Properly, to score with a mark as a tally or record, i.e. (by implication) to inscribe , and also to enumerate ; intensively, to recount , i.e. celebrate
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H5608, sāp̄ar, is a Hebrew verb used in the Qal for counting, numbering, or taking account, and frequently in the Piel for recounting, declaring, or telling a matter. Passive forms describe what is counted or told.
Reader summary
Full entry for סָפַר (H5608) · Open the biblical lexicon
H5608, sāp̄ar, is a Hebrew verb used in the Qal for counting, numbering, or taking account, and frequently in the Piel for recounting, declaring, or telling a matter. Passive forms describe what is counted or told.
The BSB source-word alignment has 159 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include the scribe (31), told (5), . . . (3), and told (3), be counted (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 15:5. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (37), Jeremiah (17), 2 Kings (13), Genesis (13).
H5608, sāp̄ar, is a Hebrew verb used in the Qal for counting, numbering, or taking account, and frequently in the Piel for recounting, declaring, or telling a matter. Passive forms describe what is counted or told. Scripture can therefore move from counting stars or towers to recounting God's acts, but the context determines which action is present. The word does not make numbers spiritually powerful, nor does recounting guarantee that a report is true.
This companion covers the verbal identity only. Related noun forms associated with H5608 can mean “scribe,” but those noun uses do not define this verb’s meaning or the passages studied here. Genesis 15 uses literal counting to magnify God's promise to Abram. Exodus 10 and Psalm 78 use recounting to transmit remembered acts of God across generations. Psalm 48 joins careful observation and counting to testimony for the next generation, while Jeremiah 23 distinguishes a reported dream from the truthful proclamation of God's word.
Faithful recounting preserves the event, audience, source, and truthfulness of testimony without exaggeration. Counting can support stewardship and truthful reporting, but neither a large number nor a moving story authenticates itself.
H5608's verbal range moves between enumerating and recounting. Its passages count objects, take account, narrate events, declare God's works, and report speech. The object, stem, and discourse decide whether calculation or narration is foregrounded.
And the Lord took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Qal forms carry literal counting, and the uncountable stars magnify the promised offspring without authorizing numerology or human control of the promise.
And that you may tell your children and grandchildren how severely I dealt with the Egyptians when I performed miraculous signs among them, so that all of you may know that I am the Lord.”
Piel recounting transmits the Lord's acts across generations so that children and grandchildren may know His covenant identity.
March around Zion, encircle her, count her towers,
Worshipers are told to count Zion's towers as part of observing the city carefully before telling the coming generation about God.
We will not hide them from their children but will declare to the next generation the praises of the Lord and His might and the wonders He has performed.
The psalm refuses to hide inherited testimony and commits to telling the next generation the Lord's praiseworthy deeds and wonders.
Let the prophet who has a dream retell it, but let him who has My word speak it truthfully. For what is straw compared to grain?” declares the Lord.
The prophet may recount a dream, but the passage distinguishes that report from speaking the Lord's word truthfully; H5608 does not authenticate content.
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. Moves from physical marking/tallying to verbal recounting and celebration of significant events or divine acts.
Moves from physical marking/tallying to verbal recounting and celebration of significant events or divine acts.
properly, to score with a mark as a tally or record, i.e. (by implication) to inscribe, and also to enumerate; intensively, to recount, i.e. celebrate BDB: count Usage: commune, (ac-) count; declare, number, penknife, reckon, scribe, shew forth, speak, talk, tell (out), writer.
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.
סָפַר 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.
Genesis 15:5 uses H5608 for the impossible task of counting the stars, a concrete image that enlarges Abram's view of the Lord's promise. The verb does not give the stars numerical power; it marks an attempted enumeration whose limits serve the promise. Exodus 10:2 turns from counting to recounting as Israel is charged to tell children and grandchildren what the Lord did in Egypt.
Psalm 78:4 develops that vocation as truthful intergenerational testimony, refusing concealment while naming God's praiseworthy deeds. Psalm 48:12 tells worshipers to count Zion's towers and observe its defenses so they can tell the next generation. The movement is not from architecture to superstition, but from careful observation to a testimony about God as the city's enduring guide.
Jeremiah 23:28 supplies a necessary boundary: a dream may be recounted, yet the Lord's word must be spoken truthfully, and straw is not grain. Reporting an experience does not certify its interpretation. Faithful ministry therefore values accurate counts and honest stories while disclosing denominators, sources, limitations, and uncertainty. Numbers can illuminate stewardship, and testimony can strengthen memory, but both can be manipulated.
H5608 calls speakers to tell what happened without inflation and calls hearers to evaluate reports within the truth claims and moral boundaries of Scripture.
Exod.10.2
H5608 is a verb whose stem patterns contribute to its range. Qal commonly concerns counting or numbering, while Piel frequently concerns recounting or declaring. Related nouns can refer to a scribe, but they remain outside this companion’s verbal scope.
The Old Testament repeatedly joins remembrance of God's acts to testimony across generations. New Testament witnesses likewise narrate what God has done in Christ, but Greek reporting verbs must be read in their own contexts. H5608 contributes the Hebrew pattern of careful enumeration and truthful recounting without lexically controlling every later testimony passage.