dābār

Semantic range

1. 1a spoken word or utterance
2. 2a matter, affair, business
3. 3a thing, event, or act

In Hebrew a word is also a thing. The same noun serves for what is said and for what happens, which quietly encodes a conviction: God's speech is effective. "He spake, and it was done" (Psalm 33:9). The Ten Commandments are called in Hebrew the ten dəbārîm — the ten words.

This is the background against which John's logos should be read (John 1:1). Greek philosophy supplies one half of the resonance; Hebrew supplies the other, in which God's word is an agent that goes out and does not return empty (Isaiah 55:11).

See also

• λόγοςlogos
• נָבִיאnābîʾ
• אוֹרʾôr