kavar · bury

What it means

kavar (קָבַר) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “bury”.

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 lay a dead body in the ground or in a tomb.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To bury. From the same root comes קֶבֶר, “grave” (H6913).

• Abraham buys a burial place for Sarah Genesis 23:4Genesis 23:6
• Sons bury their fathers Genesis 25:9Genesis 50:13
• “Bury me with my fathers” Genesis 49:29
• The burial of Moses Deuteronomy 34:6
• “Lay down with his fathers and was buried” 1 Kings 2:10
• Left unburied: a punishment Jeremiah 8:2

Historical and cultural background

Genesis 23 tells how Abraham, “a resident alien and a guest”, buys the cave of Machpelah to have “a possession for a grave”; Isaac and Jacob are later buried there (Genesis 25:9; 49:29-31; 50:13). Of Moses, Deuteronomy 34:6 says that “no man has known his burial place to this day”.

How we translate it

“Bury” 35 times, “buried” 31, “they buried” 31, “was buried” 31, “burying” 4, “gravediggers” 1. English keeps “bury” throughout, both in the narratives and where the prophet announces that the dead “will not be gathered or buried” (Jeremiah 8:2).

How it is translated

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

• bury ×35
• buried ×31
• they buried ×31
• was buried ×31
• burying ×4
• gravediggers ×1

Where it appears

• Genesis×28
• Numbers×3
• Deuteronomy×4
• Joshua×3
• Judges×9
• Ruth×1
• 1 Samuel×3
• 2 Samuel×7
• 1 Kings×18
• 2 Kings×19
• 1 Chronicles×1
• 2 Chronicles×17
• Job×1
• Psalms×1
• Ecclesiastes×1
• Jeremiah×10
• Ezekiel×6
• Hosea×1

• Genesis 15:15

  As for you, you will go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.

• Genesis 23:4

  “I am a resident alien and a guest among you. Give me a possession for a grave among you, so that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

• Genesis 23:6

  “Hear us, my lord: you are a chief of Elohim among us. In the choicest of our graves bury your dead. No one of us will withhold his grave from you for burying your dead.”

• Genesis 23:8

  He spoke with them, saying, “If it is your will that I bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and intercede for me with Ephron son of Zohar,

• Genesis 23:11

  “No, my lord, hear me: the field I give you, and the cave that is in it I give it to you. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you; bury your dead.”

• Genesis 23:13

  and he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “If only you would hear me! I give the silver for the field; take it from me, and let me bury my dead there.”

• Genesis 23:15

  “My lord, hear me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, between me and you, what is that? So bury your dead.”

• Genesis 23:19

  After this Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah facing Mamre, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan.

• Genesis 25:9

  His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, which is facing Mamre,

• Genesis 25:10

  the field that Abraham had bought from the sons of Heth. There Abraham was buried, and Sarah his wife.

• Genesis 35:8

  Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried below Bethel under the oak; so he called its name Allon-bacuth.

• Genesis 35:19

  So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

• Genesis 35:29

  Isaac breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days; and Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him.

• Genesis 47:29

  The days of Israel drew near to die, and he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal with me in loyal love and faithfulness: please do not bury me in Egypt.

• Genesis 47:30

  When I lie down with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.” He said, “I will do as you have said.”

• Genesis 48:7

  As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died on me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath, that is Bethlehem.”

• Genesis 49:29

  He commanded them and said to them, “I am about to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

• Genesis 49:31

  There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

• Genesis 50:5

  ‘My father made me swear, saying, “Look, I am about to die; in my tomb that I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” Now therefore please let me go up and bury my father, and I will return.’”

• Genesis 50:6

  Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”

• Genesis 50:7

  So Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,

• Genesis 50:13

  his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, the field that Abraham bought as a possession for a burial place from Ephron the Hittite, facing Mamre.

• Genesis 50:14

  Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.

• Numbers 11:34

  And the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had felt the desire.

• Numbers 20:1

  And the sons of Israel, the whole community, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there and was buried there.

• Numbers 33:4

  while the Egyptians were burying those whom YHWH had struck among them, every firstborn; and on their gods YHWH had executed judgments.

• Deuteronomy 10:6

  (The sons of Israel set out from the wells of Bene-jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried, and Eleazar his son served as priest in his place.

• Deuteronomy 21:23

  his corpse shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on that day, for one who is hanged is a curse of Elohim; and you shall not make unclean your ground that YHWH your Elohim is giving you as an inheritance.

• Deuteronomy 34:6

  And he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; and no man has known his burial place to this day.

• Joshua 24:30

  And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

• Joshua 24:32

  And the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel had brought up from Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in the plot of the field that Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred qesitahs; and it became the inheritance of the sons of Joseph.

• Joshua 24:33

  And Eleazar son of Aaron died, and they buried him at the hill of Phinehas his son, which had been given to him in the hill country of Ephraim.

• Judges 2:9

  They buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

• Judges 8:32

  Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

• Judges 10:2

  He judged Israel twenty-three years; then he died and was buried in Shamir.

• Judges 10:5

  Jair died and was buried in Kamon.

• Judges 12:7

  Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

• Judges 12:10

  And Ibzan died and was buried in Bethlehem.

• Judges 12:12

  And Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

• Judges 12:15

  And Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

And 93 more times.