zara · sow

What it means

zara (זָרַע) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “sow”.

Produce seed.

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 put seed in the ground.
2. Of a plant: to bear seed so that others grow.
3. Of a woman: to conceive a child in her womb.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To sow: to put seed into the ground; said of a plant, to yield seed; and, of a woman, to conceive. It is the verb of זֶרַע (‘seed, offspring’, H2233).

• Sowing the field Genesis 26:12Genesis 47:23Leviticus 25:3
• Not sowing in the year of rest and in the jubilee Leviticus 25:4Leviticus 25:11Leviticus 25:20
• Plants yielding seed Genesis 1:11Genesis 1:12
• “Those who sow with tears” Psalms 126:5Job 4:8Hosea 10:12
• Conceiving Leviticus 12:2

Historical and cultural background

Isaac sowed in Gerar and “reaped in that year a hundredfold” (Genesis 26:12). The law commanded sowing six years and leaving the land unsown in the seventh (Leviticus 25:3-4).

How we translate it

“Sow” in its forms (“sow” 33 times, “sown” 11, “sowed” 2, “sower” 2); “yielding” seed in Genesis 1; “conceives” in Leviticus 12:2, where the Hebrew says that the woman yields seed. So the tie with זֶרַע remains, which this edition’s glossary renders ‘offspring’ and, for plants, ‘seed’.

How it is translated

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

• sow ×33
• sown ×11
• yielding ×4
• sowed ×2
• sower ×2
• whoever sows ×2
• conceives ×1
• shall conceive ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×6
• Exodus×2
• Leviticus×9
• Numbers×1
• Deuteronomy×5
• Judges×2
• 2 Kings×1
• Job×2
• Psalms×3
• Proverbs×2
• Ecclesiastes×2
• Isaiah×7
• Jeremiah×6
• Ezekiel×1
• Hosea×3
• Micah×1
• Nahum×1
• Haggai×1
• Zechariah×1

• Genesis 1:11

  And Elohim said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit according to its kind, that has its seed in it, on the earth.” And it was so.

• Genesis 1:12

  And the earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed according to its kind, and trees bearing fruit that has its seed in it, according to its kind. And Elohim saw that it was good.

• Genesis 1:29

  And Elohim said, “Look, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree that has fruit yielding seed; it will be food for you.

• Genesis 26:12

  Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in that year a hundredfold; and YHWH blessed him.

• Genesis 47:23

  Joseph said to the people, “Look, I have bought you today, and your land, for Pharaoh. Here is seed for you; sow the land.

• Exodus 23:10

  Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce,

• Exodus 23:16

  And the feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labors that you sow in the field; and the feast of Ingathering at the going out of the year, when you gather in your labors from the field.

• Leviticus 11:37

  And if any of their carcasses falls on any seed for sowing that is to be sown, it is clean.

• Leviticus 12:2

  “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying: When a woman conceives and gives birth to a male, she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of the menstruation of her infirmity she shall be unclean.

• Leviticus 19:19

  You shall keep my statutes. Your beasts you shall not let breed with two kinds; your field you shall not sow with two kinds, and a garment of two kinds, of mixed fabric, shall not come on you.

• Leviticus 25:3

  Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather its produce;

• Leviticus 25:4

  but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to YHWH; your field you shall not sow, and your vineyard you shall not prune.

• Leviticus 25:11

  That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; you shall not sow, and you shall not reap what grows by itself and you shall not gather its unpruned vines.

• Leviticus 25:20

  And if you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our produce?’

• Leviticus 25:22

  And you shall sow in the eighth year and eat from the old produce; until the ninth year, until its produce comes in, you shall eat the old.

• Leviticus 26:16

  then I will do this to you: I will appoint over you terror, wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and drain the life; and you will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will eat it.

• Numbers 5:28

  But if the woman has not made herself unclean, and she is clean, she shall be free and shall conceive offspring.

• Deuteronomy 11:10

  For the land into which you are going to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you came out, where you would sow your seed and water it with your foot, like a garden of vegetables.

• Deuteronomy 21:4

  And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to an ever-flowing stream, which is not worked or sown, and they shall break the neck of the heifer there in the stream.

• Deuteronomy 22:9

  You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds, so that the whole yield, the seed that you sow and the produce of the vineyard, does not become holy.

• Deuteronomy 29:23

  —all its land brimstone and salt, a burning; it will not be sown, and it will not sprout, and no plant will come up in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which YHWH overthrew in his anger and in his wrath—

• Judges 6:3

  And whenever Israel had sown, Midian would come up, and Amalek and the sons of the east; they would come up against him.

• 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.

• 2 Kings 19:29

  And this shall be for you the sign: this year you will eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that; and in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

• Job 4:8

  As I have seen, those who plow wickedness and those who sow suffering reap it.

• Job 31:8

  let me sow and another eat, and let my shoots be uprooted.

• Psalms 97:11

  Light is sown for the righteous, and for the upright in heart joy.

• Psalms 107:37

  And they sow fields and plant vineyards, and they yield fruit of harvest.

• Psalms 126:5

  Those who sow with tears with shouts of joy will reap.

• Proverbs 11:18

  The wicked earns wages of falsehood, but whoever sows righteousness has a true reward.

• Proverbs 22:8

  Whoever sows injustice will reap wickedness, and the rod of his fury will come to an end.

• Ecclesiastes 11:4

  Whoever watches the wind will not sow, and whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.

• Ecclesiastes 11:6

  In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not let rest your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, whether this or that, or whether both of them alike will be good.

• Isaiah 17:10

  For you have forgotten the Elohim of your salvation, and the Rock of your stronghold you have not remembered; therefore you plant pleasant plantings and with a cutting of a stranger you sow it;

• Isaiah 28:24

  Does the plowman plow all day to sow? Does he break open and harrow his ground?

• Isaiah 30:23

  And he will give the rain for your seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plentiful; your herds will graze on that day in a broad pasture.

• Isaiah 32:20

  Happy are you who sow beside all waters, who let range free the foot of the ox and the donkey.

• Isaiah 37:30

  And this shall be for you the sign: this year you will eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that; and in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

• Isaiah 40:24

  Scarcely are they planted, scarcely are they sown, scarcely has their trunk taken root in the earth, when he also blows on them, and they wither, and the storm like stubble carries them off.

• Isaiah 55:10

  For as the rain and the snow come down from the heavens and do not return there, but water the earth and make it give birth and sprout, and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

And 16 more times.