H7203a H7203a
seer, one who sees (archaic title for a prophet)
An older title for a prophet, explicitly glossed as archaic by the narrator in 1 Samuel 9:9: 'the one who is today called a prophet was formerly called a seer.' All five occurrences cluster in the story of Saul seeking Samuel to find his father's lost donkeys. The term emphasizes the prophet's visionary capacity, the ability to perceive what is hidden. Spanish 'el vidente' preserves this visual root precisely. In Chronicles the title resurfaces as a deliberate archaism honoring Samuel's era.
Senses
1. sense 1 — The archaic prophetic title designating one who receives divine revelation through vision. The narrator of 1 Samuel explicitly marks it as the old word replaced by navi ('prophet'), and all five occurrences in this batch belong to the Samuel narrative (1 Sam 9:9, 11, 18, 19). Multilingual renderings uniformly translate the visionary meaning: Spanish 'el vidente,' French 'le seer,' showing consistent recognition of the seeing function rather than the speaking function of prophecy. 5×
AR["الـ-رَائِي"]·ben["-দ্রষ্টা", "দ্রষ্টা", "দ্রষ্টার"]·DE["der-seer"]·EN["the-seer"]·FR["le-seer"]·heb["ה-רואה"]·HI["दर्शी", "दर्शी-का", "दर्शी-के"]·ID["pelihat"]·IT["il-veggente"]·jav["ingkang-ningali"]·KO["그-선견자", "그-선견자가", "그-선견자의", "선견자"]·PT["o-vidente"]·RU["прозорливец", "прозорливца"]·ES["el-vidente"]·SW["mwonaji"]·TR["-görücü", "-görücünün"]·urd["دیکھانے-والا", "دیکھانے-والے-کا", "دیکھنے-والے-کے"]
Related Senses
H3548 1. priest, cultic officiant (750×)G5547 1. Christ, Messiah, Anointed One (540×)H5030 1. Prophet, divine spokesperson (317×)H5930a 1. burnt offering (sacrifice) (286×)H3881 1. Levites (priestly class) (283×)G4396 1. prophet, spokesperson of God (146×)H6944 1. sanctuary, holy place (129×)G0749 1. high priest, chief priest (123×)H6944 2. holiness, sacredness (abstract quality) (123×)G5330 1. Pharisee (99×)G4336 1. pray to God (86×)H6944 3. holy things, sacred offerings (plural) (86×)H3722a 1. make ritual atonement (Piel) (85×)H6912 1. bury (Qal active) (82×)H6419 1. pray (Hitpael) (80×)H6944 4. holiness (with possessive pronoun) (77×)H6942 1. sanctify, consecrate (Piel factitive) (76×)H2930a 1. Qal: be/become unclean (75×)H7819a 1. slaughter an animal (Qal active) (72×)H1486 1. lot (object cast for decisions) (71×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† I. רֹאֶה n.[m.] seer, c. art. הָר׳ (except 2 S 15:27);—old name for נָבִיא 1 S 9:9b, used of Sam. v 9a, 11, 18, 19 and (as archaism) 1 Ch 9:22; 26:28; 29:29; of חֲנָנִי 2 Ch 16:7, 10; הֲרוֹאִה appar. of Zadok 2 S 15:27, but crpt. (conj. in We Dr); pl. (c. prep.) לָרֹאִים Is 30:10 the seers, as a class.