To grave , by implication, to write (describe, inscribe, prescribe, subscribe)
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H3789, kātab, is a Hebrew verb for writing, inscribing, recording, or prescribing. Its objects range from covenant words, legal instruction, letters, royal decrees, histories, songs, accusations, and visions to names and days written in divine books.
Reader summary
Full entry for כָּתַב (H3789) · Open the biblical lexicon
H3789, kātab, is a Hebrew verb for writing, inscribing, recording, or prescribing. Its objects range from covenant words, legal instruction, letters, royal decrees, histories, songs, accusations, and visions to names and days written in divine books.
The BSB source-word alignment has 224 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include written (52), are they not written (8), wrote (6), recorded (5), that is written (5).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 17:14. Its strongest book concentrations include 2 Kings (30), 2 Chronicles (27), Deuteronomy (22), Jeremiah (21).
H3789, kātab, is a Hebrew verb for writing, inscribing, recording, or prescribing. Its objects range from covenant words, legal instruction, letters, royal decrees, histories, songs, accusations, and visions to names and days written in divine books. The verb identifies the act of fixing words in a durable form; it does not guarantee that the content is truthful, just, inspired, or approved by God. Deuteronomy commands written remembrance and accountable royal copying, while Isaiah condemns officials who write oppressive decrees. Meaning therefore depends on who writes, under whose authority, for what audience, and to what end.
Writing often serves covenant memory and public witness. Moses writes the law and entrusts it to the priests and elders. Joshua inscribes a copy before Israel. The Lord commands words to be written on doorposts, on a scroll, and on tablets so that later hearers can remember, read, teach, and test them. Habakkuk is told to make the vision plain, while Jeremiah records words meant to survive immediate resistance. These texts value durable transmission, but they never detach the written word from faithful hearing, communal responsibility, and the God who speaks.
The canon also uses inscription figuratively. Proverbs places loyal love and faithfulness on the heart's tablet, Jeremiah promises God's law inscribed on hearts, and the Psalms speak of days or names written in God's book. Such images describe belonging, memory, formation, and divine knowledge; they do not authorize speculation about hidden heavenly records. In pastoral practice, written policies, minutes, allegations, promises, and corrections should serve truth, transparency, due process, and the protection of people. A document can preserve testimony or institutionalize harm, so authority must remain answerable to justice and honest review.
H3789 moves through covenant inscription, royal accountability, public memory, historical record, lament, inward formation, prophetic preservation, unjust legislation, and imagery of God's knowledge and judgment.
Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.
The covenant words enter ordinary household space, making written reminders servants of ongoing teaching rather than substitutes for love and obedience.
When he is seated on his royal throne, he must write for himself a copy of this instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.
The king must personally copy the instruction under priestly oversight, placing royal power beneath a received covenant text.
So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.
Moses writes and entrusts the law to recognized servants and elders, joining preservation to communal custody and public reading.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”
The written memorial and Joshua's hearing preserve God's announced judgment across generations without reducing memory to a private recollection.
And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Early the next morning he got up and built an altar at the base of the mountain, along with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.
Moses records the Lord's words before covenant worship, distinguishing received revelation from a leader's improvised authority.
When the Lord had finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
The tablets are inscribed by God, locating the covenant testimony's authority in the divine giver rather than in the material stone.
The Lord also said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”
Moses writes the covenant words at the Lord's command, binding durable record to the particular speech that God has given.
And there in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written.
Joshua's public inscription places Israel's life in the land under the same law given through Moses.
As for the rest of the acts of Solomon—all that he did, as well as his wisdom—are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon?
The narrator points to a royal source for Solomon's remaining acts, showing that written records can preserve history beyond a biblical author's selected account.
Now you may write in the king’s name as you please regarding the Jews, and seal it with the royal signet ring. For a decree that is written in the name of the king and sealed with the royal signet ring cannot be revoked.”
A sealed Persian decree carries institutional force, revealing both the power and the danger of writing joined to an irreversible royal system.
I wish that my words were recorded and inscribed in a book,
Job longs for his contested testimony to endure in writing when his present hearers fail to vindicate him.
Let this be written for the generation to come, so that a people not yet created may praise the Lord.
The afflicted community writes for a future generation so that people not yet born may join in praise of the Lord.
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.
The psalmist uses the image of a divine book to confess God's prior knowledge of a life still unformed.
Never let loving devotion or faithfulness leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.
Writing loyal love and faithfulness on the heart pictures durable moral formation, not a literal inscription or private revelation.
Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and issue oppressive decrees,
The prophet condemns officials who put injustice into statutes, proving that written authority can formalize oppression rather than truth.
Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the days to come, a witness forever and ever.
A tablet and scroll preserve Judah's refusal as a lasting witness, so the record serves accountability rather than image management.
“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you.
Jeremiah must write the Lord's spoken words in a book, preserving promised restoration within the prophet's larger message of judgment and hope.
“But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.
God's law written on hearts portrays renewed covenant relationship, inward knowledge, and belonging grounded in God's gracious action.
“Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah, and all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you during the reign of Josiah until today.
The scroll gathers years of prophetic words for public hearing, and the chapter tests royal resistance against a record that can be rewritten after destruction.
Then the Lord answered me: “Write down this vision and clearly inscribe it on tablets, so that a herald may run with it.
The vision is written clearly for communication and faithful waiting, not converted into a slogan detached from its judgment and promise.
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. Encompasses the full arc from physical inscription to authoritative command: engraving permanence into written law and covenant.
Encompasses the full arc from physical inscription to authoritative command: engraving permanence into written law and covenant.
to grave, by implication, to write (describe, inscribe, prescribe, subscribe) BDB: write Usage: describe, record, prescribe, subscribe, write(-ing, -ten).
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 3 selected witnesses from 227 lexical occurrence verses.
כָּתַב 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.
H3789 shows that writing extends speech through time and across communities, which makes it both a gift and a responsibility. Covenant words are written so they can be remembered, taught, read, and obeyed. Kings copy instruction so power remains accountable. Prophets preserve words that rulers may resist, and future generations receive testimony they did not witness firsthand.
Yet Isaiah condemns those who write oppressive statutes, Esther displays the force of sealed decrees, and Job longs for a record because living hearers have failed him. The act of writing never sanctifies the content. Faithful use of records requires truthful authorship, accessible context, responsible custody, correction when error is found, and protection for people whose testimony is documented.
The biblical images of heart inscription and divine books deepen confidence in God's covenant work and knowledge without giving human leaders access to secret lists or permission to declare another person's standing before God.
Deut.31.9
H3789 is a common Hebrew verb whose forms describe the action of writing or inscribing and, by extension, recording or prescribing. The object and context establish whether the result is a covenant text, letter, law, history, accusation, or poetic image.
The New Testament repeatedly appeals to what is written as the received scriptural witness fulfilled and interpreted in relation to Jesus. It also develops book imagery in judgment and belonging, while apostolic letters model written teaching addressed to concrete communities rather than anonymous spiritual control.