קָרֹב
qa.rov
near
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# קָרֹב (Qarov): "Near" in Biblical Hebrew The Hebrew word qarov, appearing 77 times in the Bible, denotes spatial or temporal proximity—the condition of being near in distance or time. As a fundamental directional term, it functions as both an adjective and adverb, describing things that are close at hand rather than distant. This straightforward meaning makes it one of the basic vocabulary items necessary for describing relationships between objects, people, and events in biblical narratives and discourse. The frequency of qarov's occurrence across the biblical text suggests its utility as a common descriptor in everyday communication. Whether indicating that someone stands physically near another person, that an event is approaching in time, or that a concept is readily understood, qarov anchors descriptions in the concrete experience of proximity. Its 77 occurrences distribute throughout various biblical genres, indicating consistent usage across narrative, legal, wisdom, and poetic literature rather than concentration in any single book or type of writing. Without access to detailed contextual examples from the lexicon data provided, the word's full semantic range cannot be precisely delineated. However, the basic definition—near—establishes qarov as a relational term that helps biblical authors structure spatial and temporal orientation, making it essential to how biblical writers communicated about distance, approach, and immediacy to their audiences.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
77 total occurrences across the text — showing 50
Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the rooms of the house of our God, being allied to Tobiah,
Esther 1:14and the next to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who saw the king’s face, and sat first in the kingdom),
Esther 9:20Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both near and far,
Job 17:12They change the night into day, saying ‘The light is near’ in the presence of darkness.
Job 19:14My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me.
Job 20:5that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?
Psalms 15:3he who doesn’t slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his friend, nor casts slurs against his fellow man;
Psalms 22:11Don’t be far from me, for trouble is near. For there is no one to help.
Psalms 34:18Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit.
Psalms 38:11My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague. My kinsmen stand far away.
Psalms 75:1We give thanks to you, God. We give thanks, for your Name is near. Men tell about your wondrous works.
Psalms 85:9Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.
Psalms 119:151You are near, Yahweh. All your commandments are truth.
Psalms 145:18Yahweh is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
Psalms 148:14He has lifted up the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints, even of the children of Israel, a people near to him. Praise Yah!
Proverbs 10:14Wise men lay up knowledge, but the mouth of the foolish is near ruin.
Proverbs 27:10Don’t forsake your friend and your father’s friend. Don’t go to your brother’s house in the day of your disaster. A neighbor who is near is better than a distant brother.
Isaiah 13:6Wail, for Yahweh’s day is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
Isaiah 13:22Wolves will cry in their fortresses, and jackals in the pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged.
Isaiah 33:13Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and, you who are near, acknowledge my might.”
Isaiah 50:8He who justifies me is near. Who will bring charges against me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.
Isaiah 51:5My righteousness is near. My salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples. The islands will wait for me, and they will trust my arm.
Isaiah 55:6Seek Yahweh while he may be found. Call on him while he is near.
Isaiah 56:1Yahweh says, “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is near and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
Isaiah 57:19I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near,” says Yahweh; “and I will heal them.”
Jeremiah 12:2You have planted them. Yes, they have taken root. They grow. Yes, they produce fruit. You are near in their mouth, and far from their heart.
Jeremiah 23:23“Am I a God at hand,” says Yahweh, “and not a God afar off?
Jeremiah 25:26and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the surface of the earth. The king of Sheshach will drink after them.
Jeremiah 48:16“The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hurries fast.
Jeremiah 48:24on Kerioth, on Bozrah, and on all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.
Ezekiel 6:12He who is far off will die of the pestilence. He who is near will fall by the sword. He who remains and is besieged will die by the famine. Thus I will accomplish my wrath on them.
Ezekiel 7:7Your doom has come to you, inhabitant of the land! The time has come! The day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting, on the mountains.
Ezekiel 7:8Now I will shortly pour out my wrath on you, and accomplish my anger against you, and will judge you according to your ways. I will bring on you all your abominations.
Ezekiel 11:3who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. This is the cauldron, and we are the meat.’
Ezekiel 22:5Those who are near, and those who are far from you, will mock you, you infamous one, full of tumult.
Ezekiel 23:5“Oholah played the prostitute when she was mine. She doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors,
Ezekiel 23:12She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and rulers, her neighbors, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.
Ezekiel 30:3For the day is near, even Yahweh’s day is near. It will be a day of clouds, a time of the nations.
Ezekiel 30:3For the day is near, even Yahweh’s day is near. It will be a day of clouds, a time of the nations.
Ezekiel 42:13Then he said to me, “The north rooms and the south rooms, which are before the separate place, are the holy rooms, where the priests who are near to Yahweh shall eat the most holy things. There they shall lay the most holy things, with the meal offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the place is holy.
Ezekiel 43:19You shall give to the Levitical priests who are of the offspring of Zadok, who are near to me, to minister to me,’ says the Lord Yahweh, ‘a young bull for a sin offering.
Daniel 9:7“Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as it is today; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you.
Joel 1:15Alas for the day! For the day of Yahweh is at hand, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
Joel 2:1Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of Yahweh comes, for it is close at hand:
Joel 3:14Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Yahweh is near, in the valley of decision.
Obadiah 1:15For the day of Yahweh is near all the nations! As you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return upon your own head.
Zephaniah 1:7Be silent at the presence of the Lord Yahweh, for the day of Yahweh is at hand. For Yahweh has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated his guests.
Zephaniah 1:14The great day of Yahweh is near. It is near, and hurries greatly, the voice of the day of Yahweh. The mighty man cries there bitterly.
Zephaniah 1:14The great day of Yahweh is near. It is near, and hurries greatly, the voice of the day of Yahweh. The mighty man cries there bitterly.
Genesis 19:20See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (isn’t it a little one?), and my soul will live.”