Hebrew word · H1703

דַּבֶּ֫רֶת

midaberoteikha

word

Spoken words, utterances, from the common root dbr, 'to speak'. This form of the noun is rare and poetic.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

word, words

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Deuteronomy 33:3

Range of meaning

Spoken words, utterances, from the common root dbr, 'to speak'. This form of the noun is rare and poetic.

Against the English

'Words' (KJV, BSB, WEB) is accurate. Some modern versions use 'instruction' or 'direction', which narrows spoken words to teaching.

Used elsewhere in the period

It is related to the 'Ten Words' (ʿăśeret haddəḇārîm, Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13), the usual Hebrew name for what English calls the Ten Commandments.

Where it appears

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 33:3 מִדַּבְּרֹתֶֽיךָ׃ from words your

    Surely You love the people; all the holy ones are in Your hand, and they sit down at Your feet; each receives Your words—

    Here: 'From your utterances', a rare noun from the root 'to speak'. The 'from' suggests 'a share of your words'. It leads straight into 'the Torah that Moses commanded us' in verse 4 and recalls the 'Ten Words' spoken at Sinai.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.