חָפַשׂ

Genesis 31:35 וַיְחַפֵּ֕שׂ and he searched

Rachel said to her father, “Sir, do not be angry that I cannot stand up before you; for I am having my period.” So Laban searched but could not find the household idols.

Genesis 44:12 וַיְחַפֵּ֕שׂ and he searched

The steward searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest—and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.

1 Samuel 23:23 וְחִפַּשְׂתִּ֣י and I will search out

Observe and find out all the places where he hides. Then come back to me with certainty, and I will go with you. If he is in the land, I will search him out among all the clans of Judah.”

1 Samuel 28:8 וַיִּתְחַפֵּ֣שׂ and he disguised himself

So Saul disguised himself by putting on different clothes, and he set out with two of his men. They came to the woman at night, and Saul said, “Consult a spirit for me. Bring up for me the one I name.”

1 Kings 20:6 וְחִפְּשׂוּ֙ and they will search

But about this time tomorrow I will send my servants to search your palace and the houses of your servants. They will seize and carry away all that is precious to you.’”

1 Kings 20:38 וַיִּתְחַפֵּ֥שׂ and he disguised himself

and the prophet went and waited on the road for the king, disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes.

1 Kings 22:30 הִתְחַפֵּשׂ֙ וַיִּתְחַפֵּשׂ֙ I will disguise myself, and he disguised himself

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.

2 Kings 10:23 חַפְּשׂ֤וּ search

Next, Jehu and Jehonadab son of Rechab entered the temple of Baal, and Jehu said to the servants of Baal, “Look around to see that there are no servants of the LORD here among you—only servants of Baal.”

2 Chronicles 18:29 הִתְחַפֵּשׂ֙ וַיִּתְחַפֵּשׂ֙ I will disguise myself, and he disguised himself

And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.

2 Chronicles 35:22 הִתְחַפֵּ֔שׂ he disguised himself

Josiah, however, did not turn away from him; instead, in order to engage him in battle, he disguised himself. He did not listen to Neco’s words from the mouth of God, but went to fight him on the Plain of Megiddo.

Job 30:18 יִתְחַפֵּ֣שׂ it disguises itself

With great force He grasps my garment; He seizes me by the collar of my tunic.

Psalm 64:6 יַֽחְפְּֽשׂוּ־ מְחֻפָּ֑שׂ they plot, plotted

They devise injustice and say, “We have perfected a secret plan.” For the inner man and the heart are mysterious.

Here: "They search out", "they dig for". This is the verb for rummaging through a tent or hunting for buried treasure. The tense shows ongoing, habitual action: these people keep combing through every possible way of doing harm.

Psalm 77:6 וַיְחַפֵּ֥שׂ and it searched

At night I remembered my song; in my heart I mused, and my spirit pondered:

Here: An intensive form: "and it searched thoroughly," like ransacking a tent or combing a city. The verb form shifts the narration ("and then it searched") and leads straight into the questions of vv. 7–9.

Proverbs 2:4 תַּחְפְּשֶֽׂנָּה׃ you will search for it

if you seek it like silver and search it out like hidden treasure,

Here: 'You search her out.' Stronger than the first verb: a thorough, probing search that goes through everything, the kind of searching that ransacks a tent or goes through every sack (Gen 31:35; 44:12). Placed last, it ends the line on intensity.

Proverbs 20:27 חֹ֝פֵ֗שׂ [it is] searching

The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching out his inmost being.

Here: A participle, describing ongoing action: 'searching, going about searching.' The word is used for hunting down something hidden: Laban rummaging through Jacob's tents, or Yahweh searching Jerusalem 'with lamps' (Zephaniah 1:12).

Proverbs 28:12 יְחֻפַּ֥שׂ he is searched for

When the righteous triumph, there is great glory, but when the wicked rise, men hide themselves.

Here: A passive form: 'is searched for'. People have gone so deep into hiding that you would have to hunt for them. Some read it as 'is hunted down' by the regime itself (see debates).

Lamentations 3:40 נַחְפְּשָׂ֤ה let us examine

Let us examine and test our ways, and turn back to the LORD.

Here: "Let us search out." The -āh ending makes it a resolve, "come, let us…". The verb is used for physically hunting through a place for something hidden, like a stolen object. It opens the verse with a call to go through Judah's conduct the way you would search a tent or a sack.

Amos 9:3 אֲחַפֵּ֖שׂ I will search for [them]

Though they hide themselves atop Carmel, there I will track them and seize them; and though they hide from Me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them.

Here: 'I will search them out.' The verb form stresses thoroughness: a methodical search through every crevice, like Laban going through Jacob's tents (Gen 31:35) or Joseph's steward searching the sacks (Gen 44:12).

Obadiah 1:6 נֶחְפְּשׂ֣וּ they will be plundered

But how Esau will be pillaged, his hidden treasures sought out!

Here: Passive, completed form: 'they have been searched through'. The picture is a house or baggage turned inside out by people hunting for something, as Laban searched Jacob's tent (Genesis 31:35). The prophet speaks of the coming search as if it had already happened.

Zephaniah 1:12 אֲחַפֵּ֥שׂ I will search

And at that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish the men settled in complacency, who say to themselves, ‘The LORD will do nothing, either good or bad.’

Here: The verb form signals a thorough, careful search into every hiding place, like a man hunting for something hidden or a soldier searching a captured house. God is the one speaking.