יָקַר
ya.qar
be precious
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# The Hebrew Word יָקַר (yaqar): Preciousness and Worth The Hebrew verb יָקַר (yaqar) carries the fundamental meaning "to be precious," indicating something that possesses significant value or worth. With eleven occurrences in the biblical text, this word functions as a quality descriptor—the state or condition of being esteemed, valued, or highly regarded. Rather than describing an action performed by a subject, the verb expresses an inherent or attributed quality of importance. The relative rarity of this term (appearing only eleven times) suggests it was employed in contexts where the concept of preciousness or value required specific emphasis. This measured use implies the word carried particular weight when employed, making it a deliberate choice by biblical authors rather than a common everyday term. The verb's semantic field encompasses both literal economic value and figurative worth, allowing ancient Hebrew speakers to discuss what matters most—whether material goods, relationships, or abstract concepts. In the biblical economy of language, יָקַר represents an important evaluative category: the capacity to be deemed precious or worthy of protection and care. Understanding this word illuminates how Hebrew speakers conceptualized value itself, marking distinctions between what was ordinary and what merited special regard or preservation.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
11 total occurrences across the text
For the redemption of their life is costly, no payment is ever enough,
Psalms 72:14He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence. Their blood will be precious in his sight.
Psalms 139:17How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is their sum!
Proverbs 25:17Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house, lest he be weary of you, and hate you.
Isaiah 13:12I will make people more rare than fine gold, even a person than the pure gold of Ophir.
Isaiah 43:4Since you have been precious and honored in my sight, and I have loved you, therefore I will give people in your place, and nations instead of your life.
Zechariah 11:13Yahweh said to me, “Throw it to the potter, the handsome price that I was valued at by them!” I took the thirty pieces of silver, and threw them to the potter, in Yahweh’s house.
1 Samuel 18:30Then the princes of the Philistines went out; and as often as they went out, David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was highly esteemed.
1 Samuel 26:21Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David; for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes today. Behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.”
2 Kings 1:13Again he sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. The third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and begged him, and said to him, “Man of God, please let my life, and the life of these fifty of your servants, be precious in your sight.
2 Kings 1:14Behold, fire came down from the sky, and consumed the last two captains of fifty with their fifties. But now let my life be precious in your sight.”