שָׂכַר

Genesis 30:16 שָׂכֹ֣ר שְׂכַרְתִּ֔יךָ certainly <to hire>, I have hired you

When Jacob came in from the field that evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come with me, for I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.

Deuteronomy 23:4 שָׂכַ֨ר he hired

For they did not meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you.

Here: 'He hired.' The verb is singular, which points to Balak king of Moab (Numbers 22). The word is about paying for a service: Balaam's curse was bought.

Judges 9:4 וַיִּשְׂכֹּ֨ר and he hired

So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired some worthless and reckless men to follow him.

Judges 18:4 וַיִּשְׂכְּרֵ֕נִי and he has hired me

“Micah has done this and that for me,” he replied, “and he has hired me to be his priest.”

1 Samuel 2:5 נִשְׂכָּ֔רוּ they hire themselves out

The well-fed hire themselves out for food, but the starving hunger no more. The barren woman gives birth to seven, but she who has many sons pines away.

Here: A reflexive form, found only here in the Bible: 'they hired themselves out.' The once-full now sell their labour by the day, as landless workers do.

2 Samuel 10:6 וַיִּשְׂכְּרוּ֩ and they hired

When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench to David, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth-rehob and Zoba, as well as a thousand men from the king of Maacah and twelve thousand men from Tob.

Here: To hire for wages. These are paid troops, not allies under treaty. 1 Chronicles 19:6 gives the price as a thousand talents of silver.

2 Kings 7:6 שָֽׂכַר־ he has hired

For the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us.”

Here: To hire for wages. The Arameans think Israel's king has paid foreign armies as mercenaries. The perfect tense presents it as already done.

1 Chronicles 19:6 לִשְׂכֹּ֣ר to hire

When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench to David, Hanun and the Ammonites sent a thousand talents of silver to hire for themselves chariots and horsemen from Aram-naharaim, Aram-maacah, and Zobah.

1 Chronicles 19:7 וַיִּשְׂכְּר֣וּ and they hired

So they hired for themselves thirty-two thousand chariots, as well as the king of Maacah with his troops, who came and camped near Medeba while the Ammonites were mustered from their cities and marched out for battle.

2 Chronicles 24:12 שֹׂכְרִים֙ hiring

Then the king and Jehoiada would give the money to those who supervised the labor on the house of the LORD to hire stonecutters and carpenters to restore the house of the LORD, as well as workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of the LORD.

2 Chronicles 25:6 וַיִּשְׂכֹּ֣ר and he hired

He also hired 100,000 mighty men of valor from Israel for a hundred talents of silver.

Ezra 4:5 וְסֹכְרִ֧ים and [were] hiring

They hired counselors against them to frustrate their plans throughout the reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Nehemiah 6:12 שְׂכָרֽוֹ׃ he had hired him

I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had uttered this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

Nehemiah 6:13 שָׂכוּר֙ [was] hired

He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would sin by doing as he suggested, so they could give me a bad name in order to discredit me.

Nehemiah 13:2 וַיִּשְׂכֹּ֨ר and he had hired

because they had not met the Israelites with food and water, but had hired Balaam to call down a curse against them (although our God had turned the curse into a blessing).

Here: 'And he hired'. The verb is singular, unlike the plural 'they met'. It points to Moab, and through Moab its king Balak, who actually paid Balaam (Numbers 22). The word stresses that this was a paid job.

Proverbs 26:10 וְשֹׂכֵ֥ר וְשֹׂכֵ֥ר and [one who] hires

Like an archer who wounds at random is he who hires a fool or passerby.

Here: 'And one hiring', a participle of sakhar, 'to hire for wages'. It is the ordinary word for taking on a paid worker. The 'and' links this half of the verse to the archer picture, and the reader has to supply the comparison: the archer is like the hirer.

Isaiah 46:6 יִשְׂכְּר֤וּ they hire

They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.

Here: "They hire": the craftsman is a paid labourer under contract. It also makes a sound-play with yišqōlû ("they weigh"): weigh, hire.

Haggai 1:6 וְהַ֨מִּשְׂתַּכֵּ֔ר מִשְׂתַּכֵּ֖ר and the [one who] earns wages, [is] earning wages

You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but never get warm. You earn wages to put into a bag pierced through.”

Here: "And the one who hires himself out": the reflexive form of the verb "to hire", meaning a man who sells his own labour, a day-labourer or hired hand, not a salaried employee. It is a step down for a man who might hope to farm his own plot.