בָּחַר
ba.char
to choose
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
ExploredThe Hebrew word "בָּחַר" (ba.char) is a verb that means "to choose." It is used 171 times in the Bible, indicating its importance in various contexts. The semantic domain of cognition and perception suggests that this word is closely related to mental processes, such as decision-making and selection. The range of usage for "בָּחַר" is quite broad, encompassing various situations where choices are made. It can refer to God's selection of individuals or nations (e.g., Genesis 6:3), the choice of leaders or officials (e.g., Exodus 18:21), or personal decisions (e.g., Joshua 24:15). This versatility highlights the significance of choice in human experience and the importance of making informed decisions. The frequency and variety of occurrences for "בָּחַר" in the Bible underscore its importance in Jewish and Christian traditions. It is a fundamental concept that highlights the agency and responsibility of individuals in making choices that shape their lives and relationships.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
171 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together, and ordered them according to their fathers’ houses, under captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, even all Judah and Benjamin. He counted them from twenty years old and upward, and found that there were three hundred thousand chosen men, able to go out to war, who could handle spear and shield.
2 Chronicles 29:11My sons, don’t be negligent now; for Yahweh has chosen you to stand before him, to minister to him, and that you should be his ministers, and burn incense.”
2 Chronicles 33:7He set the engraved image of the idol, which he had made, in God’s house, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.
Nehemiah 1:9but if you return to me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the uttermost part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and will bring them to the place that I have chosen, to cause my name to dwell there.’
Nehemiah 9:7You are Yahweh, the God who chose Abram, brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees, gave him the name of Abraham,
Job 7:15so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones.
Job 9:14How much less will I answer him, And choose my words to argue with him?
Job 15:5For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.
Job 29:25I chose out their way, and sat as chief. I lived as a king in the army, as one who comforts the mourners.
Job 34:4Let us choose for us that which is right. Let us know among ourselves what is good.
Job 34:33Shall his recompense be as you desire, that you refuse it? For you must choose, and not I. Therefore speak what you know.
Job 36:21Take heed, don’t regard iniquity; for you have chosen this rather than affliction.
Psalms 25:12What man is he who fears Yahweh? He shall instruct him in the way that he shall choose.
Psalms 33:12Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh, the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.
Psalms 47:4He chooses our inheritance for us, the glory of Jacob whom he loved.
Psalms 65:4Blessed is the one whom you choose and cause to come near, that he may live in your courts. We will be filled with the goodness of your house, your holy temple.
Psalms 78:67Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph, and didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim,
Psalms 78:68But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved.
Psalms 78:70He also chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds;
Psalms 84:10For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Psalms 89:19Then you spoke in vision to your saints, and said, “I have given strength to the warrior. I have exalted a young man from the people.
Psalms 105:26He sent Moses, his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
Psalms 119:30I have chosen the way of truth. I have set your ordinances before me.
Psalms 119:173Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts.
Psalms 132:13For Yahweh has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his habitation.
Psalms 135:4For Yah has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel for his own possession.
Proverbs 1:29because they hated knowledge, and didn’t choose the fear of Yahweh.
Proverbs 3:31Don’t envy the man of violence. Choose none of his ways.
Proverbs 8:10Receive my instruction rather than silver, knowledge rather than choice gold.
Proverbs 8:19My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold, my yield than choice silver.
Proverbs 10:20The tongue of the righteous is like choice silver. The heart of the wicked is of little worth.
Isaiah 7:15He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil and choose the good.
Isaiah 7:16For before the child knows to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken.
Proverbs 16:16How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! Yes, to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.
Proverbs 21:3To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Yahweh than sacrifice.
Proverbs 22:1A good name is more desirable than great riches, and loving favor is better than silver and gold.
Song of Solomon 5:15His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.
Isaiah 1:29For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen.
Isaiah 14:1For Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land. The foreigner will join himself with them, and they will unite with the house of Jacob.
Isaiah 40:20He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up a carved image for him that will not be moved.
Isaiah 41:8“But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham my friend,
Isaiah 41:9You whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from its corners, and said to you, ‘You are my servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away.’
Isaiah 41:24Behold, you are nothing, and your work is nothing. He who chooses you is an abomination.
Isaiah 43:10“You are my witnesses,” says Yahweh, “With my servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, neither will there be after me.
Isaiah 44:1Yet listen now, Jacob my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen.
Isaiah 44:2This is what Yahweh who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you says: “Don’t be afraid, Jacob my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
Isaiah 48:10Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
Isaiah 49:7Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, says to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and rise up, princes, and they shall worship, because of Yahweh who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
Isaiah 56:4For Yahweh says, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, choose the things that please me, and hold fast to my covenant,
Isaiah 58:5Is this the fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to humble his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under himself? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Yahweh?