machar · sell

What it means

machar (מָכַר) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “sell”.

Figuratively, hand someone over.

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 give something or someone to another in exchange for payment.
2. To hand someone over to another, above all YHWH handing his people over to their enemies.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To sell; figuratively, to hand someone over into another's power. Of the same root is מִמְכָּר, “sale”.

• Esau sells his birthright Genesis 25:33
• Joseph sold by his brothers Genesis 37:28
• Laws of sale: persons and land Exodus 21:16Leviticus 25:23Ruth 4:3
• YHWH “sold them into the hand of their enemies” Judges 2:14
• The prophets against those who sell the poor Amos 2:6Joel 3:3

Historical and cultural background

Leviticus 25:23 gives the reason why the land is not sold forever: “for the land {is} mine; for you {are} resident aliens and temporary residents with me”.

How we translate it

“Sold” 40 times, “sell” 20, “sells” 10, “seller” 3, “selling” 3. מָכַר בְּיַד is ‘sell into the hand of’ in Judges and Samuel, keeping the image of the text (Judges 2:14).

How it is translated

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

• sold ×40
• sell ×20
• sells ×10
• seller ×3
• selling ×3
• sellers ×2
• you shall certainly not ×1
• you will offer yourselves for sale ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×10
• Exodus×6
• Leviticus×16
• Deuteronomy×7
• Judges×5
• Ruth×1
• 1 Samuel×1
• 1 Kings×2
• 2 Kings×2
• Nehemiah×7
• Esther×2
• Psalms×2
• Proverbs×2
• Isaiah×4
• Jeremiah×1
• Ezekiel×4
• Joel×5
• Amos×1
• Nahum×1
• Zechariah×1

• Genesis 25:31

  Jacob said, “Sell me today your birthright.”

• Genesis 25:33

  Jacob said, “Swear to me today.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.

• Genesis 31:15

  Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he sold us, and he has also completely eaten up our silver.

• Genesis 37:27

  Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be on him, for he is our brother, our flesh.” And his brothers listened.

• Genesis 37:28

  Then Midianite men, traders, passed by; and they drew and lifted Joseph out of the cistern and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver; and they brought Joseph to Egypt.

• Genesis 37:36

  Meanwhile the Medanites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh, the chief of the guard.

• Genesis 45:4

  Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. He said, “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.

• Genesis 45:5

  And now, do not be distressed, and do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for to preserve life Elohim sent me before you.

• Genesis 47:20

  So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians sold each man his field, because the famine was strong upon them; and the land became Pharaoh’s.

• Genesis 47:22

  Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they ate their allotment that Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land.

• Exodus 21:7

  When a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves go out.

• Exodus 21:8

  If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master, who had designated her for himself, he shall let her be ransomed; he shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt treacherously with her.

• Exodus 21:16

  Whoever steals a man, whether he sells him or he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death.

• Exodus 21:35

  When a man's ox hurts the ox of his neighbor and it dies, they shall sell the live ox and divide its silver, and the dead ox they shall also divide.

• Exodus 22:1

  When a man steals an ox or a lamb and slaughters it or sells it, he shall repay five cattle for the ox and four sheep for the lamb.

• Exodus 22:3

  if the sun has risen on him, there is bloodguilt for him. He shall surely repay; if he has nothing, he shall be sold for his theft.

• Leviticus 25:14

  And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from the hand of your neighbor, you shall not take advantage of one another.

• Leviticus 25:15

  According to the number of years after the jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor; according to the number of years of harvests he shall sell to you.

• Leviticus 25:16

  The more the years, the more you shall increase its price, and the fewer the years, the more you shall decrease its price; for it is a number of harvests that he is selling to you.

• Leviticus 25:23

  And the land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are resident aliens and temporary residents with me.

• Leviticus 25:25

  If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his possession, then his redeemer, the one who is near to him, shall come and redeem what his brother sold.

• Leviticus 25:27

  he shall calculate the years since his sale and give back the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, and he shall return to his possession.

• Leviticus 25:29

  And if a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, his redemption shall last until a year from his sale is complete; for a full year shall his redemption last.

• Leviticus 25:34

  But the field of the pastureland of their cities shall not be sold, for it is an eternal possession for them.

• Leviticus 25:39

  And if your brother becomes poor with you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve the service of a slave.

• Leviticus 25:42

  For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as a slave is sold.

• Leviticus 25:47

  And if the hand of a resident alien or a temporary resident with you prospers, and your brother becomes poor beside him and sells himself to the resident alien, the temporary resident with you, or to a descendant of the clan of a resident alien,

• Leviticus 25:48

  after he has sold himself he shall have redemption; one of his brothers may redeem him,

• Leviticus 25:50

  And he shall calculate with the one who bought him from the year he sold himself to him until the year of jubilee, and the silver of his sale shall be according to the number of years; as the days of a hired worker it shall be with him.

• Leviticus 27:20

  But if he does not redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed anymore.

• Leviticus 27:27

  And if it is among the unclean beasts, he shall ransom it according to its valuation and add a fifth of it to it; and if it is not redeemed, it shall be sold according to its valuation.

• Leviticus 27:28

  But nothing completely devoted that a man completely devotes to YHWH of all that he has, whether human being or beast or field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to YHWH.

• Deuteronomy 14:21

  You shall not eat any carcass; to the resident alien who is within your gates you may give it, and he may eat it, or sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people to YHWH your Elohim. You shall not boil a young goat in the milk of its mother.

• Deuteronomy 15:12

  If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.

• Deuteronomy 21:14

  And if you are not pleased with her, you shall let her go wherever she wishes; but you shall certainly not sell her for silver; you shall not treat her as a slave, because you have humiliated her.

• Deuteronomy 24:7

  If a man is found stealing a person from his brothers, from the sons of Israel, and he treats him as a slave and sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall remove the evil from your midst.

• Deuteronomy 28:68

  And YHWH will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, “You shall never see it again.” And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male slaves and female slaves, and there will be no buyer.

• Deuteronomy 32:30

  How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and YHWH had handed them over?

• Judges 2:14

  The anger of YHWH burned against Israel, and he gave them into the hand of plunderers, who plundered them; and he sold them into the hand of their enemies all around, and they could no longer stand before their enemies.

• Judges 3:8

  The anger of YHWH burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim; and the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.

And 40 more times.