Hebrew word · H4377

מֶ֫כֶר

mekher

merchandise

Merchandise, goods for sale, or sale value: "I will pay its price" (Num 20:19), "all kinds of wares" (Neh 13:16).

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

merchandise, value, price

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 Proverbs 31:10

Range of meaning

Merchandise, goods for sale, or sale value: "I will pay its price" (Num 20:19), "all kinds of wares" (Neh 13:16).

Against the English

"Her price" (KJV, YLT); "her value/worth" (WEB, NASB, ESV); BSB, NIV and NLT recast it as "she is more precious / worth more". The recasting is fine in meaning but loses the trade flavour.

Used elsewhere in the period

Rare: Num 20:19; Neh 13:16; Prov 31:10. It is not the bride-price word, which is mōhar (Gen 34:12; Exod 22:16).

Similar words

Where it appears

Numbers · 1

  1. Numbers 20:19 מִכְרָ֑ם price their

    “We will stay on the main road,” the Israelites replied, “and if we or our herds drink your water, we will pay for it. There will be no problem; only let us pass through on foot.”

Nehemiah · 1

  1. Nehemiah 13:16 מֶ֑כֶר merchandise

    Additionally, men of Tyre who lived there were importing fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah in Jerusalem.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 31:10 מִכְרָֽהּ׃ price her

    A wife of noble character, who can find? She is far more precious than rubies.

    Here: "Her price" or "her value". It is a word from trade (Num 20:19; Neh 13:16), and it fits a poem full of trade words (merchant ships, profit, buying a field). It measures her worth; it does not mean she is bought.

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