lachad · capture, take

What it means

lachad (לָכַד) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “capture, take”.

Take, capture: seize a city or a person; also catch in a net or trap, or take by lot.

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 conquer a city or seize someone.
2. To be snared.
3. To be picked by lot.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To take, to capture: to seize a city or someone; to catch in a net or trap; and to be singled out by lot. BDB: to catch (in a net, trap or pit); generally, to capture or occupy; also to choose by lot.

• Taking a city Joshua 6:20Joshua 11:10
• David captures the stronghold of Zion 2 Samuel 5:7
• Capturing the enemy chiefs Judges 7:25
• Being “taken” by lot Joshua 7:141 Samuel 14:42
• Caught by one's own iniquities Proverbs 5:22

How we translate it

“Captured” 42 times, “took” 21, “caught” 16, “capture” 11, “taken” 8, “was taken” 8, “takes” 4… English says “capture” or “take” for a city and its people, “catch” for a net or a trap, and “take” when the lot singles someone out (with a note at Joshua 7:14); תָּפַשׂ is “seize”.

How it is translated

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

• captured ×42
• took ×21
• caught ×16
• capture ×11
• taken ×8
• was taken ×8
• takes ×4
• captures it ×2
• take ×2
• catch him ×1
• others ×6

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Numbers×4
• Deuteronomy×3
• Joshua×24
• Judges×14
• 1 Samuel×6
• 2 Samuel×7
• 1 Kings×2
• 2 Kings×4
• 1 Chronicles×2
• 2 Chronicles×8
• Nehemiah×1
• Job×4
• Psalms×3
• Proverbs×4
• Ecclesiastes×1
• Isaiah×4
• Jeremiah×22
• Lamentations×1
• Daniel×2
• Amos×3
• Habakkuk×1
• Zechariah×1

• Numbers 21:32

  And Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorite who were there.

• Numbers 32:39

  The sons of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead and took it and dispossessed the Amorite who was in it.

• Numbers 32:41

  Jair son of Manasseh went and took their villages, and he called them Havvoth-jair.

• Numbers 32:42

  Nobah went and took Kenath and its towns, and he called it Nobah, after his own name.

• Deuteronomy 2:34

  We captured all his cities at that time and devoted to destruction every city: men, women, and little ones; we left no survivor.

• Deuteronomy 2:35

  Only the livestock we took as plunder for ourselves, and the spoil of the cities that we had captured.

• Deuteronomy 3:4

  We captured all his cities at that time; there was not a town that we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

• Joshua 6:20

  So the people raised the acclamation, and they blew the horns. And it came about, when the people heard the sound of the horn, that the people raised a great acclamation, and the wall fell in its place; and the people went up into the city, each man straight ahead, and they took the city.

• Joshua 7:14

  In the morning you shall come near by your tribes, and it shall be that the tribe that YHWH takes shall come near by families, and the family that YHWH takes shall come near by households, and the household that YHWH takes shall come near man by man.

• Joshua 7:15

  And it shall be that the one who is taken with the things devoted to destruction shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of YHWH and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.’”

• Joshua 7:16

  Joshua rose early in the morning and had Israel come near by its tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken.

• Joshua 7:17

  He had the family of Judah come near, and he took the family of the Zerahite; and he had the family of the Zerahite come near man by man, and Zabdi was taken.

• Joshua 7:18

  He had his household come near man by man, and Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.

• Joshua 8:19

  And the ambush rose quickly from its place, and they ran as soon as he stretched out his hand, and entered the city and took it; and they hurried and set the city on fire.

• Joshua 8:21

  When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city was going up, they turned back and struck the men of Ai.

• Joshua 10:1

  And it came about, when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had taken Ai and devoted it to destruction —as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king— and that the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them,

• Joshua 10:28

  And Makkedah Joshua took on that day and struck it with the edge of the sword, and its king; he devoted to destruction them and every person who was in it; he left no survivor. And he did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.

• Joshua 10:32

  And YHWH gave Lachish into the hand of Israel, and he took it on the second day and struck it with the edge of the sword, and every person who was in it, according to all that he had done to Libnah.

• Joshua 10:35

  They took it on that day and struck it with the edge of the sword, and every person who was in it he devoted to destruction on that day, according to all that he had done to Lachish.

• Joshua 10:37

  They took it and struck it with the edge of the sword, and its king and all its cities and every person who was in it; he left no survivor, according to all that he had done to Eglon; and he devoted it to destruction and every person who was in it.

• Joshua 10:39

  He took it and its king and all its cities, and they struck them with the edge of the sword and devoted to destruction every person who was in it; he left no survivor. As he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir and to its king, and as he had done to Libnah and to its king.

• Joshua 10:42

  And all these kings and their land Joshua took at one time, because YHWH, the Elohim of Israel, fought for Israel.

• Joshua 11:10

  Joshua turned back at that time and took Hazor, and its king he struck with the sword; for Hazor formerly was the head of all these kingdoms.

• Joshua 11:12

  And all the cities of these kings and all their kings Joshua took, and he struck them with the edge of the sword; he devoted them to destruction, just as Moses the servant of YHWH had commanded.

• Joshua 11:17

  from Mount Halak, which goes up toward Seir, as far as Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. And all their kings he took and struck them and put them to death.

• Joshua 15:16

  And Caleb said, “Whoever strikes Kiriath-sepher and takes it, I will give to him Achsah my daughter as wife.”

• Joshua 15:17

  And Othniel son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it, and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife.

• Joshua 19:47

  And the territory of the sons of Dan slipped out of their hands; and the sons of Dan went up and fought against Leshem, and took it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and took possession of it and lived in it; and they called Leshem Dan, after the name of Dan their father.

• Judges 1:8

  The sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it, and they struck it with the edge of the sword, and the city they gave over to fire.

• Judges 1:12

  Caleb said, “Whoever strikes Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give him Achsah my daughter as wife.”

• Judges 1:13

  Othniel son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, younger than he, captured it, and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife.

• Judges 1:18

  Judah captured Gaza and its territory, Ashkelon and its territory, and Ekron and its territory.

• Judges 3:28

  He said to them, “Follow me, for YHWH has given your enemies, Moab, into your hand.” They went down after him, captured the fords of the Jordan toward Moab, and did not let anyone cross.

• Judges 7:24

  Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down to meet Midian and capture ahead of them the waters as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they captured the waters as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan.

• Judges 7:25

  They captured the two chiefs of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb. They pursued after Midian, and they brought the head of Oreb and of Zeeb to Gideon from beyond the Jordan.

• Judges 8:12

  Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and he threw into terror the whole camp.

• Judges 8:14

  He captured a young man of the men of Succoth and questioned him, and he wrote down for him the officials of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.

• Judges 9:45

  Abimelech fought against the city all that day; he captured the city and killed the people who were in it, and he tore down the city and sowed it with salt.

• Judges 9:50

  Abimelech went to Thebez, camped against Thebez, and captured it.

• Judges 12:5

  Gilead took the fords of the Jordan against Ephraim; and it would happen that when the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me cross,” the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” And he would say, “No.”

And 81 more times.