 Samuel 11:15
He wrote in the letter, saying, “Put Uriah in front of the fiercest battle, and withdraw from behind him, so that he is struck and dies.”
- 1 Kings 11:41
And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?
- 1 Kings 14:19
The rest of the deeds of Jeroboam, how he fought and how he reigned, are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.
- 1 Kings 14:29
The rest of the deeds of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
- 1 Kings 15:7
The rest of the deeds of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.
- 1 Kings 15:23
The rest of all the deeds of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Only in the time of his old age he became diseased in his feet.
- 1 Kings 15:31
The rest of the deeds of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
- 1 Kings 16:5
The rest of the deeds of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
- 1 Kings 16:14
The rest of the deeds of Elah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
- 1 Kings 16:20
The rest of the deeds of Zimri, and his conspiracy that he conspired, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
- 1 Kings 16:27
The rest of the deeds of Omri, what he did, and his might that he showed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
- 1 Kings 21:8
She wrote letters in the name of Ahab, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, who lived with Naboth.
And 146 more times.