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shebanq

סֵפֶר sḗper – written document, book, letter

Semantic Fields: Utensils   Writing   
Author(s): Klaas A. D. Smelik
First published: 2021-11-08
Last update: 2026-01-21
Citation: Klaas A. D. Smelik, סֵפֶר sḗper – written document, book, letter,
               Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2021 (update: 2026) (WORK IN PROGRESS)

Introduction

Grammatical type:
Occurrences: 187x HB (18/115/54);

  • Torah: Gen 5:1; Exod 17:14; 24:7; 32:32, 33; Num 5:23; 21:14; Deut 17:18; 24:1, 3; 28:58, 61; 29:19, 20, 26; 30:10; 31:24, 26;
  • Nebiim: Josh 1:8; 8:31, 34; 10:13; 15:15, 16; 18:9; 23:6; 24:26; Judg 1:11, 12; 1 Sam 10:25; 2 Sam 1:18; 11:14, 15; 1 Kgs 11:41; 14:19, 29; 15:7, 23, 31; 16:5, 14, 20, 27; 21:8 (2x), 9, 11; 22:39, 46; 2 Kgs 1:18; 5:5, 6 (2x), 7; 8:23; 10:1, 2, 6, 7, 34; 12:20; 13:8, 12; 14:6, 15, 18, 28; 15:6, 11, 15, 21, 26, 31, 36; 16:19; 19:14; 20:12, 20; 21:17, 25; 22:8 (2x), 10, 11, 13, 16; 23:2, 3, 21, 24, 28; 24:5; Isa 29:11 (2x), 12 (3x), 18; 30:8; 34:4, 16; 37:14; 39:1; 50:1; Jer 3:8; 25:13; 29:1, 25, 29; 30:2; 32:10, 11, 12 (2x), 14 (3x), 16, 44; 36:2, 4, 8, 10, 11, 13, 18, 32; 45:1; 51:60, 63; Ezek 2:9; Nah 1:1; Mal 3:16;
  • Ketubim: Pss 40:8; 69:29; 139:16; Job 19:23; 31:35; Eccl 12:12; Est 1:22; 2:23; 3:13; 6:1; 8:5, 10; 9:20, 25, 30, 32; 10:2; Dan 1:4, 17; 9:2; 12:1, 4; Neh 7:5; 8:1, 3, 5, 8, 18; 9:3; 12:23; 13:1; 1 Chron 9:1; 2 Chron 16:11; 17:9; 20:34; 24:27; 25:4, 26; 27:7; 28:26; 32:17, 32; 34:14, 15 (2x), 16, 18, 21, 24, 30, 31; 35:12, 27; 36:8.

A.1 The word occurs also 4x in Biblical Aramaic. Lachish ostraca no. 3, obverse, lines 5, 9, 10, 11; no. 5, lines 6-7, no. 6, lines 3,4 14, ספר in the meaning of ‘letter’, written on an ostracon.

1. Root and Comparative Material

A.1

Egyptian:The Semitic loanword sōpēr, ‘scribe’, is attested in literature of the New Kingdom as šu-pi-r(a) (Hoch, SWET, 364).

Akkadian: sipru ‘document in Aramaic’; sepēru, ‘to write alphabetic script’; sepīru ‘scribe writing alphabetic script (mostly on skin) (CAD (S), 225, 304; AEAD, 99-100) are late loans from Aramaic.

A relation with genuine Akkadian šapāru, ‘to send’, but also ‘to send word, to send a report, a message, to write’ (CAD [Š] 1, 430-448; AHw, 1170-1) and its derivatives, among them šiprētu, ‘sealed document’, and šipru, ‘report, message’, is likely, despite the irregular correspondence between the sibilants (AHw, 1170; HALAT, 723; HAHAT, 898-900; Klein, CEDHL, 455; Tawil, ALCBH, 266). In Akkadian the semantic notion of writing was taken over by šaṭāru, ‘to write’, and its derivatives, e.g., the nouns šaṭāru, ‘copy, exemplar, text, inscription, writing’, šiṭirtu, ‘inscription, text’, šiṭru, ‘text, document, inscription’; cf. CAD (Š) 2, 221-41; (Š) 3, 144-7.

It is possible that Ugaritic and other Canaanite dialects received the Akkadian šapāru and šipru via Assyrian or Hittite which both pronounced š as s. See, however, the counter-position taken by Muffs 1969, 207 and Mankowski, ALBH, 121-3.

Ugaritic: spr has many different meanings, among them ‘register, list, written document, letter’ (Del Olmo Lete & Sanmartín, DULAT, 767-9).

Phoenician, Punic: spr, ‘inscription’ (Hoftijzer & Jongeling, DNSI, 799-801; Krahmalkov, PPD, 347).

Old and Imperial Aramaic: sprʾ has many different meanings, among them ‘writing, inscription, document, contract, letter’ (Hoftijzer & Jongeling, DNSI, 799-801; Porten & Lund, ADE, 243). Also a literary text like the Book of Balaam, son of Beor, written in ink on the whitewashed wall of a sanctuary in Sukkoth (Deir ʿAlla), was called a spr (Aḥituv, EFP, 435).

Postbiblical Hebrew: spr in many different meanings, e.g., ‘written document, book, letter’, but especially ‘Bible, Scripture’ (Levy, WTM, Bd. 3, 576-7).

Jewish Aramaic: sprʾ, ‘book, Bible’ (Sokoloff, DJPA. 387).

Samaritan Aramaic: spr, ‘book, document’ (Tal, DSA, 607).

Syriac: sefrā, ‘writing, book, letter, language’ (Payne Smith [Margoliouth], CSD, 387).

Mandaic: ʾaspar, sipra, ‘book’ (Macuch, MD, 29, 329).

Old Arabic:Sabaean sfrt, ‘measure’ (Biella, DOSA, 342).

Classical Arabic: sifr, ‘book, writing’ (Lane, AEL, 1371), is probably an Aramaic loanword. Genuine Arabic cognates might be sabara and šabara, ‘to measure’ (Lane, AEL, 1293, 1495).

Modern Arabic:Mehri śebūr, ‘to measure’, śēber, ‘span of outspread fingers’. Palestinian Arabic sēfer, ‘book’, is no doubt a loanword (Barthélemy, 344).

Ethiopic:Geez safara, ‘to measure’, sefrat, ‘measure’, masfart, ‘length’ (Leslau, ESAC, 488-9). Amharic säfärä, ‘measure’ (Leslau, CAmhD, 60).

2. Formal Characteristics

A.1 [Discussion will be added later.]

3. Syntagmatics

A.1 [Discussion will be added later.]

4. Ancient Versions

a. Septuagint (LXX) and other Greek versions (αʹ, σʹ, θʹ):

  • The LXX offers several translations, among them βίβλος, ‘scroll, book, letter’, diminutive βιβλίον, γράμμα, ‘written character, letter, book’, ἐπιστολή, ‘letter’ (Muraoka, HIS, 105; Lust et al., GELS-L, 80, 92, 175).

b. Peshitta (Pesh):

c. Targum (Tg):

d. Vulgate (Vg):

A.1 All other ancient versions show a similar awareness of the wide semantic spectrum of סֵפֶר.

5. Lexical/Semantic Fields

A.1 [Discussion will be added later.]

6. Exegesis

6.1 Textual Evidence

A.1 Although סֵפֶר can designate any written sheet or collection of sheets in Biblical Hebrew, in most cases סֵפֶר means ‘book’. For instance, in Eccl. 12:12: קֵצּ אֵין הַרְבֵּה סְפָרִים עֲשֹׂות, ‘of making many books there is no end’. Especially, סֵפֶר occurs in book-titles, for instance: יְהוָה מִלְחֲמֹת סֵפֶר, ‘the Book of the Wars of YHWH’ (Num. 21:14), מֹשֶׁה תֹֹּורַת סֵפֶר, ‘the Book of the Torah of Moses’ (Josh. 8:31; 23:6), הַיָּשָׁר סֵפֶר, ‘the Book of the Just’ (Josh. 10:13; 2 Sam 1:18), שְׁלֹמֹה דִּבְרֵי סֵפֶר, ‘the Book of the Acts of Solomon’ (1 Kgs 11:41), etc.

The physical object can be designated by סֵפֶר (see e.g. Exod 17:24; 32:32-33) but more specifically by the combination מְגִלַּת־סֵפֶר or מְגִלָּה alone (→ מְגִלָּה).

However, it is not always certain that a סֵפֶר was an object of papyrus or leather/parchment. In Ugaritic spr may designate a clay tablet and in Phoenician and Old Aramaic an inscription in or on a durable kind of stone like basalt (see section 4). There is no reason at all to suppose that in al these cases the text was copied from a scroll (pace Vander Toorn 2007, 176). In Isa 30:8 סֵפֶר is used in parallelism with → לוּחַ, ‘tablet’ and the explicit addition that it had to serve ‘as a witness for ever’ suggests that this סֵפֶר at least was made of durable stone. Obviously this recalls the הָאֶבֶן לֻחֹת, ‘tablets of stone’, given to Moses according to Exod 24:12 (cf. Liedke 1971, 156-7; Korpel 1990, 471-3). In Deut 31:26 the additional teachings incorporated in the Law are designated הַתֹֹּורָה סֵפֶר, ‘Book of the Law’ and are put beside the Ark containing the tablets of the Decalogue. Because in this case too it is added that this סֵפֶר shall be ‘a witness for ever’, the suggestion is created that the writing material was able to stand te tooth of time. Nothing in the text suggests that it was a scroll protected by a container, as some scholars have suggested.

A less frequent but also important meaning of סֵפֶר is ‘letter’ (cf. e.g. 2 Sam 11:14-15; 1 Kgs 21:8-9, 11; Jer 29:1). Letters were written (√כתב), sealed (√חתם, → חֹותָם), and sent (√שׁלח) (cf. 1 Kgs 21:9).

Another meaning of סֵפֶר is ‘written document’ in a legal context, for instance: a ‘letter of divorce’, כְּרִיתֻת סֵפֶר (Deut 24:1, 3; Isa 50:1; Jer 3:8). or an ‘evidence of purchase’, הַמִּקְנָה סֵפֶר (Jer 32:11, 12, 14, 16). In the latter case, a distinction is made between the sealed part of the letter (הֶחָתוּם) (vv. 11, 14) and the open letter (הַגָּלוּי סֵפֶר, v. 14).

In Late Biblical Hebrew סֵפֶר can mean ‘decree’ (Est. 1:22; 3:13 etc.).

A special case is סֵפֶר in Num. 5:23: in the case of assumed adultery the priest should write curses on a סֵפֶר and blot them out with bitter water. In this case the word indicates a sheet or scroll of papyrus. However, in Dan. 1:4, 17 סֵפֶר designates a kind of writing (Chaldaean alphabet) and in Isa 29:11-12 ‘writing’ in general.

In Isa 29:11-12 an incomprehensible vision is compared with a sealed סֵפֶר (here probably a letter) which nobody can read. In Isa 34:4 it is predicted that the heavens will be rolled together as a סֵפֶר. Here a scroll is meant probably .

The word occurs in many texts from the period of early Judaism on, cf. Jastrow, DTT, 1017-8; DCH, vol. 6, 189-93.

6.2 Pictorial Material

A.1 For some excellent photographs of early Hebrew manuscripts, see e.g. Parry & Qimron 1999; Tov 2004, Plates 1-21.

A.2

6.3 Archaeology

A.1 Because of the unfavourable climatic conditions in Israel most writings on papyrus and leather have been lost due to climatic circumstances. Thus far only one Hebrew papyrus from the preexilic period has been recovered (Aḥituv, EFP, 213-5) although papyrus must have been the most common writing material. Even Byblos which lended its name to βίβλος harvested papyrus from Lake Hule in what is now Israelite territory. Only in the dry climate of the Judean Desert have parchment and papyrus survived, hidden in jars and caves. Writings on stone and shards had a better chance to be preserved. It is sometimes stated that scrolls of leather or parchment were used from the second century BCE onwards only (cf. Smelik 1990), but this is not entirely certain anymore (→ מְגִלָּה).

7. Conclusion

A.1 In distinction to → לוּחַ, ‘board, tablet’, the biblical word סֵפֶר was mostly used for documents written on less durable materials (papyrus or parchment). However, the older cognates as well as a few passages in the Hebrew Bible prove that it cannot be excluded that in an earlier period a סֵפֶר might also have been written on clay tablets or even on natural stone.

The semantic sphere of סֵפֶר must have been rather broad, the basic meaning being apparently ‘written text’. In Biblical Hebrew texts possible translations are ‘book’, ‘letter’, ‘record’, ‘document’. סֵפֶר can also be used in the title of a book.For documents consisting of several sheets of papyrus/parchment glued/sewed together there was a special designation, מְגִלַּת־סֵפֶר, or merely → מְגִלָּה).

Bibliography

Korpel 1990: M.C.A. Korpel, A Rift in the Clouds: Ugaritic and Hebrew Descriptions of the Divine (UBL, 8), Münster.

Liedke 1971: G. Liedke, Gestalt und Bezeichnung alttestamentlicher Rechtssätze: Eine formgeschichtlich-terminologische Studie (WMANT, 39), Neukirchen-Vluyn.

Parry & Qimron 1999: D.W. Parry & E. Qimron, The Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaa), Leiden 1999

Smelik 1990: K.A.D. Smelik, ‘Ostracon, schrijftafel of boekrol? Jeremia 36, Jesaja 30:8 en twee ostraca uit Saqqara’, NedThT 24 (1990), 198-207.

Tov 2004: E. Tov, Scribal Practices and Approaches Reflected in the Texts Found in the Judean Desert (STDJ, 54), Leiden.

Zhakevich 2020
Philip Zhakevich, Scribal Tools in Ancient Israel. A Study of Biblical Hebrew Terms for Writing Materials and Implements (History, archaeology, and culture of the Levant, 9), Pennsylvania (PA): Penn State University Press, Eisenbrauns.

Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database