מָכַר
ma.khar
to sell
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# מָכַר (makhar): To Sell The Hebrew verb מָכַר (makhar) carries the fundamental meaning "to sell" and appears 80 times throughout the biblical text, indicating it was a standard term for commercial transactions in ancient Israel. This frequency suggests that selling—the exchange of goods or property for payment—was a common enough practice to require consistent vocabulary. The word functions as a straightforward transactional term without additional qualifying nuances embedded in its definition. The 80 occurrences across the biblical corpus indicate this verb was used to describe various types of sales in both everyday commerce and legally significant contexts. The broad distribution of usage suggests makhar was the conventional way to express the concept of transferring ownership of property or goods in exchange for compensation. Without additional lexical data specifying different semantic ranges or contextual limitations, the word appears to have maintained a consistent meaning across its biblical appearances. Understanding makhar is important for comprehending the economic and legal dimensions of biblical narrative and law. The frequency of its appearance reflects the importance of property transfer and commerce in ancient Israelite society, making it a foundational term for analyzing accounts of economic activity, inheritance matters, and social obligations recorded in the biblical text.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
80 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
So the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares camped outside of Jerusalem once or twice.
Nehemiah 5:8I said to them, “We, after our ability, have redeemed our brothers the Jews that were sold to the nations; and would you even sell your brothers, and should they be sold to us?” Then they held their peace, and found not a word to say.
Nehemiah 5:8I said to them, “We, after our ability, have redeemed our brothers the Jews that were sold to the nations; and would you even sell your brothers, and should they be sold to us?” Then they held their peace, and found not a word to say.
Nehemiah 5:8I said to them, “We, after our ability, have redeemed our brothers the Jews that were sold to the nations; and would you even sell your brothers, and should they be sold to us?” Then they held their peace, and found not a word to say.
Nehemiah 10:31and if the peoples of the land bring wares or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and that we would forego the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt.
Nehemiah 13:15In those days I saw some men treading wine presses on the Sabbath in Judah, bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys; also with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; and I testified against them in the day in which they sold food.
Nehemiah 13:16Some men of Tyre also lived there, who brought in fish and all kinds of wares, and sold on the Sabbath to the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.
Esther 7:4For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for male and female slaves, I would have held my peace, although the adversary could not have compensated for the king’s loss.”
Esther 7:4For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for male and female slaves, I would have held my peace, although the adversary could not have compensated for the king’s loss.”
Psalms 44:12You sell your people for nothing, and have gained nothing from their sale.
Psalms 105:17He sent a man before them. Joseph was sold for a slave.
Proverbs 23:23Buy the truth, and don’t sell it. Get wisdom, discipline, and understanding.
Proverbs 31:24She makes linen garments and sells them, and delivers sashes to the merchant.
Isaiah 24:2It will be as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the creditor, so with the debtor; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest.
Isaiah 50:1Yahweh says, “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce, with which I have put her away? Or to which of my creditors have I sold you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, and your mother was put away for your transgressions.
Isaiah 50:1Yahweh says, “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorce, with which I have put her away? Or to which of my creditors have I sold you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, and your mother was put away for your transgressions.
Isaiah 52:3For Yahweh says, “You were sold for nothing; and you will be redeemed without money.”
Jeremiah 34:14At the end of seven years, every man of you shall release his brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to you, and has served you six years. You shall let him go free from you; but your fathers didn’t listen to me, and didn’t incline their ear.
Ezekiel 7:12The time has come! The day draws near. Don’t let the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is on all its multitude.
Ezekiel 7:13For the seller won’t return to that which is sold, although they are still alive; for the vision concerns the whole multitude of it. None will return. None will strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.
Ezekiel 30:12I will make the rivers dry, and will sell the land into the hand of evil men. I will make the land desolate, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I, Yahweh, have spoken it.”
Ezekiel 48:14They shall sell none of it, nor exchange it, nor shall the first fruits of the land be alienated; for it is holy to Yahweh.
Joel 3:3and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.
Joel 3:6and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, that you may remove them far from their border.
Joel 3:7Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold them, and will return your repayment on your own head;
Joel 3:8and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the men of Sheba, to a faraway nation, for Yahweh has spoken it.”
Joel 3:8and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the men of Sheba, to a faraway nation, for Yahweh has spoken it.”
Amos 2:6Yahweh says: “For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals;
Nahum 3:4because of the multitude of the prostitution of the alluring prostitute, the mistress of witchcraft, who sells nations through her prostitution, and families through her witchcraft.
Zechariah 11:5Their buyers slaughter them, and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be Yahweh, for I am rich;’ and their own shepherds don’t pity them.
Genesis 25:31Jacob said, “First, sell me your birthright.”
Genesis 25:33Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” He swore to him. He sold his birthright to Jacob.
Genesis 31:15Aren’t we considered as foreigners by him? For he has sold us, and has also used up our money.
Genesis 37:27Come, and let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh.” His brothers listened to him.
Genesis 37:28Midianites who were merchants passed by, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The merchants brought Joseph into Egypt.
Genesis 37:36The Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, the captain of the guard.
Genesis 45:4Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” They came near. He said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.
Genesis 45:5Now don’t be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.
Genesis 47:20So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe on them, and the land became Pharaoh’s.
Genesis 47:22Only he didn’t buy the land of the priests, for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them. That is why they didn’t sell their land.
Exodus 21:7“If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants do.
Exodus 21:8If she doesn’t please her master, who has married her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her.
Exodus 21:16“Anyone who kidnaps someone and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
Exodus 21:35“If one man’s bull injures another’s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live bull, and divide its price; and they shall also divide the dead animal.
Exodus 22:1“If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.
Exodus 22:3If the sun has risen on him, he is guilty of bloodshed. He shall make restitution. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.
Leviticus 25:39“ ‘If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you, you shall not make him to serve as a slave.
Leviticus 25:14“ ‘If you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another.
Leviticus 25:15According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor. According to the number of years of the crops he shall sell to you.
Leviticus 25:16According to the length of the years you shall increase its price, and according to the shortness of the years you shall diminish its price; for he is selling the number of the crops to you.