H7203 — רֹאֶה (ro'eh)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H7203
Original: רֹאֶה
Transliteration: ro'eh
Pronunciation: ro-eh
Part of Speech: Masculine noun (substantivized Qal active participle)
Root: רָאָה (ra'ah, H7200) — to see; ro'eh is the Qal active participle used as a technical title
Occurrences: 5 unique verses (6 tokens) across 2 books
First Occurrence: 1 Sam 9:9 — "he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer (ro'eh)"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

Active participle of H7200 (ra'ah); a seer (as often rendered); but also (abstractly) a vision. KJV renderings: seer, vision.

H7203 is the lexicalized active participle of H7200 — literally "one who sees." Strong's assigns it a separate number because it functions as a substantive noun (a professional title) rather than a verbal participle. Note that many additional occurrences of the identical form הָרֹאֶה ("the seer") in Chronicles and Samuel are parsed under the root verb H7200 rather than this noun entry; the morphological form is the same, but KJV concordance mapping varies.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
the seer	3	60%
a Seer	1	20%
in vision	1	20%

Five of six tokens render "seer" as a personal title. The single "vision" rendering (Isa 28:7) uses the word abstractly — "they err in vision" — reflecting the lexicon's secondary sense.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
1 Samuel	4	0.5
Isaiah	1	0.1

All four 1 Samuel occurrences cluster in a single pericope (9:9-19), the narrative introducing Samuel as Israel's seer. The Isaiah occurrence (28:7) is a judgment oracle against drunken prophets. The Chronicles "seer" passages (1 Chr 9:22; 29:29; 2 Chr 16:7, 10) use the identical participial form but are mapped to the root verb H7200 by the KJV concordance rather than this noun entry.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Professional Title — "The Seer" (Samuel)¶

The dominant use: a recognized office-holder who receives and communicates divine revelation, equivalent to but older than the title "prophet" (nabi'). - 1 Sam 9:9 — "(Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.)" - 1 Sam 9:11 — "as they went up the hill to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said unto them, Is the seer here?" - 1 Sam 9:18 — "Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer's house is." - 1 Sam 9:19 — "And Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer: go up before me unto the high place"

2. Abstract Sense — "Vision" (Prophetic Capacity)¶

A single occurrence uses ro'eh abstractly for the faculty or act of visionary perception, in the context of prophets who have lost it. - Isa 28:7 — "the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink... they err in vision (ro'eh), they stumble in judgment"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
נָבִיא (nabi')	H5030	2x (40%)	"seer... prophet" — paired as synonyms or sequential titles (1 Sam 9:9; Isa 28:7)
שְׁמוּאֵל (Shemu'el)	H8050	2x (40%)	Samuel identified as "the seer" (1 Sam 9:19; implicit throughout 9:9-18)
שָׁאוּל (Sha'ul)	H7586	2x (40%)	Saul seeking "the seer" (1 Sam 9:11, 18)
יוֹם (yowm)	H3117	2x (40%)	"to day / that day" in the pericope's narrative frame
נָגַד (nagad)	H5046	2x (40%)	"tell" — inquirers expecting the seer to disclose hidden knowledge
פָּנִים (paniym)	H6440	2x (40%)	"before me / before" — spatial relationship to the seer's presence

Word Family / Cognates¶

H7200 רָאָה (ra'ah) — root verb: to see, perceive, appear (1,205v); ro'eh is its active participle
H4758 מַרְאֶה (mar'eh) — appearance, sight, vision (masculine noun; 103v)
H4759 מַרְאָה (mar'ah) — vision, mirror (feminine noun; 10v)
H7210 רֳאִי (ro'iy) — sight, vision, appearance

Synonyms¶

H2374 חֹזֶה (chozeh) — seer (from H2372 chazah "to gaze"); used for Gad (2 Sam 24:11; 1 Chr 29:29) and other court seers (2 Chr 29:25, 30; 33:18; 35:15); the chazah-root seer
H5030 נָבִיא (nabi') — prophet; 1 Sam 9:9 explicitly equates ro'eh and nabi' as earlier and later titles for the same role

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
חֹזֶה (chozeh)	H2374	"seer" (5v)	From the poetic/visionary root chazah; used for court seers like Gad and Asaph; ro'eh uses the common sight-verb root and is the older title per 1 Sam 9:9
רָאָה (ra'ah)	H7200	"seer" (5v)	The root verb itself, whose participle is also rendered "seer" in some verses mapped to H7200 rather than H7203; identical form, different concordance assignment

Semantic Domains¶

Code	Domain Label	Notes
001002007010	Prophets	Primary domain — ro'eh as prophetic office-holder
002004002015	Vision	Secondary domain — the abstract "vision" sense (Isa 28:7)

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occurrences	PMI	Notes
βλέπω (blepo)	G991	3	7.24	"to look at, perceive" — used for the participial "seer" title in LXX renderings

The LXX renders the "seer" title with ὁ βλέπων (ho blepon, "the one who sees") — the Greek active participle of blepo, structurally mirroring the Hebrew active participle. This contrasts with the root verb H7200 which maps primarily to ὁράω (horao, G3708). The parent verb and its participle-noun thus split across two Greek equivalents.