Day 20 of 75 · Perception and response

Q-R-ʾ

qra: call

וקרא

ܘܰܩܪܳܐ

The feel

Qra means to call, summon, name, or read aloud. In each sense a voice goes out and brings someone or something near. Yeshua calls a crowd and a child to him, and he asks, "Haven't you read?" The verb appears about 175 times in the Gospels.

The root family

Form	Pattern	Transliteration	Script	Standard	Qala rendering
The verb	peal (base stem)	qra	קרא ܩܪܐ	to call; to read	call, summon, read aloud
And-he-called	peal perfect	waqrā	וקרא ܘܰܩܪܳܐ	and he called	he called the crowd (Matthew 15:10)
You have read	peal perfect, plural	qraytun	קריתון ܩܪܰܝܬ݁ܽܘܢ	you have read	haven't you read (Matthew 22:31)
Reading, lection	noun (qeryānā)	qeryānā	קרינא ܩܪܝܢܐ	reading	(not in the Gospels)

In the Gospels the verb appears about 175 times, in the Peal, qra, to call, summon, or read aloud (Matthew 15:10; 22:31), and in its passive, the Ethpeel etqri, to be called (netqrun, Matthew 5:9).

In his voice

Matthew 15:10

Then he called the crowd to him and said, "Listen, and understand.

waqrā וקרא ܘܰܩܪܳܐ, "and he called." This is the sense of summoning. His voice goes out, and the whole crowd comes close enough to hear.

Matthew 18:2

So he called a little child over, stood the child among them,

waqrā וקרא ܘܰܩܪܳܐ, "and he called." It is the same word as in Matthew 15:10. This time he calls one child into the middle of an argument about greatness.

Matthew 22:31

But about the rising of the dead, haven't you read what God told you:

qraytun קריתון ܩܪܰܝܬ݁ܽܘܢ, "have you (not) read." This is the reading sense of the same root. Reading is a kind of calling aloud, so the verse goes on, "what God told you."

Practice

Choose one familiar line of Scripture and read it out, loud enough to fill the room. Then say qra, the word for both calling and reading.

Connections

Sh-M-ʿ B-ʿ-Y qra: call

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