To seek, to want, to ask for: reaching after something you don't yet have (looking for it, requesting it, going after it). The Palestinian Aramaic dictionary (DJPA) gives the full spread: "to seek, ask, request, want." One root holds the whole arc of desire in motion, from the wanting that stirs in you to the searching that takes you out the door. Where yesterday's root raised the voice, this one moves the feet.
The corpus uses it about 76 times, and it cuts both ways. The same verb describes the merchant who seeks fine pearls and the outsiders who chase after food, drink, and clothing. Seeking itself is neither praised nor blamed; everything depends on what is sought. The root asks its one piercing question quietly, every time it appears: what are you actually after?
| Form | Pattern | Transliteration | Script | Standard | Qala rendering |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The verb | peal (base stem) | bʿa | בעא ܒܥܐ | to look for | sought, looked for, asked for |
| They seek | peal participle, plural | bāʿeyn | בעין ܒ݁ܳܥܶܝܢ | they seek | chase after (Matthew 6:32) |
| Who-seeks | peal participle | dbāʿe | דבעא ܕ݁ܒ݂ܳܥܶܐ | who seeks | searching for fine pearls (Matthew 13:45) |
| You (women) seek | peal participle, feminine plural | bāʿyān | בעין ܒ݁ܳܥܝܳܢ | you seek | you're looking for (Matthew 28:5) |
| Is-needed | ethpeel participle | metbʿe | מתבעא ܡܶܬ݂ܒ݁ܥܶܐ | is sought, is needed | what you need (Matthew 6:8) |
| Stem | Form | Sense | Witness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peal | bʿa | seek, want, ask for | corpus, ~76× (Matthew 6:32; 13:45; 28:5) |
| Ethpeel | etbʿi | be sought; be needed | corpus: Matthew 6:8 (metbʿe) |
| Pael | baʿʿi | search out thoroughly | standard lexicon; not cited from this corpus |
| Ethpaal | — | — | not attested |
| Aphel | — | — | not attested |
| Ettaphal | — | — | not attested |
| Shaphel | — | — | not attested |
Sit for a minute with the question the root keeps asking: what am I actually after? Not what should I want: what am I, in fact, seeking, as revealed by where my feet and thoughts went today. Let the two participles stand before you: the merchant, unhurried, who knows what the real pearl is worth; and the chasers, running hard after things already promised. Feel which one your body has been imitating this week. Then let Matthew 6:8 do its work: what you need is already known.
Hebrew has a rare cognate baʿah ("if you would inquire, inquire," Isaiah 21:12), but this root is at home in Aramaic, where it became the everyday word for seeking, wanting, and asking. Syriac later grew from it the bāʿutā, the "petition": supplication as institutionalized seeking (standard lexicon). This root carries Palestinian Aramaic attestation (DJPA), close to Galilean speech. It stands at the center of the great triad of Matthew 7:7 (ask, seek, knock), flanked by yesterday's calling and by Sh-ʾ-L (ask, day 22) and N-Q-Sh (knock, day 23).
Take two to three minutes and explain to a friend the two faces of bʿa: the merchant searching for fine pearls, and the outsiders chasing after food and clothes. Same verb, same energy, different objects. Use the word aloud in both stories, then tell them one true thing you have been seeking lately and which of the two seekers you have resembled. End at the tomb: the women looking for Yeshua, seeking pointed at the right thing.