cha.tar describes digging or breaking through a barrier, and in one sea scene strenuous effort to reach land.

The dominant attested use is making an opening through a physical barrier, especially a wall, with Job 24:16 depicting entry into houses in the dark. Amos 9:2 extends the action to digging into Sheol, while Jonah 1:13 places the form in the men’s strenuous but unsuccessful attempt to reach dry land.

1. Making an opening through a barrier · dominant

   Ezekiel 12:5 commands an opening through a wall, and Ezekiel 12:7 describes carrying out that action by hand in the evening. Ezekiel 8:8 likewise joins the action in the wall to the discovery of an entrance; Job 24:16 depicts men entering houses in the dark, where the APB renders the clause “they break into houses.”

   Ezekiel 12:5Ezekiel 12:7Ezekiel 8:8Job 24:16
2. Digging into Sheol · occasional

   In Amos 9:2, the third-person masculine plural imperfect occurs in the conditional clause about people digging into Sheol; the APB renders it “If they dig into Sheol from there.”

   Amos 9:2
3. Strenuous movement toward dry land · occasional

   In Jonah 1:13, the sequential imperfect describes the men’s unsuccessful effort to return to dry land as the sea grows stormier. The APB renders the action “the men rowed hard,” so the term’s specific English equivalent remains uncertain in this translation.

   Jonah 1:13

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB commonly renders the wall and Sheol clauses with “dig,” while Job 24:16 has “break into houses” and Jonah 1:13 has “rowed hard.” The variation in Jonah 1:13 does not by itself establish a precise English rendering for the term.