# H1856 - daqar **Strong's:** [H1856](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h1856/) · BLB lookup **Pronunciation:** daw-kar' **Part of speech:** verb (primitive root) **OT occurrences:** 11 ## Semantic range (Brown-Driver-Briggs) 1. **(Qal) to pierce, thrust through, stab**, the primary sense; literal piercing with a sword, spear, or sharp instrument. 2. **(Niphal) to be pierced through, stabbed**, the passive of (1). 3. **(Pual participle) pierced, riddled, run-through**, perfect-passive sense. The verb is concrete and physical: spear-thrusting, sword-thrusting, cavity-creating bodily wounding. It is the same word used of Phinehas's spear-thrust ([Numbers 25:8](/codex/numbers-25-8/)), of Saul's request to be impaled by his armor-bearer ([1 Samuel 31:4](/codex/1-samuel-31-4/)), and, most theologically loaded, of YHWH's prophetic statement in [Zechariah 12:10](/codex/zechariah-12-10/). ## Theological force, [Zechariah 12:10](/codex/zechariah-12-10/) in NT use The verb's most theologically critical occurrence is **[Zechariah 12.10](/codex/zechariah-12-10/)**: > *Ve-hibittu elai et asher daqaru*, "and they will look on Me whom they have pierced" YHWH is the speaker (12:1, 4, *YHWH* declares throughout the chapter); YHWH is the *Me*; YHWH is the one *pierced*. The verse asserts: - **A future event**, eschatological "in that day" formula (12:9). - **Israel's recognition**, they will "look upon" Him, with consequent grief (12:10b). - **The pierced one is YHWH**, first-person *me*; the speaker has not changed. This is theologically explosive in OT context: how can YHWH, incorporeal Spirit, transcendent God, be *pierced*? The verse seems to demand a future event in which YHWH Himself somehow becomes piercable. **NT use, [John 19:37](/codex/john-19-37/).** The Apostle John, eyewitness to Jesus's crucifixion, explicitly cites [Zechariah 12:10](/codex/zechariah-12-10/) of Christ: > And again another Scripture says, 'They shall look on Him whom they pierced.' ([John 19:37](/codex/john-19-37/), NASB95) John is asserting that the soldier's spear-thrust ([John 19:34](/codex/john-19-34/)) into Jesus's side fulfilled Zechariah's *daqar*-prophecy. This requires the identification: the YHWH-speaker of [Zechariah 12:10](/codex/zechariah-12-10/) is the crucified Christ. The Christological logic: - [Zechariah 12:10](/codex/zechariah-12-10/)'s *Me* = YHWH (Hebrew context) - [John 19:37](/codex/john-19-37/)'s *Him* = Jesus (NT context) - Therefore: Jesus = the YHWH-speaker of [Zechariah 12:10](/codex/zechariah-12-10/) = YHWH This is one of the most direct OT-to-NT YHWH-Jesus identifications. **[Revelation 1:7](/codex/revelation-1-7/)**, also cites [Zechariah 12:10](/codex/zechariah-12-10/): > BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. The ascension parallel: at His second coming, those who pierced Him will see Him. The eschatological "look upon Me whom they pierced" finds its consummation in Christ's return. ## Notable verses ### Messianic / Christological, the "pierced" prophecy - **[Zechariah 12:10](/codex/zechariah-12-10/)**, *vehibittu elai et asher daqaru*, "they will look on Me whom they have pierced" - **[John 19:37](/codex/john-19-37/)**, NT citation; fulfilled in Christ's crucifixion - **[Revelation 1:7](/codex/revelation-1-7/)**, eschatological / parousia citation ### Other piercing-language Christological texts (different Hebrew words) - **[Psalm 22:16](/codex/psalms-22-16/)**, "they pierced my hands and feet" (Hebrew *kaaru*, disputed reading; LXX *ōryxan* "they pierced/dug") - **[Isaiah 53:5](/codex/isaiah-53-5/)**, "He was pierced through (*mecholal*, from H2490) for our transgressions" ### Other OT *daqar* uses (literal piercing) - **[Numbers 25:8](/codex/numbers-25-8/)**, Phinehas pierces both an Israelite and Midianite woman with a spear, ending the plague - **[Judges 9:54](/codex/judges-9-54/)**, Abimelech's request to his armor-bearer to pierce him so he won't be said to have died at a woman's hand - **[1 Samuel 31:4](/codex/1-samuel-31-4/)** / **[1 Chronicles 10:4](/codex/1-chronicles-10-4/)**, Saul's request to his armor-bearer to pierce him through (refused, so Saul falls on his own sword) - **[Isaiah 13:15](/codex/isaiah-13-15/)**, "anyone who is found will be pierced" - **[Jeremiah 37:10](/codex/jeremiah-37-10/)**, Babylonian soldiers wounded in battle - **[Lamentations 4:9](/codex/lamentations-4-9/)**, "those pierced by the sword" - **[Zechariah 13:3](/codex/zechariah-13-3/)**, false-prophet penalty ## Patristic / scholarly note [Justin Martyr](/codex/justin-martyr/) (*Dialogue with Trypho* 64; *First Apology* 52, c. AD 160) cites [Zechariah 12:10](/codex/zechariah-12-10/) as one of the strongest single OT prophecies fulfilled in Christ. Tertullian (*Against the Jews* 14; *Apology* 21) and Cyprian (*Testimonies Against the Jews* 2.20) develop the same use. The verse is among the most-cited OT passages in early Christian-Jewish apologetic. Modern apologetic, Michael Brown (*Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus*, vol. 3, 2003), develops the Hebrew-grammatical case for the YHWH-pierced reading against Jewish counter-readings (which try to revocalize *elai* "to me" as *elaiv* "to him", a reading not supported by the Masoretic text or the LXX). The Septuagint of [Zechariah 12:10](/codex/zechariah-12-10/) reads *epiblepsontai pros me anth' hōn katōrchēsanto*, "they will look upon Me because they have danced (mocked) [Me]", which differs from the Masoretic *daqaru* (pierced). Some critical scholars have used the LXX-divergence to question the Masoretic reading. However, the Theodotion / Symmachus / Aquila Greek revisions all use *exekentēsan* (pierced, same word John uses in [John 19:37](/codex/john-19-37/) quoting the verse), preserving the Masoretic sense; the Targum and the Dead Sea Scrolls confirm *daqaru*. The NT writers (John, Revelation) explicitly use *exekentēsan*, reading the Masoretic Hebrew in Greek translation. The Christian textual tradition treats the Masoretic *daqaru* as authoritative. ## Verses in this codex _See Obsidian's backlinks pane for every verse page linking here._ ## See also - [H3068 - YHWH](/codex/h3068-yhwh/), the speaker / pierced one in [Zech 12:10](/codex/zechariah-12-10/) - [H4899 - mashiach](/codex/h4899-mashiach/), Messianic context - [Zechariah 12.10](/codex/zechariah-12-10/), locus classicus - [Isaiah 53](/codex/isaiah-53/), sister Messianic-suffering text (different Hebrew verb) - G1574 - ekkenteo, Greek "to pierce" (used in [John 19:37](/codex/john-19-37/) / [Revelation 1:7](/codex/revelation-1-7/))