StrongerBible

qavar

קָבַר

HebrewH6912bury, entomb

Appears 133 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 15:15Gen 23:4Gen 23:6 (2×)Gen 23:8Gen 23:11Gen 23:13Gen 23:15Gen 23:19Gen 25:9Gen 25:10Gen 35:8Gen 35:19Gen 35:29Gen 47:29Gen 47:30Gen 48:7Gen 49:29Gen 49:31 (3×)Gen 50:5 (2×)Gen 50:6Gen 50:7Gen 50:13Gen 50:14 (2×)Num 11:34Num 20:1Num 33:4Deu 10:6Deu 21:23 (2×)Deu 34:6Jos 24:30Jos 24:32Jos 24:33Jdg 2:9Jdg 8:32Jdg 10:2Jdg 10:5Jdg 12:7Jdg 12:10Jdg 12:12Jdg 12:15Jdg 16:31Rut 1:171Sa 25:11Sa 28:31Sa 31:132Sa 2:42Sa 2:52Sa 2:322Sa 3:322Sa 4:12
Root family
Word studykah-VAHRverb

What qavar means

to bury: to lay a dead body in the ground or a tomb

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This is the ordinary word for putting a corpse in the earth or in a tomb. Across the Hebrew Bible it almost always means exactly that single act, so its range is narrow and concrete: someone dies, and someone is laid to rest.

What changes from verse to verse is not the action but the angle on it. The same word covers the living attending to their dead, a duty so basic that to leave it undone was unthinkable, and it covers the dead themselves being buried, which is how the historical books sum up a person's life in a single closing line: he died and was buried with his ancestors. A proper grave among one's own people was the expected, honorable end.

The word also carries its own dark shadow. Because burial was the norm, the prophets turn its absence into a curse: bodies left lying in the open, with no one to bury them, is a picture of disgrace and judgment. So the same plain verb names both the honor of a tomb and the horror of being denied one.

When a whole population must be put in the ground at once, after a plague or a slaughter, the texts use a heightened form of the verb for the grim, drawn-out work of clearing away and burying the many. It is the same act, scaled up to disaster, as when Israel must spend seven months burying the slain of Gog.

Nuances

1ato bury someone, especially as the duty the living owe their dead
Gen 23:4Gen 23:6 (2×)Gen 23:8Gen 23:11Gen 23:13Gen 23:15Gen 23:19Gen 25:9Gen 35:8Gen 35:19Gen 35:29Gen 47:29
1bto be buried: to be laid to rest, often with one's ancestors as an honorable end
Gen 15:15Gen 25:10Deu 10:6Jdg 8:32Jdg 10:2Jdg 10:5Jdg 12:7Jdg 12:10Jdg 12:12Jdg 12:152Sa 17:231Ki 2:10
1cto be left without burial, used as a picture of curse and judgment
Deu 21:23 (2×)2Ki 9:10Job 27:15Psa 79:3Ecc 8:10Jer 8:2Jer 14:16Jer 16:4Jer 16:6Jer 20:6Jer 22:19Jer 25:33
1dto bury great numbers at once, the grim clearing away of the dead after a slaughter or plague
Num 33:41Ki 11:15Jer 7:32Jer 19:11 (2×)Ezk 39:11Ezk 39:12Ezk 39:13Ezk 39:14Ezk 39:15 (2×)Hos 9:6

What scholars say about qavar

Standard lexica treat the root as a single verb meaning to bury or inter, with the passive (to be buried) and an intensive form used for the burying of many at once. The lexica and theological dictionaries note the cultural weight of proper burial in ancient Israel, the standing formula that a person was buried with his ancestors, and the corresponding force of the prophets' threat that the dead would lie unburied; this is presented as one semantic field, not as separate homonyms.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. קברlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. קברlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. קברlexicon
  • TDOT, s.v. קברtheological-dictionary

All attested forms of קָבַר

qal consecutive-imperfect 3mp

וַיִּקְבְּרוּ, וַיִּקְבְּרֻ

Gen 25:9, Gen 35:29, Gen 50:13, Jos 24:30, Jos 24:33, Jdg 2:9, Jdg 16:31, 1Sa 31:13

niphal consecutive-imperfect 3ms

וַיִּקָּבֵר

Deu 10:6, Jdg 8:32, Jdg 10:2, Jdg 10:5, Jdg 12:7, Jdg 12:10, Jdg 12:12, Jdg 12:15

qal infinitive-construct construct

קְבֹּר, קָבְר, קְבּוֹר, קְּבֹר, קָבְרָ

Gen 23:8, Gen 50:7, Gen 50:14, Gen 50:14, 1Ki 13:29, 1Ki 13:31, Jer 19:11, Gen 23:6

qal perfect 3cp

קָבְרוּ, קְבָרֻ

Gen 49:31, Gen 49:31, Num 11:34, Jos 24:32, 2Sa 2:4, Ezk 39:15, 2Ch 24:25

niphal imperfect 3mp

יִקָּבֵרוּ

Job 27:15, Jer 8:2, Jer 16:4, Jer 16:6, Jer 25:33

qal consecutive-perfect 3cp

וְקָבְרוּ, וּקְבָרוּ

1Ki 14:13, Jer 7:32, Ezk 39:11, Ezk 39:13, Ezk 39:12

qal imperative 2ms

קְבֹר

Gen 23:6, Gen 23:11, Gen 23:15, Gen 50:6

niphal consecutive-imperfect 3fs

וַתִּקָּבֵר

Gen 35:8, Gen 35:19, Num 20:1

piel participle m p absolute

מְקַבְּרִים

Num 33:4, Ezk 39:14, Ezk 39:15

qal cohortative 1cs

אֶקְבְּרָה

Gen 23:4, Gen 23:13, Gen 50:5

niphal imperfect 2ms

תִּקָּבֵר

Gen 15:15, Jer 20:6

qal consecutive-imperfect 3ms

וַיִּקְבְֹּר, וַיִּקְבֹּר

2Ki 21:26, Deu 34:6

qal consecutive-perfect 2ms

וּקְבַרְתַּ, וּקְבַרְתּ

Gen 47:30, 1Ki 2:31

qal imperative 2mp

קִבְרוּ

Gen 49:29, 2Ki 9:34

qal imperfect 2ms

תִּקְבְּרֵ, תִּקְבְּרֶ

Gen 50:5, Deu 21:23

qal participle m s absolute

קֹבֵר, קוֹבֵר

2Ki 9:10, Psa 79:3

niphal imperfect 1cs

אֶקָּבֵר

Rut 1:17

niphal imperfect 3ms

יִקָּבֵר

Jer 22:19

piel imperfect 3fs

תְּקַבְּרֵ

Hos 9:6

piel infinitive-construct construct

קַבֵּר

1Ki 11:15

piel participle m s absolute

מְקַבֵּר

Jer 14:16

pual perfect 3ms

קֻבַּר

Gen 25:10

qal consecutive-imperfect 1cs

וָאֶקְבְּרֶ

Gen 48:7

qal consecutive-imperfect 2mp

וַתִּקְבְּרוּ

2Sa 2:5

qal consecutive-perfect 2mp

וּקְבַרְתֶּם

1Ki 13:31

qal imperfect 3mp

יִקְבְּרוּ

Jer 19:11

qal infinitive-absolute absolute

קָבוֹר

Deu 21:23

qal jussive 2ms

תִקְבְּרֵ

Gen 47:29

qal participle m p absolute

קֹבְרִים

2Ki 13:21

qal passive-participle m p absolute

קְבֻרִים

Ecc 8:10

qal passive-participle m s absolute

קָבוּר

1Ki 13:31

qal perfect 1cs

קָבַרְתִּי

Gen 49:31

qal perfect 3ms

קָבַר

Gen 23:19