קָרָא
qa.ra
to call: call to
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# The Hebrew Word קָרָא (qa.ra): "To Call" The Hebrew verb קָרָא appears 365 times throughout the Bible, making it one of the most frequently used action words in biblical Hebrew. Its core meaning—"to call"—encompasses the basic human act of summoning or addressing someone. The definition "call to" suggests the word involves directing one's voice toward a recipient with intentional purpose, whether to summon them to a location, get their attention, or establish communication. The high frequency of this word's occurrence (365 times) indicates its fundamental importance to biblical discourse. Rather than being a specialized or technical term, קָרָא appears to be a common, everyday verb that forms the backbone of narrative and communicative action throughout the biblical text. This prevalence suggests that the concept of calling—summoning, naming, or vocally directing attention—was essential to how biblical writers described human interaction and divine-human communication alike. Based solely on the provided data, we can observe that קָרָא served as the primary biblical Hebrew word for the action of calling. Its repeated use across the biblical corpus demonstrates that the act of calling was a central feature of the world depicted in these texts, whether describing ordinary human speech or more significant moments of address and summons.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
365 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
The king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said to him, “Why haven’t you required of the Levites to bring in the tax of Moses the servant of Yahweh, and of the assembly of Israel, out of Judah and out of Jerusalem, for the Tent of the Testimony?”
Genesis 12:18Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this that you have done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she was your wife?
Nehemiah 5:12Then they said, “We will restore them, and will require nothing of them. We will do so, even as you say.” Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they would do according to this promise.
Esther 2:14In the evening she went, and on the next day she returned into the second women’s house, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch, who kept the concubines. She came in to the king no more, unless the king delighted in her, and she was called by name.
Esther 3:12Then the king’s scribes were called in on the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month; and all that Haman commanded was written to the king’s local governors, and to the governors who were over every province, and to the princes of every people, to every province according to its writing, and to every people in their language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus, and it was sealed with the king’s ring.
Esther 4:5Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs, whom he had appointed to attend her, and commanded him to go to Mordecai, to find out what this was, and why it was.
Esther 4:11“All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s provinces, know, that whoever, whether man or woman, comes to the king into the inner court without being called, there is one law for him, that he be put to death, except those to whom the king might hold out the golden scepter, that he may live. I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”
Esther 4:11“All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s provinces, know, that whoever, whether man or woman, comes to the king into the inner court without being called, there is one law for him, that he be put to death, except those to whom the king might hold out the golden scepter, that he may live. I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”
Esther 5:12Haman also said, “Yes, Esther the queen let no man come in with the king to the banquet that she had prepared but myself; and tomorrow I am also invited by her together with the king.
Esther 8:9Then the king’s scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which is the month Sivan, on the twenty-third day of the month; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, and to the local governors, and the governors and princes of the provinces which are from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to every province according to its writing, and to every people in their language, and to the Jews in their writing, and in their language.
Esther 9:26Therefore they called these days “Purim”, from the word “Pur.” Therefore because of all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and that which had come to them,
Job 1:4His sons went and held a feast in the house of each one on his birthday; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
Job 9:16If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn’t believe that he listened to my voice.
Job 12:4I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, I, who called on God, and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke.
Job 13:22Then call, and I will answer, or let me speak, and you answer me.
Job 14:15You would call, and I would answer you. You would have a desire for the work of your hands.
Job 19:16I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I beg him with my mouth.
Job 27:10Will he delight himself in the Almighty, and call on God at all times?
Psalms 4:1Answer me when I call, God of my righteousness. Give me relief from my distress. Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.
Psalms 4:3But know that Yahweh has set apart for himself him who is godly: Yahweh will hear when I call to him.
Psalms 14:4Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on Yahweh?
Psalms 17:6I have called on you, for you will answer me, God. Turn your ear to me. Hear my speech.
Psalms 18:3I call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised; and I am saved from my enemies.
Psalms 18:6In my distress I called on Yahweh, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears.
Psalms 20:9Save, Yahweh! Let the King answer us when we call!
Psalms 22:2My God, I cry in the daytime, but you don’t answer; in the night season, and am not silent.
Psalms 27:7Hear, Yahweh, when I cry with my voice. Have mercy also on me, and answer me.
Psalms 28:1To you, Yahweh, I call. My rock, don’t be deaf to me, lest, if you are silent to me, I would become like those who go down into the pit.
Psalms 30:8I cried to you, Yahweh. I made supplication to the Lord:
Psalms 31:17Let me not be disappointed, Yahweh, for I have called on you. Let the wicked be disappointed. Let them be silent in Sheol.
Psalms 42:7Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and your billows have swept over me.
Psalms 50:1The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, speaks, and calls the earth from sunrise to sunset.
Psalms 50:4He calls to the heavens above, to the earth, that he may judge his people:
Psalms 50:15Call on me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
Psalms 53:4Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on God?
Psalms 55:16As for me, I will call on God. Yahweh will save me.
Psalms 57:2I cry out to God Most High, to God who accomplishes my requests for me.
Psalms 61:2From the end of the earth, I will call to you when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
Psalms 79:6Pour out your wrath on the nations that don’t know you, on the kingdoms that don’t call on your name;
Psalms 80:18So we will not turn away from you. Revive us, and we will call on your name.
Psalms 81:7You called in trouble, and I delivered you. I answered you in the secret place of thunder. I tested you at the waters of Meribah.”
Psalms 86:3Be merciful to me, Lord, for I call to you all day long.
Psalms 86:5For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you.
Psalms 86:7In the day of my trouble I will call on you, for you will answer me.
Psalms 88:9My eyes are dim from grief. I have called on you daily, Yahweh. I have spread out my hands to you.
Psalms 89:26He will call to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation!’
Psalms 91:15He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him, and honor him.
Psalms 99:6Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel was among those who call on his name. They called on Yahweh, and he answered them.
Psalms 99:6Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel was among those who call on his name. They called on Yahweh, and he answered them.
Psalms 102:2Don’t hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Turn your ear to me. Answer me quickly in the day when I call.