A word ; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing ; adverbially, a cause
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דָּבָר (dabar) is one of the most theologically rich words in the Hebrew Bible. The same word covers 'word' in the sense of spoken utterance, 'matter' or 'thing' in the sense of a real-world event, and 'affair' in the sense of a legal or administrative case.
Reader summary
Full entry for דָּבָר (H1697) · Open the biblical lexicon
דָּבָר (dabar) is one of the most theologically rich words in the Hebrew Bible. The same word covers 'word' in the sense of spoken utterance, 'matter' or 'thing' in the sense of a real-world event, and 'affair' in the sense of a legal or administrative case.
The BSB source-word alignment has 1,441 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include . . . (147), the word (115), the words (107), words (75), of the acts (44).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 11:1. Its strongest book concentrations include Jeremiah (204), 1 Kings (125), 2 Kings (108), Deuteronomy (96).
דָּבָר (dabar) is one of the most theologically rich words in the Hebrew Bible. The same word covers 'word' in the sense of spoken utterance, 'matter' or 'thing' in the sense of a real-world event, and 'affair' in the sense of a legal or administrative case. The range itself is significant: in Hebrew thought, a dabar is not merely a sound or a symbol but a living reality that connects speech and event, utterance and outcome.
The dabar YHWH (word of the Lord) is the primary theological use — the formula that introduces prophetic speech throughout the OT ('the word of the Lord came to me,' Jer 1:4; Ezek 1:3; etc.). The word of the Lord is not merely information about God's intentions; it is the active agency of God Himself entering history. When God speaks, things happen: Genesis 1 creates by dabar — 'God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.' The dabar of God does not describe a reality that already exists; it creates the reality it names.
Isaiah 40:8 gives the dabar its most famous statement of permanence: 'The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word (dabar) of our God will stand forever.' In context, this is a promise about the reliability of God's purposes for Israel — the imperial powers and their words will pass away, but God's dabar will not. The NT reads this as the ground for the gospel's permanence (1 Pet 1:24-25 quotes Isa 40:8 for 'the living and abiding word of God' by which people are born again).
Psalm 119 is the OT's most sustained meditation on the dabar of God — 176 verses of engagement with the word, instruction, statutes, and commands. The central claim running through all 22 stanzas is that the dabar of God is the source of life, wisdom, comfort, and orientation. 'I have stored up your word (dabar) in my heart, that I might not sin against you' (Ps 119:11). The dabar is not merely read but internalized — hidden in the heart where it becomes the motivation for faithful living.
For the preacher, דָּבָר is the word that insists God speaks and that His speech does things. The sermon is not commentary on the word; it is the continued vehicle of the word's active agency in the congregation.
דָּבָר is indexed in the local Hebrew artifact at about 1455 OT occurrences — one of the most frequent content words in the Hebrew Bible. The prophetic formula 'the word of the Lord came' appears frequently across prophetic literature. The word covers divine speech, human speech, prophetic oracle, legal cases, and events or matters of significance. The theological center is the dabar YHWH as the active, creative, and covenant-establishing speech of God.
I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.
The internalization of the dabar: hidden (tsaphan — treasured, stored up) in the heart. The dabar is not a text to be consulted but a living word to be internalized, so that it becomes the content of the heart's orientation. The purpose clause — 'that I might not sin against you' — shows the ethical function: the internalized dabar is the motivation for faithful living. This is the OT's anticipation of the new covenant's promise (Jer 31:33 — 'I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts').
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 dabar as purposive agent: God's word goes out, accomplishes, prospers, and returns. The word is not a passive transmission of information but an active agent sent on a mission. The rain and snow analogy (v. 10) establishes the pattern: just as precipitation accomplishes its purpose (watering the earth, producing growth), the dabar accomplishes God's purpose — not merely communicating it but actually bringing it about. This is the foundational claim about the creative and effective power of God's speech.
The word of the Lord came to me, saying:
The prophetic formula: dabar YHWH hayah el (the word of the Lord came to). This formula appears over 100 times in the prophetic corpus. The 'came to' language is active movement — the word arrives, it approaches, it engages the prophet. The prophet is not searching for God's word; it comes to him. The priority of divine initiative in prophetic revelation is built into the formula itself.
The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”
The contrast that defines the dabar's character: human existence is ephemeral (grass, flower), but the dabar of God stands (qum — rises, stands firm, endures). The theological confidence of the prophet in exile is grounded in this permanence: the Babylonian empire's word has force for now, but God's dabar has force forever. The gospel's proclamation rests on the same claim: the good news is not a cultural trend but the permanent reality of God's active speech.
After these events, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
The earliest appearance of the dabar YHWH formula in a covenant context: God's word comes to Abram after the rescue of Lot, bringing the promise of divine protection and reward. The word here is both revelation ('I am your shield') and promise ('your exceedingly great reward') — demonstrating the range of dabar as not merely information but relationship-establishing speech. God's word to Abram is the beginning of the covenant conversation that will extend through the rest of Genesis and beyond.
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.
Hebrew word. Word that moves from speech to action: what is spoken becomes a matter of real consequence and effect.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 1,455 lexical occurrence verses.
The term emphasizes the accumulation of speech that increases opportunities for sin. Hosea 1:1-1
Affirms the permanence of God’s covenant promise. Isaiah 40:1-11
Establishes prophetic authority as originating in divine speech. Proverbs 10:19
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
דָּבָר is the OT's word that insists God speaks and that His speaking is not decoration. The word of God in the OT is active, purposive, and effective — it creates (Gen 1), establishes covenants (Gen 15), guides and warns through prophets, and will stand when everything else has passed (Isa 40:8). The preacher who understands dabar will preach differently: not as a commentator providing interesting information about an ancient text but as the voice through which the living word of God continues to do what it was always sent to do.
Isaiah 55:11 is the sermon-preacher's text: the word that goes out from God does not return empty. The word preached from the Scripture is not the preacher's attempt to be impressive; it is the sending-out of what God intends to accomplish in the congregation. The pastoral application of Psalm 119:11 — hiding the dabar in the heart — is the NT's anticipation of the new covenant promise: the word internalized, not merely heard.
The congregation that receives the dabar in that way is the congregation on which the word will do its work long after the sermon ends.
Ps.119.11
דָּבָר is a masculine noun from the root DBR, the verb dabar (to speak). The root DBR has the basic sense of driving, pushing forward — which is consistent with the active, purposive sense of both the verb and noun: speech that drives reality, that pushes things forward. The dabar YHWH formula is almost always constructed with the verb hayah (to be, to become) — the word 'becomes,' it is an event that happens, not merely a content that is communicated.
In Psalm 119, the dabar is one of eight synonyms for God's revealed will that appear in every stanza: dabar (word), Torah (instruction), edah (testimony), piqqud (precept), huq (statute), mitsvah (commandment), mishpat (judgment), imrah (saying). The variety shows the richness of what 'God's word' includes — the whole of His revealed communication, in all its forms and dimensions.
The NT's logos (John 1) most directly takes up the dabar in its creative and revelatory dimensions, applying it to Christ as the Word who was in the beginning and through whom all things were made.
The NT's appropriation of the OT dabar runs through two channels. First, the logos (word) theology of John 1, which identifies Christ as the Word that was with God in the beginning and through whom all things were made — the creative dabar of Genesis 1 has become flesh. Second, the NT's treatment of the preached word as the active agency of God: Romans 10:17 ('faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ'), 1 Thessalonians 2:13 ('you received the word of God, which you heard from us, not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers'), and 1 Peter 1:23-25 (born again through the living and abiding word of God, citing Isa 40:8).
The NT presents the preaching of the gospel as the continued vehicle of the dabar that Isaiah 55:11 describes — sent by God, going out, accomplishing what God intends, returning not empty. Hebrews 4:12 gives the dabar its most intense NT characterization: 'the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit.'
The dabar is not inert text; it is alive and doing its work.
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