Properly, to tread or frequent ; usually to follow (for pursuit or search); by implication, to seek or ask ; specifically to worship
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דָּרַשׁ is a Hebrew verb for seeking, inquiring, consulting, investigating, studying, or requiring an account. The range is held together by directed attention toward a person, answer, authority, text, missing object, or owed response.
Reader summary
Full entry for דָּרַשׁ (H1875) · Open the biblical lexicon
דָּרַשׁ is a Hebrew verb for seeking, inquiring, consulting, investigating, studying, or requiring an account. The range is held together by directed attention toward a person, answer, authority, text, missing object, or owed response.
The BSB source-word alignment has 164 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include seek (15), to inquire (12), to seek (9), inquire (5), . . . (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 9:5. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Chronicles (30), Psalms (24), Ezekiel (16), Deuteronomy (14).
דָּרַשׁ is a Hebrew verb for seeking, inquiring, consulting, investigating, studying, or requiring an account. The range is held together by directed attention toward a person, answer, authority, text, missing object, or owed response. The object and channel of inquiry are decisive. Rebekah goes to inquire of the Lord in Genesis 25:22. Israel must investigate a reported offense in Deuteronomy 13:14. Deuteronomy 18:11 forbids inquiry of the dead. Ezra sets his heart to study the Law of the Lord in Ezra 7:10. Amos summons Israel to seek the Lord and live. Ezekiel 34 condemns shepherds because no one searches for the scattered flock. Genesis 9:5 uses the verb for God's requiring an accounting for shed blood.
This breadth prevents two opposite errors. The verb should not be reduced to private devotional seeking, because many occurrences concern investigation, consultation, study, care, or accountability. It should not be treated as morally neutral in application either, because Scripture evaluates whom people consult, what they seek, and whether they answer to God. Inquiry of the Lord and inquiry of the dead are not alternative techniques with equal legitimacy. The grammar may be similar while the covenant allegiance is opposite.
H1875 also overlaps with H1245, and the two can occur in the same seeking context. H1245 often emphasizes the object being pursued, requested, desired, or attempted. H1875 frequently foregrounds inquiry, consultation, examination, or an account that is required. These tendencies help readers, but they are not rigid walls. The clause and passage must decide the sense. H2713 is another neighbor that more directly names searching out or examining a matter.
For teaching, דָּרַשׁ opens a covenant question: where do God's people go for truth, life, and accountability? Amos rejects religious substitutes and calls Israel to seek the Lord. Ezra's study moves from a heart set on the Law to practice and teaching. Ezekiel's shepherding failure shows that seeking can also move outward toward the vulnerable and scattered. The verb therefore joins inquiry, allegiance, obedience, care, and answerability without making the word alone prove a complete doctrine of worship.
H1875 describes inquiry, consultation, investigation, study, seeking, care for what is missing, and the requiring of an account. The object sought and the authorized or forbidden channel of inquiry give each occurrence its covenantal direction.
And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man:
God requires an account for shed human blood after the flood. The verb here concerns answerability before the divine Judge, not the search for information.
But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So Rebekah went to inquire of the Lord,
Rebekah takes a painful covenant question to the Lord, and the following oracle interprets the struggle. The passage gives inquiry a divinely addressed answer rather than presenting a general method for receiving private revelation.
Then you must inquire, investigate, and interrogate thoroughly. And if it is established with certainty that this abomination has been committed among you,
H1875 begins a coordinated sequence of investigation verbs. The verse demands that a grave report be established, so its sense here is judicial inquiry rather than worship.
Casts spells, consults a medium or spiritist, or inquires of the dead.
The prohibited object and channel make this inquiry covenant rebellion. The verse shows that seeking spiritual information is not faithful merely because it is earnest.
For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, to practice it, and to teach its statutes and ordinances in Israel.
Ezra's inquiry into the Law moves in an ordered pattern from a prepared heart to practice and then teaching. Study is accountable to obedience before it becomes instruction.
For this is what the Lord says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live!
The next verses contrast seeking the Lord with traveling to compromised shrines. The command is a call to covenant return and life, not praise for religious activity in general.
My flock went astray on all the mountains and every high hill. They were scattered over the face of all the earth, with no one to search for them or seek them out.’
Israel's shepherds are condemned for failing to pursue the scattered flock. Seeking here is responsible outward care, and the Lord later promises to search for His sheep Himself.
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. Seeking God through inquiry or worship; also pursuing someone for judgment or reckoning.
Seeking God through inquiry or worship; also pursuing someone for judgment or reckoning.
properly, to tread or frequent; usually to follow (for pursuit or search); by implication, to seek or ask; specifically to worship BDB: resort to Usage: ask, × at all, care for, × diligently, inquire, make inquisition, (necro-) mancer, question, require, search, seek (for, out), × surely.
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 165 lexical occurrence verses.
דָּרַשׁ is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Call to covenant renewal.Hosea 10:9-15
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H1875 brings inquiry under covenant allegiance. Rebekah takes her question to the Lord, while Deuteronomy forbids Israel to inquire of the dead. The contrast shows that earnestness does not make every spiritual search faithful. The source approached, the answer desired, and the obedience owed all matter. Deuteronomy 13 applies the verb to investigation before judgment, and Genesis 9 applies it to the account God requires for shed blood. Ezra 7 places study under the sequence of practice and teaching. Amos 5 summons Israel away from compromised shrines to seek the Lord and live. Ezekiel 34 exposes shepherds who do not search for the scattered.
These uses belong together as directed, accountable seeking. God gives truth through the means He appoints, calls His people to pursue Him rather than substitutes, requires an answer for injustice, and commands leaders to look for those entrusted to their care. The pastoral aim is neither mystical curiosity nor academic accumulation. It is inquiry that receives God's word, turns toward obedience, and accepts responsibility for neighbor and flock.
Amos.5.4
H1875 takes God, a prophet, a forbidden spiritual source, a report, the Law, a missing flock, or an owed account as its object. This syntactic range explains translations such as seek, inquire, consult, investigate, study, search for, and require. H1245 overlaps but often foregrounds pursuit, desire, request, or attempted action; H2713 more directly emphasizes searching out or examining.
The New Testament continues the canonical pattern of seeking God through His revealed word, testing claims, practicing what is heard, and giving an account. Acts 17:11 commends daily examination of the Scriptures, James 1:22 rejects hearing without doing, and Hebrews 11:6 speaks of God rewarding those who seek Him. These connections clarify the theology of accountable inquiry without claiming that their Greek vocabulary reproduces every H1875 sense.