הָרָא
ha.ra
Hara
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Analysis of Hara (H2024) Based on the lexical data provided, Hara appears in the Hebrew Bible only once, making it an extremely rare term. The single occurrence limits our ability to establish a comprehensive understanding of its semantic range or typical usage patterns. With only one attestation, this word represents what scholars call a *hapax legomenon*—a word that appears nowhere else in the biblical text. The rarity of this term presents a significant interpretive challenge. Scholars cannot rely on multiple contexts to clarify meaning, compare usage, or determine whether the word had specialized or general application in ancient Hebrew. A single occurrence provides minimal data about how Hebrew speakers actually used the word or what nuances it may have carried. Without additional occurrences or related lexical parallels within the biblical corpus itself, the precise definition and significance of Hara remain difficult to establish with confidence based solely on the textual evidence. For anyone studying biblical Hebrew, hapax legomena like Hara serve as reminders of the limitations of biblical language data and the challenges of biblical interpretation. They also highlight the importance of using external linguistic resources, ancient cognate languages, and scholarly commentary when available—though these fall outside the scope of what the lexical entry alone can confirm.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
1 total occurrence across the text