Word

תּוּר

tûwr · H8446 · Hebrew · 24 occurrences

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Meanings

to spy out

Action by which humans carefully investigate a location

Examples
Numbers 13:2 “Send out men for yourself to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.”
Judges 1:23 The house of Joseph had men spy out Bethel (the name of the city previously was Luz).
Numbers 13:16 These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land; but Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.
to study

Literally: to spy out; hence: action by which humans increase their knowledge by processing a large quantity of information

Examples
Ecclesiastes 1:13 And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom about everything that has been done under heaven. It is a sorry task with which God has given the sons of mankind to be troubled.
Ecclesiastes 2:3 I explored with my mind how to refresh my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely; and how to seize foolishness, until I could see what good there is for the sons of mankind to do under heaven for the few years of their lives.
Ecclesiastes 7:25 I directed my mind to know and to investigate, and to seek wisdom and an explanation, and to know the evil of foolishness and the foolishness of insanity.
to search, to look for

Literally: to spy out; hence: action by which deities try to locate a certain place by a careful investigation of the surrounding area

Examples
Numbers 10:33 So they moved on from the mountain of the LORD three days’ journey, with the ark of the covenant of the LORD going on in front of them for the three days, to seek out a resting place for them.
Deuteronomy 1:33 who goes before you on your way, to seek out a place for you to make camp, in the fire by night to show you the way by which you should go, and in the cloud by day.
Ezekiel 20:6 on that day I swore to them, to bring them out from the land of Egypt into a land that I had selected for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all the lands.
to go about, to roam

Literally: to spy out; hence: action by which humans travel through a certain area, seemingly without a clear destination

Examples
1 Kings 10:15 besides that from the traders, and the wares of the merchants and all the kings of the Arabs and the governors of the country.
2 Chronicles 9:14 besides what the traders and merchants brought; and all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon.
Job 39:8 “He explores the mountains of his pasture, And searches after every green thing.
to go after, to follow

Literally: to roam after (one's own) heart; hence: action by which humans pursue their own thoughts and wishes

Examples
Numbers 15:39 “It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, so that you will do them and not follow your own heart and your own eyes, which led you to prostitute yourselves,
to guide, to show the way

Literally: to cause to roam; hence: causative action by which humans show other humans the course in life that they need to take

Examples
Proverbs 12:26 The righteous person is a guide to his neighbor, But the way of the wicked leads them astray.

How it’s used In 6 roles

Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.

the word studied the word it goes with

Who or what does itSubject

22 occurrences in 8 groups

Not stated (infinitive) 11
Not stated: they 3
Not stated: I 2
Not stated: you (more than one) 2
בַּיִתhouse, household 1
צַדִּיקrighteous, just, right 1

What it acts on, or what is saidObject

15 occurrences in 5 groups

אֶרֶץland, earth, ground 9
הָher 3
הַרmountain 1
מְנוּחָהresting place, rest 1
מָקוֹםplace 1

With prepositionsPrepositional phrases

6 occurrences in 8 groups

לto/for+ הֶםthem 2
מִןfrom+ רֵעַneighbor, friend 1
עַלon, upon, over, against+ כֹּלall, every, whole 1
בin/on/with+ חׇכְמָהwisdom 1
בin/on/with+ לֵבheart, mind 1
לto/for+ חָנָהto camp, to encamp 1

With adverbsAdverbs

1 occurrences in 1 groups

לֹאnot 1

After prepositionsPrepositional phrases

10 occurrences in 2 groups

לto/for 8
מִןfrom 2

In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive

2 occurrences in 1 groups

אִישׁman, person, each 2

When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.

MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.

Near synonyms 3 words

חָפַר châphar · H2658 · to paw, to dig: Both words share a component of searching: חָפַר (châphar, H2658) means "dig, paw, search out, seek", and תּוּר (tûwr, H8446) means "sent to descry, search (out), seek, spy (out)", overlapping in the sense of searching or investigating.
שָׁחַר shâchar · H7836 · to turn black, to search, to look for: Both words overlap in the sense of intentional searching or seeking.
בָּקַשׁ bâqash · H1245 · to search, to seek, to look for: Both words denote searching or seeking activity, overlapping in "seek" and "search out", so they can substitute for each other in context.

Semantic domains 5 entries

See002004001005: This verb denotes surveying land visually, as in Numbers 13:2's command to spy out the land of Canaan.
Know002004002007: תּוּר (tûwr, H8446) means "to spy out, search, explore." The quotation "they spied out the land" at Numbers 13:32 shows this sense, which does not independently attest the "Know" domain; that classification is bundle-shared with יָתוּר (yâthûwr, H3491) in the source data and is not confirmed by this lexeme's own occurrences.
Search002002001016: The verb also denotes searching for a resting place, as in Numbers 10:33's account of the ark of the covenant going ahead of the people to seek out a resting place for them.
Move002002001012: The verb also denotes traveling through a territory, as in Numbers 13:17's instruction for the spies to go up into the hill country.
Act002002002001: תּוּר (tûwr, H8446) means "to spy out, search, explore." The quotation "they spied out the land" at Numbers 13:32 shows this sense, which does not independently attest the "Act" domain; that classification is bundle-shared with יָתוּר (yâthûwr, H3491) in the source data and is not confirmed by this lexeme's own occurrences.

Word family 2 words

Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.

תּוּרtûwr · H8446תּוֹר tôwr · H8447 · dove, pigeon, turn · 4×

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H8446. tur יָתֵר Pro 12:26, see תור. תּוּר verb seek out, spy out, explore (Late Hebrew…

H8446. tur
יָתֵר Pro 12:26, see תור.
תּוּר verb seek out, spy out, explore (Late Hebrew id. (rare); perhaps originally turn (to or about), Assyrian târu, turn about, back, taîru adjective turning back, also merciful, and substantive mercy; Arabic () IV. go about (rare), a go-between) —
Qal Perfect1singular תַּרְתִּי Eze 20:6; Ecc 2:3; Ecc 2:3plural תָּרוּ Num 13:32; Num 13:2masculine plural תַּרְתֶּם Num 14:24; Imperfect3masculine plural יָתֻ֫רוּ Num 13:2, וַיָּתֻ֫רוּ Num 13:21; read also 3masculine singular, יָתוּר Job 39:8 ᵑ7 ᵑ9 Ew Di Bu Du and most (for יְתוּר); 2 masculine plural תָּתוּ֫רוּ Num 15:39; Infinitive construct תּוּר Num 10:33 +; Participle plural תָּרִים Num 14:6, on 1Ki 10:15; 2Ch 9:14 see infra; —
1 seek out, select: מִנוּחָה לָהֶם לָתוּר Num 10:33 (J, subject ark of ׳י), compare Deu 1:33 (subject ׳י), Eze 20:6 (id., accusative land); followed by infinitive = find out how to do something, ׳ת לְ בְּלִבִּי Ecc 2:3.
2 spy out, explore, accusative of land Num 13:2, Num 13:16, Num 13:17, Num 13:21, Num 13:23, Num 13:32 (twice in verse); Num 14:7, Num 14:34, Num 14:36, Num 14:38, accusative of mountains Job 39:8 (see above), compare Participle as subject explores, spies Num 14:6 (all P); explore mentally, וְלָת ׳לָדַעַת חָכְמָה וּבַקֵּשׁ Ecc 7:25, compare Ecc 9:1 Gr (׳ת for בוּר q. v.), ׳לָת עַלֿ בְּחָכְמָה Ecc 1:13 (KueOnd. 2, iii. 196).
3 go about, figurative לְבַבְכֶם אַהֲרִי Num 15:39 (P); Participle הַתָּרִים אַנְשֵׁי 1Ki 10:15; 2Ch 9:14, usually merchants (|| לִים רִכְּ סֹחֲרִים); Kit, after ᵑ62Chronicles, proposes הֶעָרִים for הַתָּרִים
Hiph`il Imperfect3masculine plural בְּבֵיתאֵֿל וַיָּתִ֫ירוּ Jdg 1:23 they made a reconnoisance at Bethel (Vrss disagree, Gie וַיַּחֲנוּ, compare GFM); 3 masculine singular צַדִּיק מֵרֵעֵהוּ יָתֵר Pro 12:26 the righteous searches out (RV is a guide to) his friend, ᵑ7 AV is more excellent than (reading יָתָר), Hi Ew De and others spies out his pasture (מִרְעֵהוּ, in spiritual sense), all dubious; Toy conjectures מֵרָעָה יָסֻר.

Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain

Topical studies with this word 5 entries

Move3 occurrences Search3 occurrences Act2 occurrences See13 occurrences Know3 occurrences

Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.

Sources

eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0