To pierce
כָּרָהStrong’s H3738karah (ka-rah)
Appears in 14 verses of the Old Testament
In short
Karah is the Hebrew word usually translated “have dug”, “dug” and “dig”. It appears in 14 verses of the Old Testament.
“And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac’s servants digged a well.”
Meaning
- To pierce, excavate, dig through(Qal) to dig · (Niphal) to be dug
How it's translated
- they have dug 3
- and they dug 1
- i dug 1
- he will dig 1
- they dug it 1
- he had dug 1
- he digs 1
- you dug 1
Word-by-word English from the STEPBible tagged text.
Where it's used most
- Psalms 5
- Genesis 2
- Proverbs 2
- Jeremiah 2
- Exodus 1
- Numbers 1
7 books in all.
Explore in Scripture
- Genesis 50:5My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.
- Exodus 21:33And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein;
- Numbers 21:18The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves. And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah:
- 2 Chronicles 16:14And they buried him in his own sepulchres, which he had made for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries’ art: and they made a very great burning for him.
- Psalms 7:15He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.
- Psalms 40:6Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
Hebrew dictionary
כָּרָה karah · to pierce
1) to pierce, excavate, dig through 1a) (Qal) to dig 1b) (Niphal) to be dug
From STEPBible’s Hebrew lexicon (based on Brown-Driver-Briggs).
Webster's 1828 Dictionary
How the English word “pierce” was understood when the King James Version was still the common Bible of English readers.
PIERCE, verb transitive
pers.
- To thrust into with a pointed instrument; as, to pierce the body with a sword or spear; to pierce the side with a thorn.
- To penetrate; to enter; to force a way into; as, a column of troops pierced the main body of the enemy; a shot pierced the ship.
- To penetrate the heart deeply; to touch the passions; to excite or affect the passions. 1 Timothy 6:10
- To dive or penetrate into, as a secret or purpose.
All definitions and other forms of “pierce”
PIERCE, verb intransitive
pers. To enter; as a pointed instrument.
- To penetrate; to force a way into or through any thing.
- To enter; to dive or penetrate, as into a secret.
- To affect deeply.
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.