tafas · seize, handle

What it means

tafas (תָּפַשׂ) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “seize, handle”.

Seize, take hold of, handle. Of an instrument, play it.

How to say it

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 grab or capture someone.
2. To handle an instrument or weapon with the hand.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To seize, grasp firmly; to capture in war; to handle something skillfully (an instrument, the instruction). In Proverbs 30:9 it is used for misusing God's name, profaning it.

• Seizing someone Genesis 39:121 Kings 18:401 Kings 13:4
• Capturing in war 1 Samuel 15:82 Kings 14:13
• Handling: playing an instrument, the instruction Genesis 4:21Jeremiah 2:8
• Being caught in the net Ezekiel 12:13
• Profaning the name of Elohim Proverbs 30:9

How we translate it

“Seized” 24 times, “seize” 4, “seize them” 4; “He captured” with a king (1 Samuel 15:8). In Genesis 4:21, “all who play the lyre”; in Jeremiah 2:8, “those who handle the instruction”; in Proverbs 30:9, “profane”; in Habakkuk 2:19, “it is overlaid” with gold.

How it is translated

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

• seized ×24
• Seize ×4
• seize them ×4
• who handle ×4
• grasp ×2
• he was caught ×2
• he will be caught ×2
• one who handles ×2
• He captured ×1
• She caught him ×1
• others ×19

Where it appears

• Genesis×2
• Numbers×2
• Deuteronomy×4
• Joshua×2
• 1 Samuel×2
• 1 Kings×6
• 2 Kings×8
• 2 Chronicles×1
• Psalms×2
• Proverbs×2
• Isaiah×2
• Jeremiah×18
• Ezekiel×12
• Amos×1
• Habakkuk×1

• Genesis 4:21

  And the name of his brother was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the lyre and the pipe.

• Genesis 39:12

  She caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and went outside.

• Numbers 5:13

  and a man lies with her with emission of semen, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she has made herself unclean in secret, and there is no witness against her, and she has not been caught,

• Numbers 31:27

  And you shall divide in half the plunder between those who took up the war, who went out to the army, and between the whole community.

• Deuteronomy 9:17

  So I seized the two tablets and threw them from my two hands and broke them before your eyes.

• Deuteronomy 20:19

  When you besiege a city many days, fighting against it to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them, for from them you may eat, and you shall not cut them down. Is the tree of the field a human being, to come before you in the siege?

• Deuteronomy 21:19

  then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his place,

• Deuteronomy 22:28

  If a man finds a young woman, a virgin who is not engaged, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are found,

• Joshua 8:8

  And it shall be, when you have captured the city, that you shall set the city on fire. According to the word of YHWH you shall do. See, I have commanded you.”

• Joshua 8:23

  But the king of Ai they captured alive and brought him to Joshua.

• 1 Samuel 15:8

  He captured Agag king of Amalek alive, and all the people he devoted to destruction with the edge of the sword.

• 1 Samuel 23:26

  Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. David was hurrying to get away from Saul, while Saul and his men were surrounding David and his men to capture them.

• 1 Kings 11:30

  And Ahijah grabbed the new cloak that was on him and tore it into twelve pieces.

• 1 Kings 13:4

  And it happened when the king heard the word of the man of Elohim, which he had cried out against the altar in Bethel, that Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” But his hand dried up, which he had stretched out against him, and he could not draw it back to himself.

• 1 Kings 18:40

  Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.” So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.

• 1 Kings 20:18

  He said, “If they have come out for peace, seize them alive; and if they have come out for war, alive seize them.”

• 2 Kings 7:12

  The king got up in the night and said to his servants, “Let me tell you what Aram has done to us. They know that we are hungry, and they have gone out of the camp to hide in the field, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we will seize them alive and get into the city.’”

• 2 Kings 10:14

  He said, “Seize them alive.” They seized them alive and slaughtered them at the pit of Beth-eked, forty two men, and he did not leave any of them.

• 2 Kings 14:7

  He struck Edom in the Valley of Salt, ten thousand, and seized Sela in battle, and called its name Joktheel, to this day.

• 2 Kings 14:13

  And Amaziah king of Judah, son of Joash son of Ahaziah, Joash king of Israel seized at Beth-shemesh; and he came to Jerusalem and made a breach in the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits.

• 2 Kings 16:9

  The king of Assyria listened to him; the king of Assyria went up to Damascus and seized it and carried it into exile to Kir, and Rezin he put to death.

• 2 Kings 18:13

  In year fourteen of King Hezekiah Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them.

• 2 Kings 25:6

  They seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they pronounced judgment against him.

• 2 Chronicles 25:23

  And Amaziah king of Judah, son of Joash son of Jehoahaz, Joash king of Israel seized at Beth-shemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem and made a breach in the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits.

• Psalms 10:2

  In his pride the wicked hotly pursues the afflicted; let them be caught in the plans that they have devised.

• Psalms 71:11

  saying, “Elohim has abandoned him; pursue and seize him, for there is no one to deliver.”

• Proverbs 30:9

  lest I be satisfied and deny you and say, “Who is YHWH?” and lest I become poor and steal and profane the name of my Elohim.

• Proverbs 30:28

  the lizard grasps with its hands, and it is in the palaces of the king.

• Isaiah 3:6

  When a man takes hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, “You have a cloak; you shall be ruler for us, and this ruin shall be under your hand,”

• Isaiah 36:1

  And it happened in year fourteen of King Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them.

• Jeremiah 2:8

  The priests did not say, ‘Where is YHWH?’ And those who handle the instruction did not know me, and the shepherds transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after what does not profit.

• Jeremiah 26:8

  And it happened, when Jeremiah finished speaking all that YHWH had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You shall surely die!

• Jeremiah 34:3

  And you will not escape from his hand, but you will surely be seized and into his hand you will be given; and your eyes will see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and his mouth will speak with your mouth, and to Babylon you will go.

• Jeremiah 37:13

  He was at the gate of Benjamin, and there was a captain of the guard whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah son of Hananiah; and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “To the Chaldeans you are deserting!”

• Jeremiah 37:14

  And Jeremiah said, “Falsehood! I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” But he did not listen to him, and Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the princes.

• Jeremiah 38:23

  And all your wives and your sons they will bring out to the Chaldeans, and you will not escape from their hand, for by the hand of the king of Babylon you will be seized, and this city you will burn with fire.”

• Jeremiah 40:10

  As for me, look, I am living at Mizpah to stand before the Chaldeans who come to us; but you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, and put them in your vessels, and live in your cities that you have taken.”

• Jeremiah 46:9

  Go up, horses! Rage, chariots! And let the mighty men go out: Cush and Put, who handle the shield, and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow.

• Jeremiah 48:41

  The towns are captured, and the strongholds are seized; and the heart of the mighty men of Moab will be in that day like the heart of a woman in distress.

• Jeremiah 49:16

  Your terror has deceived you, the insolence of your heart, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill. Though you make high like the eagle your nest, from there I will bring you down, declares YHWH.

And 25 more times.