To approach (causatively, bring near ) for whatever purpose
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קָרַב (qarav) is the Hebrew verb for drawing near — approaching YHWH in worship, bringing offerings near to him, or the intimate nearness of covenant relationship. The local Hebrew index currently counts about 283 occurrences.
Reader summary
Full entry for קָרַב (H7126) · Open the biblical lexicon
קָרַב (qarav) is the Hebrew verb for drawing near — approaching YHWH in worship, bringing offerings near to him, or the intimate nearness of covenant relationship. The local Hebrew index currently counts about 283 occurrences.
The BSB source-word alignment has 280 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include approached (11), present (11), You are to present (11), brought (6), come forward (6).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 12:11. Its strongest book concentrations include Leviticus (102), Numbers (58), Ezekiel (17), Exodus (16).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
קָרַב (qarav) is the Hebrew verb for drawing near — approaching YHWH in worship, bringing offerings near to him, or the intimate nearness of covenant relationship. The local Hebrew index currently counts about 283 occurrences. The verb is the central action-word of Israel's worship: the priests qarav to YHWH at the altar; the offering is the qorban (from qarav) — the thing brought near; and the psalmist's greatest good is qirvat Elohim, nearness of God (Ps 73:28). Qarav is the movement that defines the covenant relationship from the human side: approaching the holy God.
Psalm 73:28 gives qarav its most profound relational use: 'But as for me, the nearness (qirvat) of God is my good (tov); I have made YHWH my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.' After the entire psalm's struggle with the prosperity of the wicked (v. 1-22), Asaph arrives at this conclusion: qirvat Elohim is my tov — nearness to God is my highest good. The word is the abstract noun from qarav: qirvah, nearness, closeness. The preacher's summary of the covenant life cannot do better than Psalm 73:28: the good is not prosperity, vindication, or comfort, but nearness to God himself.
Exodus 3:5 gives qarav its holiness-threshold use: 'Do not qarav here. Take off your sandals, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.' At the burning bush, YHWH's first response to Moses's approach (v. 3, 'I will turn aside and see') is a qarav-stop: do not draw near. The holy is not casually approached. But YHWH's prohibition of careless qarav is immediately followed by his invitation to speak: he calls Moses by name (v. 4) and commissions him. The stop and the commission are both elements of qarav: the holy God who cannot be approached carelessly is also the God who calls his servant close to send him.
Leviticus 1:2 gives qarav its offering-theology: 'When any person among you brings (hiqriv, Hiphil of qarav) an offering (qorban) to YHWH...' The qorban is literally the thing-brought-near: the sacrifice is the act of qarav — bringing something near to YHWH as the human movement toward him in worship. The entire Levitical sacrifice system is a system of qarav: the worshipper brings near, the priest draws near, the sacrifice draws near. The Tabernacle and Temple are the architecture of regulated qarav — spaces that permit approach to the holy God.
Numbers 17:13 gives qarav its terrifying counterpart: 'Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. Everyone who comes near (haqarev), who comes near to the tabernacle of YHWH, dies. Are we all to perish?' After Korah's rebellion (ch. 16) and the plague (17:1-13), Israel's terrified question is whether any approach to YHWH is possible without death. The answer is the Aaronic priesthood — the mediated qarav that makes approach possible for the many through the few.
For the preacher, קָרַב (qarav) gives the entire theology of worship and access: the God who is approachable at all is the God whose holiness is both fearsome (Exod 3:5, Numbers 17:13) and inviting (Ps 73:28, Ps 148:14). And the mediated qarav of the OT (through priest and sacrifice) is fulfilled in Christ, through whom 'we have access (prosagoge, drawing near) in one Spirit to the Father' (Eph 2:18).
קָרַב (qarav) is currently indexed about 283 times in the local Hebrew index, with especially dense use in Leviticus and Numbers. The Levitical uses cover the regulations for priestly approach and the offering system (every qorban involves hiqriv — bringing near). The Psalms use qarav for the relational nearness of God (Ps 73:28, 119:151, 148:14). Exodus's burning-bush use (Exod 3:5) and the Sinai-approach use (Exod 19:22) give qarav its holiness-threshold theology.
Numbers 17:13 gives it its terror-of-approach dimension.
But as for me, it is good to draw near to God. I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may proclaim all Your works.
Nearness to God as the highest good: 'qirvat Elohim li tov' — 'nearness of God is good for me.' After the entire psalm's wrestling with the prosperity of the wicked and his own near-collapse (v. 2, 'my feet had almost stumbled'), Asaph's conclusion is not vindication, justice, or comfort, but qirvat Elohim — nearness to God. This is the OT's most compressed statement of what the covenant relationship is ultimately about: not its benefits but its substance.
Nearness to God is the good — and therefore YHWH is the refuge where that nearness is maintained.
“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
The holiness-threshold qarav: 'do not qarav here.' YHWH's first word to the approaching Moses is a stop — the holy God is not casually approached. The ground around the burning bush is qodesh (holy) because YHWH is there: the presence of YHWH makes the space around him holy, and that holiness demands appropriate preparation (remove sandals). The qarav-stop is not rejection but the regulation of access: Moses will be called close (v.
4, YHWH calls him by name) and commissioned near. The God who cannot be approached carelessly is also the God who calls his servant into his presence.
“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When any of you brings an offering to the Lord, you may bring as your offering an animal from the herd or the flock.
The qorban as brought-near offering: 'when anyone hiqriv's a qorban to YHWH.' Both the verb (hiqriv, causative qarav) and the noun (qorban, from qarav) share the same root: the sacrifice is the act of bringing-near. The entire Levitical sacrifice system is a qarav-system: the worshipper brings near, the priest approaches the altar, the sacrifice is the thing brought near to YHWH.
Worship is regulated qarav. The New Testament's 'approach the throne of grace with confidence' (Heb 4:16, proserchomai — to come near/qarav) is the fulfilment: in Christ, the believer's qarav is direct, bold, and confident — no more terror of Numbers 17:13.
Anyone who comes near the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all going to perish?”
The terror-of-qarav: 'everyone who qarav's to the tabernacle of YHWH dies.' After Korah's rebellion and the plague, Israel's terrified question is whether any approach is survivable. The answer is the mediated qarav: the Aaronic priesthood and the sacrifice system exist precisely so that the many can approach through the few. The terror of Numbers 17:13 is the background that makes Hebrews 4:16's 'approach with confidence' a gospel: what was deadly is now open — because the veil is torn (Matt 27:51) and the priest is Christ.
He has raised up a horn for His people, the praise of all His saints, of Israel, a people near to Him. Hallelujah!
The qarav-people as praise: 'a people near (qarov) to him — hallelujah!' The climax of Psalm 148's cosmic praise-summons (sun, moon, stars, sea, beasts, mountains, kings — all summoned to praise YHWH) is the identification of Israel as 'a people near to him.' The covenant people's nearness to YHWH is the reason for praise: they are the qarav-people, the people who draw near, the people for whom nearness to God is their tov. Nearness to God defines Israel's identity and is the ground of their hallelujah.
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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. Movement toward presence or engagement, whether spatial approach or ritual offering; fundamental to covenant interaction.
Movement toward presence or engagement, whether spatial approach or ritual offering; fundamental to covenant interaction.
to approach (causatively, bring near) for whatever purpose BDB: come near Usage: (cause to) approach, (cause to) bring (forth, near), (cause to) come (near, nigh), (cause to) draw near (nigh), go (near), be at hand, join, be near, offer, present, produce, make ready, stand, take.
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 5 selected witnesses from 283 lexical occurrence verses.
קָרַב 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.
קָרַב (qarav) gives the preacher the theology of access: who can draw near to the holy God, and how? The OT's answer is graduated: the holy God is not casually approachable (Exod 3:5), approach to the tabernacle without mediation is deadly (Num 17:13), and the regulated qarav of the priest and the qorban-offering is the prescribed path. But Psalm 73:28 holds the relational heart of it all: qirvat Elohim li tov — nearness to God is my good.
The entire sacrifice system exists to enable what Psalm 73:28 describes as the highest good. Hebrews makes the fulfillment explicit: the old qarav of priest and qorban has been fulfilled in Christ's once-for-all offering, and now 'we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus' (Heb 10:19). The preacher can give the congregation this: what was terrifying in Numbers 17:13 ('everyone who draws near to the tabernacle dies') has become the confident invitation of Hebrews 4:16 ('let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace').
The nearness that is now possible in Christ is the tov that Psalm 73:28 always pointed to.
Ps.73.28
קָרַב (qarav) and the related noun קָרְבָּן (qorban, H7133, offering) share the same root and the same theology: the sacrifice is the thing-brought-near. The architectural language of the tabernacle and temple uses nearness-terms throughout: the holy of holies is the place of greatest nearness; the bronze altar is where the qorban (brought-near offering) is placed; the priests who qarav serve as mediators of nearness for the whole community.
The root qarav also gives the Hebrew the words for kinsman-redeemer in a related cluster: קָרוֹב (qarov, near, close kin) — the goel is the one who is 'near' by blood (Lev 25:25, Ruth 2:20, 3:12). The NT's prosagoge (G4318, access, drawing near — used in Rom 5:2, Eph 2:18, 3:12) is the Greek equivalent of qarav: 'through him we have access (prosagoge) in one Spirit to the Father.'
Hebrews is the NT's qarav-commentary. Hebrews 4:16 — 'let us then with confidence draw near (proserchomai) to the throne of grace' — is the NT fulfillment of the OT's regulated-but-terrifying qarav. Hebrews 7:19 — 'a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near (engizomen) to God' — positions Christ as the new and better basis for qarav. Hebrews 10:1 — 'since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near (proserchomai)' — shows that the OT qorban-qarav was a shadow, pointing forward to the reality.
Hebrews 10:22 — 'let us draw near (proserchomai) with a true heart in full assurance of faith' — is the Christian community's qarav: full assurance, not terror. Ephesians 2:18 — 'through him we both have access (prosagoge) in one Spirit to the Father' — is the summary of what Christ's work has made possible in terms of qarav.
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