To cleave
דָּבַקStrong’s H1692davaq (da-vaq)
Appears in 52 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Davaq is the Hebrew word usually translated “it clings”, “it will cling” and “pursued closely”. It appears in 52 verses of the Old Testament.
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”
Meaning
- To cling, stick, stay close, cleave, keep close, stick to, stick with, follow closely, join to, overtake, catch(Qal) · (Pual) to be joined together · (Hiphil) · (Hophal) to be made to cleave
How it's translated
- it clings 5
- it will cling 4
- and they pursued closely 4
- and it cleaved 2
- they will hold 2
- you will cleave 2
- and to cleave 2
- you will stay 2
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Psalms 8
- Deuteronomy 7
- Job 6
- Genesis 4
- Ruth 4
- Joshua 3
16 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Genesis 19:19Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:
- Genesis 31:23And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days’ journey; and they overtook him in the mount Gilead.
- Genesis 34:3And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel.
- Numbers 36:7So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe: for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.
- Numbers 36:9Neither shall the inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe; but every one of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance.
- Deuteronomy 10:20Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.
All 52 verses, by book
Hebrew dictionary
דָּבַק davaq · to cleave
1) to cling, stick, stay close, cleave, keep close, stick to, stick with, follow closely, join to, overtake, catch 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to cling, cleave to 1a2) to stay with 1b) (Pual) to be joined together 1c) (Hiphil) 1c1) to cause to cleave to 1c2) to pursue closely 1c3) to overtake 1d) (Hophal) to be made to cleave Aramaic equivalent: de.vaq (דְּבֵק "to cleave" H1693)
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “cleave” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
CLEAVE, verb intransitive
- To stick; to adhere; to hold to.“My bones cleave to my skin” Psalms 102:5“Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth” Psalms 137:6“CLEAVE to that which is good” Romans 12:9
- To unite aptly; to fit; to sit well on.
- To unite or be united closely in interest or affection; to adhere with strong attachment.“A man shall leave father and mother, and cleave to his wife. Math. 19” Genesis 2:24
All definitions and other forms of “cleave”
CLEAVE, verb transitive
- To part or divide by force; to split or rive; to open or serve the cohering parts of a body, by cutting or by the application of force; as, to cleave wood; to cleave a rock; to cleave the flood.
- To part or open naturally.“Every beast that cleaveth the cleft into two claws” Deuteronomy 14:6
CLEAVE, verb intransitive
To part; to open; to crack; to separate, as parts of cohering bodies; as, the ground cleaves by frost.
- “The mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof” Zechariah 14:4
Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Verse references are checked against the KJV. Read the full entry.
Verses are from the King James Version. Word meanings come from the original Hebrew, not from any one translation.