Perhaps properly, to arrange ; but used figuratively (of words), to speak ; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue
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דָּבַר is the primary Hebrew verb for speaking and it generates the most theologically important noun in the OT: דָּבָר (dābar), the word. The verb and noun together form the backbone of the OT's theology of divine communication.
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Full entry for דָבַר (H1696) · Open the biblical lexicon
דָּבַר is the primary Hebrew verb for speaking and it generates the most theologically important noun in the OT: דָּבָר (dābar), the word. The verb and noun together form the backbone of the OT's theology of divine communication.
The BSB source-word alignment has 1,142 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include said (109), speak (81), spoke (49), has spoken (32), have spoken (27).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 8:15. Its strongest book concentrations include Numbers (119), Jeremiah (114), Exodus (87), 1 Kings (77).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
דָּבַר is the primary Hebrew verb for speaking and it generates the most theologically important noun in the OT: דָּבָר (dābar), the word. The verb and noun together form the backbone of the OT's theology of divine communication. When God dābars, things happen: the creation narratives are structured by divine speech ('God said... and there was'); the covenant is founded on divine words (the Ten Words, ʿăśeret haddĕbārîm, the Decalogue); and the prophets speak as dābar YHWH came to me — the formula that opens the major and minor prophets dozens of times.
The noun dābar (H1697) carries an enormous semantic range: it means word, thing, event, matter, affair, and promise. The overlap between 'word' and 'event' is theologically crucial — in Hebrew thought, the divine word is not merely informational but performative and effective. 'The word that goes forth from my mouth shall not return to me empty, but shall accomplish that which I purpose' (Isa 55:11).
The dābar YHWH does not merely describe reality; it creates it. The dābar YHWH as the technical formula for prophetic reception occurs over 240 times in the OT. The prophet who speaks is not giving an opinion; they have received a dābar — a specific, authorized, effective word from the divine Speaker. The NT's 'the Word became flesh' (John 1:14) is the climactic dābar event: the divine speech that has been going forth since creation becomes incarnate in a person.
דָּבַר (verb) occurs over 1,100 times and its noun derivative דָּבָר (dābar, H1697) occurs over 1,400 times, making the dābar word-group one of the most frequent in the entire Hebrew Bible. The noun's range covers word, speech, promise, matter, thing, and event — reflecting the Hebrew understanding that a spoken word has ontological weight, not merely informational content.
And the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of the words but saw no form; there was only a voice.
The Sinai theophany defined by dābar: Israel heard the voice of words (qôl dĕbārîm) but saw no form. The covenant is grounded in heard speech, not visible image. This establishes the anti-idolatry principle of the next verse: because you heard but did not see, you must not make images. The dābar-covenant (word-mediated) stands against the image-religion of the surrounding nations.
The same point is made at Deut 5:22: 'these words (dĕbārîm) the Lord spoke to your whole assembly... and he added no more.' The Decalogue is complete speech — nothing is missing, nothing needs supplementing.
So My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.
The foundational text for the theology of the effective dābar: the divine word (dĕbārî) does not return empty but accomplishes its purpose. The comparison with rain and snow (vv.10-11) shows the dābar as a productive force in the world — it goes out, falls, produces fruit, and returns having accomplished its mission. This is the OT's most explicit statement of the performative nature of the divine word: dābar is not merely description but accomplishment.
The word of the Lord came to me, saying:
The prophetic formula: wayĕhî dĕbar YHWH ʾēlay lēʾmōr — the word of the Lord came to me, saying. This formula appears over 100 times in Jeremiah alone and frames all prophetic speech as reception rather than invention. The prophet does not speak their own words; they receive and transmit the dābar YHWH. The formula establishes the distinction between true prophecy (grounded in received dābar) and false prophecy (which speaks out of its own heart — Jer 23:16: 'they speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord').
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the stars by the breath of His mouth.
The creation-by-dābar theology: the heavens came into being by the dĕbar YHWH, all the host by the breath of his mouth. The Psalm explicitly connects the divine word with the divine breath (rûaḥ, pîhû) — creation is a speech act of the living God. This verse theologically connects the Genesis 1 'God said' to the dābar-theology of the prophets: the same word that called the cosmos into being speaks through the prophets, enters the covenant, and accomplishes the divine purpose.
God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
Balaam's oracle establishing the absolute reliability of the divine dābar: God has spoken — it will be made good. The anti-human contrast is sharp: humans lie, humans change their minds; the divine dābar is not like human speech. This text becomes the theological basis for confidence in every divine promise: 'has he said? then he will do it.' The dābar YHWH is the ground of covenant trust because it is not subject to the instability of human speech.
Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
The famine of dābar: among all the possible deprivations God could send, the withdrawal of the dĕbar YHWH is portrayed as the worst. A society that has refused to hear the divine word will ultimately be denied it. The famine of dābar is the inverse of the Isa 55:11 abundance: where the word goes forth and accomplishes, the withdrawal of the word leaves the land spiritually famished. The text shows how highly the OT values the dābar: its absence is catastrophic judgment.
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Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Hebrew word. Speech arranges reality: God's word creates and commands; human speech binds covenantally through promise and declaration.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
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Showing 5 selected witnesses from 1,144 lexical occurrence verses.
דָבַר is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
The Hebrew dābar refuses the distinction between saying something and doing something. When God speaks, creation happens; when God promises, history is determined; when the dābar YHWH comes to a prophet, that prophet's words carry divine authority and effectiveness. This is not magic — it is ontology: the universe is a speech act, sustained by the word of the one who called it into being.
The preacher who understands dābar understands why the ministry of the word is not merely the communication of information. Isaiah 55:11's 'my word shall accomplish what I please' is not a rhetorical boast; it is a theological description of how the spoken word of God operates in the world. When the Scriptures are proclaimed, when the dābar is faithfully transmitted, the same word that created the world and established the covenant is at work.
The flip side is Amos 8:11: the famine of the word is the most serious possible covenant judgment. Israel in Amos's day was materially prosperous and spiritually famished because the dābar was withdrawing in the face of their persistent refusal to hear. For the preacher, this means the ministry of the word is not optional content delivery; it is the covenantal lifeline.
The dābar does not return empty — but it requires someone to speak it and someone to hear. The NT's 'the Word became flesh' (John 1:14) is the ultimate dābar event: the effective, creative, covenant-establishing word of God takes on a human nature and enters the world it has always already been sustaining.
Isa.55.11
The root dābar generates a family of related words: dābar (verb: to speak), dābār (noun H1697: word/thing/event/matter), dabbār (one who speaks, a spokesman), midbar (wilderness — the place of speaking/testing, though the etymology is disputed), and dibrāh (cause, purpose, account). The overlap of dābar meaning both 'word' and 'thing/event' is the key theological data point: in Hebrew, speech and event are not separate categories.
The prophetic formula dĕbar YHWH occurs over 240 times; the formula 'thus says the Lord' (kōh ʾāmar YHWH) over 400 times — the OT is saturated with the vocabulary of divine speech.
The NT's theology of the word builds directly on dābar. Hebrews 1:1-2 opens with the most explicit dābar-Christology: God who 'spoke' (laleō, the Greek equivalent of dābar) through the prophets has now spoken in his Son. The climax of the dābar-trajectory is John 1:1-14: the logos (Greek heir of dābar) was with God, was God, and the logos became flesh. The same creative-covenant word that hovered over the waters in Gen 1:2, came to the prophets as dĕbar YHWH, and accomplished its purpose in history, has become a human being.
Paul's theology of proclamation in Romans 10:17 — 'faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ' — assumes the dābar framework: the spoken word carries divine power to create faith in the hearer. 2 Timothy 3:16's 'all Scripture is breathed out by God' (theopneustos) echoes the Gen 2:7 / Ezek 36 breath imagery: the Scriptures are the dābar in written form, sharing the divine breath that animated creation and will accomplish the divine purpose.
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