Definition

to seek or ask

Etymology

(Aramaic) or בְּעָה; (Aramaic), corresponding to H1158 (בָּעָה);

Where the KJV renders it

• ask
• desire
• make (petition)
• pray
• request
• seek

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.