To search out (by any method, specifically in worship or prayer); by implication, to strive after
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בָּקַשׁ is a broad Hebrew verb for seeking, looking for, requesting, desiring, attempting to obtain, or requiring something from another person. Its moral and theological force does not reside in the bare action of seeking.
Reader summary
Full entry for בָּקַשׁ (H1245) · Open the biblical lexicon
בָּקַשׁ is a broad Hebrew verb for seeking, looking for, requesting, desiring, attempting to obtain, or requiring something from another person. Its moral and theological force does not reside in the bare action of seeking.
The BSB source-word alignment has 225 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include seek (14), seeks (7), who seek (7), and seek (6), sought (6).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 31:39. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (27), 1 Samuel (26), Jeremiah (23), Proverbs (14).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
בָּקַשׁ is a broad Hebrew verb for seeking, looking for, requesting, desiring, attempting to obtain, or requiring something from another person. Its moral and theological force does not reside in the bare action of seeking. The object sought, the purpose of the seeker, and the surrounding clause determine whether the pursuit is ordinary, faithful, destructive, or judicial. Joseph looks for his brothers in Genesis 37:16. Pharaoh seeks to kill Moses in Exodus 2:15. The psalmist desires life in the Lord's house and seeks His face in Psalm 27. Ezekiel 3:18 uses the verb for requiring blood from a negligent watchman. One lexical identity can therefore describe motions that point in sharply different directions.
The word's ordinary uses guard interpretation from making every occurrence devotional. A missing person may be sought and not found. An enemy may seek someone's life. A ruler may seek an opportunity, and a petitioner may request something. When the object is the Lord, His face, righteousness, or good, the pursuit receives its covenantal weight from that object and from the passage's call. Psalm 27 joins desire, dwelling, worship, and seeking God's face. Proverbs 11:27 contrasts the person who diligently seeks good with the person who pursues evil. These passages teach that pursuit reveals direction, but the verb by itself does not certify the worthiness of what is pursued.
H1245 overlaps with H1875 in some seeking passages, yet the companions should not be collapsed. H1245 often foregrounds the object being pursued, requested, desired, or attempted. H1875 commonly carries inquiry, consultation, investigation, or the requiring of an account. Context, not a rigid dictionary wall, distinguishes them where both occur together. Grammatical stem labels should likewise not be used as a shortcut for claiming extraordinary emotional intensity in every instance.
For discipleship, בָּקַשׁ asks what a person is actually pursuing and what that pursuit is doing to neighbors. Seeking God's face cannot be detached from the worship and obedience of the passage. Seeking good differs morally from seeking another person's life. A faithful word study therefore traces object, intent, and outcome before drawing application.
H1245 ranges from looking for a person and attempting an action to desiring, requesting, seeking God, pursuing good, and requiring accountability. The sought object and the purpose clause determine the sense and moral direction.
“I am looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Can you please tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”
Joseph's question supplies an ordinary concrete use: he is trying to locate his brothers. The later betrayal belongs to the narrative, but the verb here simply names the object of his search.
When Pharaoh heard about this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, where he sat down beside a well.
A following infinitive gives the seeking the force of attempted action. The object is not knowledge of Moses but Moses' death, showing that pursuit can be hostile.
Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? How have I sinned against your father, that he wants to take my life?”
David names Saul's pursuit of his life while asking Jonathan to identify any cause. The narrative separates the sought object from a just reason for seeking it.
One thing I have asked of the Lord; this is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and seek Him in His temple.
The verb participates in a concentrated desire for the Lord's presence. Dwelling, beholding, and seeking belong together, so the verse is not a promise that every personal desire will be granted.
My heart said, “Seek His face.” Your face, O Lord, I will seek.
The call and response identify God's face as the sought object. The psalmist's pursuit answers divine invitation amid danger and prayer, not a technique for producing a private experience.
He who searches out good finds favor, but evil will come to him who seeks it.
The paired objects give seeking its moral direction. Diligent pursuit of good and pursuit of evil are structurally similar actions with opposite outcomes.
If I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ but you do not warn him or speak out to warn him from his wicked way to save his life, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, and I will hold you responsible for his blood.
The verb carries the sense of requiring an account from the watchman. The passage concerns Ezekiel's commissioned responsibility and must not be generalized into unlimited liability for every hearer's response.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Hebrew word. To seek God through worship and prayer; also means to strive after or desire something earnestly.
To seek God through worship and prayer; also means to strive after or desire something earnestly.
to search out (by any method, specifically in worship or prayer); by implication, to strive after BDB: seek Usage: ask, beg, beseech, desire, enquire, get, make inquisition, procure, (make) request, require, seek (for).
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 225 lexical occurrence verses.
בָּקַשׁ is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Wisdom requires intentional pursuit. Passive spirituality does not yield depth.Proverbs 2:1-11
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H1245 makes pursuit visible. Joseph seeks his brothers, Pharaoh seeks Moses' death, David names Saul's pursuit of his life, and Ezekiel hears that blood will be required from the unfaithful watchman. In Psalm 27, the same verb is gathered into the worshiper's desire for the Lord's presence and response to the call to seek His face. Proverbs 11 then gives the moral contrast in compact form: the one who diligently seeks good finds favor, while evil comes to the one who seeks it.
The word therefore does not preach one emotion. It teaches readers to examine the object, aim, and cost of pursuit. A desire can be holy or destructive; an attempt can rescue or harm; a requirement can express just accountability or abusive control depending on the speaker and covenant setting. Seeking the Lord is not validated by religious intensity alone. It is governed by who the Lord has revealed Himself to be and by the obedient response the passage requires. For pastoral use, the question is not merely whether people are seeking, but what they are seeking, why they want it, and whom their pursuit serves.
Ps.27.8
H1245 takes persons, things, actions, and abstract goods as its object. With an infinitive it can describe seeking or attempting to do something, as in Pharaoh's effort to kill Moses. In other clauses it means looking for, requesting, desiring, or requiring. H1875 overlaps in seeking language but more often foregrounds inquiry, consultation, investigation, or accountability.
Jesus commands His disciples to seek first God's kingdom and righteousness in Matthew 6:33, giving pursuit a rightly ordered object. Luke 19:10 presents the Son of Man as seeking and saving the lost, which shifts attention from human pursuit alone to divine initiative. These texts carry forward the canonical theology of seeking but do not make their Greek vocabulary interchangeable with every H1245 occurrence.