H3724 — כֹּפֶר (kopher)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H3724
Original: כֹּפֶר
Transliteration: kopher
Pronunciation: ko'-fer
Part of Speech: Masculine noun
Root: כָּפַר (kaphar, H3722) — to cover, make atonement
Occurrences: 17 unique verses (18 tokens) across 10 books
First Occurrence: Gen 6:14 — "Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch."
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

Properly, a cover, i.e. (literally) a village (as covered in); (specifically) bitumen (as used for coating), and the henna plant (as used for dyeing); figuratively, a redemption-price: — bribe, camphire, pitch, ransom, satisfaction, sum of money, village.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
ransom (incl. "a ransom," "The ransom," "thy ransom," "a ransom for him")	8	47.1%
satisfaction	2	11.8%
camphire / of camphire	2	11.8%
bribe / a bribe	2	11.8%
with pitch	1	5.9%
a sum of money	1	5.9%
villages	1	5.9%

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Amos	1	0.7
Proverbs	3	0.3
Exodus	2	0.2
Job	2	0.2
Numbers	2	0.2
1 Samuel	2	0.2
Genesis	1	0.1
Isaiah	1	0.1
Psalms	1	0.0
Song of Solomon	2	—

Spread across Law (Gen, Exo, Num), Wisdom (Job, Pro, Psa), Prophets (Isa, Amo), History (1Sa), and Poetry (Song). No single genre dominates. The ransom/legal-price sense clusters in Law and Wisdom; the botanical sense (camphire/henna) appears only in Song of Solomon.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Ransom Price for Life / Soul¶

The dominant usage — a price paid to redeem a life from death or liability. - Exo 30:12 — "then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them" - Exo 21:30 — "If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him" - Job 33:24 — "Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom" - Pro 13:8 — "The ransom of a man's life are his riches: but the poor heareth not rebuke"

2. Ransom Prohibited / Insufficient¶

Contexts where kopher is explicitly refused or declared inadequate. - Num 35:31 — "ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death" - Num 35:32 — "ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge" - Psa 49:7 — "None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him" - Pro 6:35 — "He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts"

3. Substitutionary Ransom¶

A person or nation given in place of another. - Isa 43:3 — "I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee" - Pro 21:18 — "The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous, and the transgressor for the upright" - Job 36:18 — "then a great ransom cannot deliver thee"

4. Bribe (Corrupt Use of Ransom Concept)¶

The ransom-price concept applied illegitimately — a payment to pervert justice. - 1 Sam 12:3 — "of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith?" - Amo 5:12 — "they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate"

5. Covering Material (Pitch/Bitumen)¶

The literal "covering" sense — a physical coating substance. - Gen 6:14 — "shalt pitch it within and without with pitch"

6. Henna Plant (Camphire)¶

Botanical usage — the henna plant, whose flowers provide a covering dye. - Song 1:14 — "My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi" - Song 4:13 — "Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
לֹא (loʼ)	H3808	6x (35%)	Negation — "no ransom," "cannot deliver"
נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh)	H5315	4x (24%)	"ransom for his soul/life"
נָתַן (nathan)	H5414	4x (24%)	"give a ransom" — payment action
לָקַח (laqach)	H3947	4x (24%)	"take a ransom/bribe" — receipt of payment
יְהֹוָה (Yehovah)	H3068	4x (24%)	Ransom "unto the LORD" or divine context
צַדִּיק (tsaddiyq)	H6662	2x (12%)	"ransom for the righteous"
רָשָׁע (rashaʻ)	H7563	2x (12%)	Wicked as ransom / wicked context

The nephesh collocation is significant: kopher is characteristically "a ransom for a life" — the price corresponds to the value of a person.

Word Family / Cognates¶

H3722 כָּפַר (kaphar) — root verb: to cover, make atonement, purge, reconcile
H3725 כִּפֻּר (kippur) — atonement (as in Yom Kippur)
H3727 כַּפֹּרֶת (kapporeth) — mercy seat (the atonement-cover on the ark)

All derive from the k-p-r root. Kopher is the noun of price — the payment that effects the covering. Kaphar is the verb of action. Kippur is the abstract result. Kapporeth is the ritual location.

Synonyms (SDBH)¶

None listed in SDBH database

Antonyms (SDBH)¶

עִיר מִבְצָר — fortified city (conceptual opposite: security through fortification vs. security through payment)

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
λύτρον (lytron)	G3083	"ransom"	Greek NT equivalent; lytron emphasizes loosing/release, kopher emphasizes covering/price
ἀντίλυτρον (antilytron)	G487	"ransom"	NT intensified form ("ransom in exchange"); 1 Tim 2:6 only

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occurrences	PMI Score	Notes
λύτρον (lytron) G3083	6	17.17	Primary equivalent — "redemption price"
λαμβάνω (lambano) G2983	5	5.25	Verb "to take/receive" (contextual, not semantic)
ψυχή (psyche) G5590	4	5.14	"soul/life" — the object ransomed (contextual)

The dominant LXX rendering is λύτρον (lytron), confirming that the Greek translators understood kopher primarily as a redemption-price.