Lexical Definition

‎כֹּפֶר‎ kôpher (ko'-fer) ransom ^H:N-M
from ‎כָּפַר‎

bribe, camphire, pitch, ransom, satisfaction, sum of money, village.

• 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

1) price of a life, ransom, bribe
2) asphalt, pitch (as a covering)
3) the henna plant, name of a plant (henna?)
4) village

See Greek: ἀντάλλαγμα · λύτρον · περικάθαρμα

Brown-Driver-Briggs

I. ‎כֹּפֶר‎ noun masculine the price of a life, ransom (ποινή, wergild); — ‎׳‎‎כ‎ Exod 21:30 + 10 t.; suffix ‎כָּפְרְךָ‎ Isa 43:3 ‎כָפְרוֺ‎ Ps 49:8* —

1. a price for ransom of a life Job 33:24; Job 36:18 ‎עַל‎ ‎׳‎‎כ‎ Exod 21:30 (Covt. code; || ‎פִּדְיֹן נַפְשׁוֺ‎); ‎נפשׁ‎ ‎׳‎‎כ‎ Prov 13:8 ‎לְ‎ ‎׳‎‎כ‎ ransom for Prov 6:35; Prov 21:18; Num 35:31; Num 35:32 (P); ‎כָּפְרוֺ‎ his ransom Ps 49:8* ‎ׅ‎ || ‎( פדה‎; ‎כָּפְרְךָ‎ thy ransom Isa 43:3 ‎ׅ‎ || ‎( תַּחְתֶּיךָ‎; ‎כֹּפֶר‎ alone 1Sam 12:3; Amos 5:12.

2. in the ritual of P ‎נַפְשׁוֺ‎ ‎׳‎‎כ‎ Exod 30:12 is a half shekel of the sanctuary paid by each male above twenty years at the census in order that there might be no plague upon them. It was offered to Yahweh, ‎לְכַפֵּר על‎ to atone for them.

II. ‎כֹּ֫פֶר‎ noun masculine pitch (Arabic (loan-word, compare Frä¹⁵⁰), Syriac ᵑ7. ‎כּוּפְרָא‎; Assyrian kupru, kupur Dl^{HWB 348}; compare ‎גֹּפֶר‎ ?) — Gen 6:14 (P).

III. ‎כֹּ֫פֶר‎ noun masculine name of a plant, El „enna (√ dubious; Late Hebrew ‎כּוֺפֶר‎; Aramaic ‎כּוּפְרָא‎, Arabic El „enna, see Löw^{No. 159}) — a shrub or low tree, with fragrant whitish flowers growing in clusters like grapes, ‎אֶשְׁכֹּל הַכֹּפֶר‎ cluster of Henna Song 1:14 (fragrant, figurative of a beloved one); plural ‎כְּפָרִים‎ Song 4:13.

IV. ‎כֹּפֶר‎ noun [masculine] village; — only singular construct ‎כֹּפֶר הַפְּרָזִי‎ 1Sam 6:18 villages of the peasantry. ‎כְּפַר הָעַמּוֺנִי‎ see ‎כָּפָר‎ above

Brown-Driver-Briggs References