Definition

a number, definite (arithmetical) or indefinite (large, innumerable; small, a few); also (abstractly) narration

Etymology

from H5608 (סָפַר);

Where the KJV renders it

• abundance
• account
• all
• few
• (in-) finite
• (certain) number(-ed)
• tale
• telling
• time

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.