A number , definite (arithmetical) or indefinite (large, innumerable ; small, a few ); also (abstractly) narration
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The Hebrew noun mispar names a number, count, total, or measured quantity. It appears in censuses, inventories, days and years, assigned portions, armies, descendants, sins beyond counting, and stars known individually by God.
Reader summary
Full entry for מִסְפָּר (H4557) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Hebrew noun mispar names a number, count, total, or measured quantity. It appears in censuses, inventories, days and years, assigned portions, armies, descendants, sins beyond counting, and stars known individually by God.
The BSB source-word alignment has 134 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include . . . (17), according to the number (13), counting (13), number (10), the number (8).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 34:30. Its strongest book concentrations include Numbers (34), 1 Chronicles (21), Job (13), Jeremiah (6).
The Hebrew noun mispar names a number, count, total, or measured quantity. It appears in censuses, inventories, days and years, assigned portions, armies, descendants, sins beyond counting, and stars known individually by God. Counting can support order, distribution, remembrance, and truthful accountability. It can also become entangled with royal control, military confidence, comparison, or the illusion that what matters most can be reduced to totals.
The noun itself does not approve a census, prove success, or establish the worth of a person or congregation. Responsible teaching asks who counts, what is counted, for what purpose, under whose authority, and with what consequences. It values accurate data while refusing vanity metrics, dehumanization, surveillance, and statistical claims that hide uncertainty or individual suffering.
People are never merely entries in an impressive total.
Mispar covers numerical totals, counted groups, durations, assigned quantities, and uncountable abundance. Narratives and poems evaluate counting by its purpose, authority, accuracy, and relation to trust, justice, and personal dignity.
So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance, like the sand of the sea, that he stopped keeping track of it; for it was beyond measure.
Joseph stores grain beyond counting during abundance, preparing material provision for the famine that the narrative says will follow.
So the king said to Joab the commander of his army, who was with him, “Go now throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and register the troops, so that I may know their number.”
David orders a military census so that he may know the people’s number, beginning a narrative that exposes grave wrongdoing.
In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the sacred books, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.
Daniel discerns from Jeremiah’s writings the numbered years associated with Jerusalem’s desolation and turns toward prayer.
He determines the number of the stars; He calls them each by name.
God counts the stars and calls each by name, joining immeasurable power with particular knowledge rather than anonymity.
This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Each one is to gather as much as he needs. You may take an omer for each person in your tent.’”
Manna is gathered by the number of persons in each tent, linking counted provision with actual household need.
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. a number , definite (arithmetical) or indefinite (large, innumerable ; small, a few ); also (abstractly) narration
a number, definite (arithmetical) or indefinite (large, innumerable; small, a few); also (abstractly) narration BDB: number Usage: abundance, account, × all, × few, (in-) finite, (certain) number(-ed), tale, telling, time.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Mispar shows that counting is a tool whose moral meaning depends on its use. Joseph’s uncountable grain belongs to prudent preparation that will preserve life during famine. Exodus counts persons so provision can correspond to households. Daniel reads a numbered period and responds not with detached calculation but with confession and prayer. Psalm 147 holds vast scale and personal knowledge together: God counts the stars and names them, so divine numbering does not erase particularity.
Second Samuel 24 warns that a royal census can embody disordered confidence and control. Modern ministries need numbers for budgets, safeguarding, distribution, and truthful evaluation, but numbers can also become instruments of prestige or concealment. A growing total may hide neglected people; a small community may be faithful; a percentage without its denominator may mislead.
Christian stewardship should document methods, state uncertainty, protect privacy, and connect every metric to persons and purpose. Counting should support service and accountability rather than treating people as assets or God’s favor as a dashboard.
Ps.147.4
Mispar is a Hebrew noun for number, count, or numerical measure and can also occur in expressions of innumerability. Counting vocabulary does not itself specify whether the act is wise, neutral, commanded, or sinful.
Jesus counts the cost of discipleship in a wisdom illustration yet numbers hairs to assure God’s care. Acts records community growth and material distribution, while Paul insists that visible results remain God’s work and that every member matters within the body.