Hebrew word · H5503

סָחַר

socher

to trade

The root סחר basically means "go around, travel about." That is why its common forms describe merchants, who travel around trading (Gen 23:16; Gen 37:28; Ezek 27). This doubled form appears only here. Lexicons give it as "go round and round, palpitate, throb" (BDB, HALOT).

Appears 21 times in 20 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to go around, go about, travel about in, go about in trade

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to go about to and fro (in business)

1a2) trader, trafficker (participle)

1b) (Pilpel) to palpitate

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 Psalm 38:10

Range of meaning

The root סחר basically means "go around, travel about." That is why its common forms describe merchants, who travel around trading (Gen 23:16; Gen 37:28; Ezek 27). This doubled form appears only here. Lexicons give it as "go round and round, palpitate, throb" (BDB, HALOT).

Against the English

KJV "panteth" (in older English, gasps or beats hard). WEB, ESV and NASB "throbs". BSB and NIV "pounds". NLT "beats wildly". All of them catch a heart in distress. "Throbs" and "pounds" suggest heavy, regular beats. The Hebrew picture is closer to circling and racing, a heart that has lost its steady rhythm.

Used elsewhere in the period

There is no other biblical use of this exact form. Hebrew sometimes repeats syllables to show intense or repeated motion (compare the related form of the verb "go about" in other roots). Some link the related noun סֹחֵרָה in Ps 91:4, usually translated "buckler" or "rampart", to the idea of something that surrounds, but that link is uncertain.

From the study of Ezekiel 27:36

Range of meaning

The verb סָחַר means to go about or travel around, especially as a trader. Its participle (sōḥēr) is the ordinary word for a travelling merchant or trader, and the feminine participle sōḥeret is used for a trading partner or customer (Ezek 27:12, 16, 18). BDB connects the root with 'going around'. HALOT gives 'to travel about, trade'.

Against the English

'Merchants' (KJV, WEB) and 'those who trade' (BSB) are both accurate. The only thing English loses is the sense of going around: these are caravan and shipping people who moved through Tyre's network, not shopkeepers.

Used elsewhere in the period

Gen 23:16 ('current with the merchant', of silver weighed out for Abraham); Gen 37:28 (Midianite traders); 1 Kgs 10:28; Isa 23:2, 8 (the oracle on Tyre and Sidon, 'whose merchants were princes'); and all through Ezekiel 27, where the verb and its participles frame the long list of trading nations.

From the study of Jeremiah 14:18

Range of meaning

Basic idea: 'go around, move about, travel'. Most often the movement is commercial: 'travel about as a trader, do business'. The participle sōḥēr means 'merchant' (Gen 23:16; 37:28; Isa 23:2, 8). A reduplicated form in Ps 38:10 (Eng.) describes a heart 'throbbing / going round'. The Akkadian cognate saḫāru means 'turn, go around, seek'.

Against the English

KJV 'go about', WEB 'go about in the land', BSB 'travel to', YLT 'gone up and down'. Some modern versions use 'ply their trade' (ESV, NRSV), bringing out the merchant sense. Others, like NIV, have 'gone to', the journey or exile sense. These are real differences of interpretation, not just style.

Used elsewhere in the period

Gen 34:10, 21 and 42:34: 'trade in the land' or 'move freely in the land' (scholars dispute which). Ezek 27 uses the participle often for the merchants of Tyre. The verb is rare, and Jer 14:18 is its only use with prophets and priests.

Where it appears

Genesis · 5

  1. Genesis 23:16 לַסֹּחֵֽר׃ to the trader

    Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the standard of the merchants.

    Here: “To the trader”: the travelling merchant who moves from place to place. The payment meets the standard that such professionals would accept: full weight and good quality.

  2. Genesis 34:10 וּסְחָר֔וּהָ and go about in it

    You may settle among us, and the land will be open to you. Live here, move about freely, and acquire your own property.”

  3. Genesis 34:21 וְיִסְחֲר֣וּ and let them go about in

    “These men are at peace with us. Let them live and trade in our land; indeed, it is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters in marriage and give our daughters to them.

  4. Genesis 37:28 סֹֽחֲרִ֗ים traders

    So when the Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

    Here: 'Traders.' The root has to do with going around, so these are merchants who travel trade routes. It is a participle (a verb form used like an adjective or noun), which marks trading as their way of life.

  5. Genesis 42:34 תִּסְחָֽרוּ׃ you will go about in

    But bring your youngest brother back to me so I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the land.’”

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 10:28 סֹחֲרֵ֣י [the] traders of

    Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue; the royal merchants purchased them from Kue.

2 Chronicles · 2

  1. 2 Chronicles 1:16 סֹחֲרֵ֣י [the] traders of

    Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue; the royal merchants purchased them from Kue.

  2. 2 Chronicles 9:14 וְהַסֹּחֲרִ֖ים and the traders

    not including the revenue from the merchants and traders. And all the Arabian kings and governors of the land also brought gold and silver to Solomon.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 38:10 סְ֭חַרְחַר it palpitates

    My heart pounds, my strength fails, and even the light of my eyes has faded.

    Here: A doubled form of a verb meaning "go around, circle about," found only here in the Bible. The repeated sound copies the motion it describes: the heart races, flutters, beats round and round with no steady rhythm.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 31:14 סוֹחֵ֑ר a trader

    She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar.

Isaiah · 3

  1. Isaiah 23:2 סֹחֵ֥ר [the] trader of

    Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon, whose traders have crossed the sea.

  2. Isaiah 23:8 סֹחֲרֶ֙יה֙ traders its

    Who planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose traders are princes, whose merchants are renowned on the earth?

  3. Isaiah 47:15 סֹחֲרַ֣יִךְ traders your

    This is what they are to you—those with whom you have labored and traded from youth—each one strays in his own direction; not one of them can save you.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 14:18 סָחֲר֥וּ they have gone about

    If I go out to the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I enter the city, I see those ravaged by famine! For both prophet and priest travel to a land they do not know.’”

    Here: 'They have gone around.' The verb is used of travelling merchants making their rounds. It can mean wandering, doing the rounds of business, or being taken off on a journey. This is the hardest word in the verse.

Ezekiel · 7

  1. Ezekiel 27:12 סֹחַרְתֵּ֖ךְ [was] trader your

    Tarshish was your merchant because of your great wealth of goods; they exchanged silver, iron, tin, and lead for your wares.

  2. Ezekiel 27:16 סֹחַרְתֵּ֖ךְ [was] trader your

    Aram was your customer because of your many products; they exchanged turquoise, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and rubies for your wares.

  3. Ezekiel 27:18 סֹחַרְתֵּ֛ךְ [was] trader your

    Because of your many products and your great wealth of goods, Damascus traded with you wine from Helbon, wool from Zahar,

  4. Ezekiel 27:21 סֹחֲרֵ֣י סֹחֲרָֽיִךְ׃ [were] [the] traders of, traders your

    Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your customers, trading in lambs, rams, and goats.

  5. Ezekiel 27:36 סֹֽחֲרִים֙ traders

    Those who trade among the nations hiss at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.’”

    Here: A participle used as a noun: 'those who go about trading.' These are the same foreign trading partners catalogued in vv. 12–25, the people whose wealth had flowed through Tyre.

  6. Ezekiel 38:13 וְסֹחֲרֵ֨י and [the] traders of

    Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all its villages will ask, ‘Have you come to capture the plunder? Have you assembled your hordes to carry away loot, to make off with silver and gold, to take cattle and goods, to seize great spoil?’

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