To be (or become ) pregnant , conceive (literally or figuratively)
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The Hebrew verb harah ordinarily speaks of conceiving or becoming pregnant, though prophets and poets also use conception figuratively for plans that produce falsehood, trouble, or emptiness. Biblical narratives place pregnancy within many different circumstances: long-awaited joy, grief, family rivalry, royal abuse of power, coercive arrangements, and judgment.
Reader summary
Full entry for הָרָה (H2029) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Hebrew verb harah ordinarily speaks of conceiving or becoming pregnant, though prophets and poets also use conception figuratively for plans that produce falsehood, trouble, or emptiness. Biblical narratives place pregnancy within many different circumstances: long-awaited joy, grief, family rivalry, royal abuse of power, coercive arrangements, and.
The BSB source-word alignment has 43 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include conceived (10), and she conceived (9), she conceived (3), she was pregnant (2), They conceive (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 4:1. Its strongest book concentrations include Genesis (21), Isaiah (5), Hosea (4), 1 Chronicles (2).
The Hebrew verb harah ordinarily speaks of conceiving or becoming pregnant, though prophets and poets also use conception figuratively for plans that produce falsehood, trouble, or emptiness. Biblical narratives place pregnancy within many different circumstances: long-awaited joy, grief, family rivalry, royal abuse of power, coercive arrangements, and judgment.
The verb identifies conception; it does not by itself explain consent, moral responsibility, medical condition, divine approval, or the future meaning of a child’s life. Responsible teaching honors the embodied person carrying the pregnancy and the dignity of the child without romanticizing pain or assigning blame. It listens carefully to the whole narrative, names exploitation where the passage does, and keeps pastoral care distinct from medical or legal conclusions.
People facing infertility, pregnancy loss, unwanted pregnancy, abuse, or complicated family histories need truthful, confidential, trauma-aware support rather than slogans drawn from a single occurrence.
Harah names literal conception and pregnancy in family narratives and can also portray the gestation of evil or futile plans. The wider passage determines agency, consent, promise, grief, wrongdoing, and whether the expression is literal or figurative.
So in the course of time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked for him from the Lord.”
Hannah conceives after prolonged grief and prayer, and the narrative presents Samuel’s birth without erasing her earlier anguish.
And he slept with Hagar, and she conceived. But when Hagar realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.
Hagar’s pregnancy unfolds inside unequal household power, Sarai’s plan, Abram’s participation, and the conflict that follows.
And the woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”
Bathsheba reports her pregnancy within the account of David’s royal power, sexual wrongdoing, concealment, and lethal abuse.
We were with child; we writhed in pain; but we gave birth to wind. We have given no salvation to the earth, nor brought any life into the world.
Isaiah uses pregnancy and labor figuratively for communal effort that has produced no saving deliverance in the earth.
Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.
The psalm figuratively portrays evil as conceived and labored over until falsehood is brought forth.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. to be (or become ) pregnant , conceive (literally or figuratively)
to be (or become) pregnant, conceive (literally or figuratively) BDB: conceive Usage: been, be with child, conceive, progenitor.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
הָרָה is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Harah gives Scripture plain language for conception while the surrounding story supplies its meaning. Hannah’s conception follows years of sorrow and prayer, but her story must not become a guarantee that every prayer for a child will receive the same answer. Hagar conceives within a household arrangement marked by unequal power, conflict, and later affliction; the pregnancy should not be used to excuse the decisions of those with greater agency.
Bathsheba’s brief message to David exposes consequences within a narrative of royal abuse, deceit, and death. Prophetic and poetic texts can move the embodied image into metaphor, describing evil or failed effort as something conceived and brought forth. These uses require distinction, not a single devotional formula. Pastoral ministry should protect privacy, take disclosures of coercion seriously, avoid assigning divine endorsement to harmful circumstances, and refer medical or legal questions to qualified professionals.
The word can support reverence for embodied life while leaving room for grief, lament, uncertainty, protection, and practical care for pregnant people, children, survivors, and families.
1Sam.1.20
Harah is a Hebrew verb used for literal conception and pregnancy and, by metaphorical extension, for plans or moral actions developing toward an outcome. Grammatical subject and literary genre are essential for interpreting agency and sense.
The New Testament recounts pregnancies within distinct promises and circumstances, honors women and children as persons, and calls communities to protect the vulnerable. It never makes one conception narrative a universal fertility guarantee or permits powerful people to rename sexual wrongdoing as providence.