בַּר
pure
also: clear, sincere fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Absolute-state word in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Adjective
- A word that describes or qualifies a noun.
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Gender
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Grammatical forms
- Adjective, Adjective, Feminine, Singular, Absolute 3 times (43%)
- Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 1 time (14%)
- Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Singular, Construct 1 time (14%)
- Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 1 time (14%)
- Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Plural, Construct 1 time (14%)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (morphhb / Westminster Leningrad Codex — WLC text public domain, morphhb tagging CC BY 4.0), counted across 7 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where H1249 appears — 7 distinct verses across 4 books. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Job 1 verse
Psalms 3 verses
- Psalms 19:8 בָּ֝רָ֗ה adj Adjective fs Yahweh's precepts are right, rejoicing the heart. Yahweh's commandment is pure, enlightening the eyes.
- Psalms 24:4 וּֽ/בַר conj + Adjective Adjective ms cs He who has clean hands and a pure heart; Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, And has not sworn deceitfully.
- Psalms 73:1 לְ/בָרֵ֥י prep + Adjective Adjective mp cs Surely God is good to Israel, To those who are pure in heart.
Proverbs 1 verse
Song of Solomon 2 verses
- Song of Solomon 6:9 בָּרָ֥ה adj Adjective fs My dove, my perfect one, is unique. She is her mother's only daughter. She is the favorite one of her who bore her. The daughters saw her, and called her blessed, The queens and the concubines, and they praised her.
- Song of Solomon 6:10 בָּרָה֙ adj Adjective fs Who is she who looks forth as the morning, Beautiful as the moon, Clear as the sun, Awesome as an army with banners?
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
בר (bar) is a Hebrew adjective most often rendered “pure.” Debuting at Job 11:4, it then recurs through the corpus. With 7 verses in 4 books, it is an uncommon word in the Hebrew Bible. It concentrates in Psalms, which alone accounts for 43% of its uses. It also covers “clear” and “sincere”, alongside “pure” — see its full sense range. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H1249 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 7
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 7 distinct verses.
- 4 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 4 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #2,835
- by frequency
- Top 5000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 2,835 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 7 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Psalms 3 verses 43%
- Song of Solomon 2 verses 29%
- Job 1 verse 14%
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 7 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 7 verses · 100%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 4 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: Are of a clean 1×, Clear 1×, I am clean 1×
- American Standard Version†: Are pure 1×, Clear 1×, Crib is clean 1×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Pure 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Pure 3×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H1249 across 7† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H1249 across 7† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H1249 across 7† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 5 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H1249 across 9† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 6 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in the full BDB
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 3 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
בר I son (Aramaic בַּר, Syriac ܒܰܪ ) only in late Heb. of Pr 31
בר II corn, iii. בַּר pure, בָּר, i. ii. בֹּר v. ברר.
בר III pure, clean, Jb 11
- 1. pure, clear: בר לבב pure in heart ψ 24:4; ברי לבב ψ 73:1; a pure damsel Ct 6:9, 10, man Jb 11:4, commands of God ψ 19:9. e.g. Psalms 24:4
- 2. clean: אֵבוּס בָּר crib is clean Pr 14:4. e.g. Proverbs 14:4
- 3. perhaps adv. נַשְּׁקוּ־בַר kiss purely, of sincere homage ψ 2:12 but cf. i. בַּר, p. 135. e.g. Psalms 2:12
בר IV grain, corn (cf. Arabic بُرٌّ wheat, grain of wheat), ψ 72
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
I. n.m. son (Aramaic בַּר, Syriac ܒܰܪ ) only in late Heb. of Pr 31:2, 2 (both cstr.), v 2 sf. בְּרִי; נשׁקו בר ψ 2:12 kiss the son, 𝔖 Modern Vrss Ges De Pe et al.; receive instruction 𝔗; δράξασθε παιδείας 𝔊; apprehendite disciplinam 𝔙 Ew; kiss purely, do sincere homage Aq Sym Jer BrMP 136; emend. Lag (מוֹסָרוֹ) נַשְּׁקוּ מוֹסֵרוֹ put on his bonds (cf. v 3) so Kmp CheOP 351.
II. corn, iii. בַּר pure, בָּר, i. ii. בֹּר v. ברר.
III. adj. pure, clean, Jb 11:4 ψ 24:4; בָּר Pr 14:4; pl. cstr. בָּרֵי ψ 73:1; f. בָּרָה ψ 19:9 Ct 6:9, 10;—
IV. n.m. grain, corn (cf. Arabic بُرٌّ wheat, grain of wheat), ψ 72:16 Am 5:11; 8:5, 6; בָּר Gn 41:35, 49; 42:3, 25; 45:23 (E) ψ 65:14 Pr 11:26 Je 23:28 Jo 2:24.
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from ברר (bârar) (H1305) — to purify.
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
בַּר II
- (b. h. בַּר poetic; ברי) son, offspring. Targ. Gen. IV, 25; a. v. fr.—ב׳ שמואל son of Sam.; … בְּרֵיה דר׳ son of … Ber. 3ᵃ. Ḥull. 11ᵃ; a. v. fr.—B. Mets. 110ᵃ … בְּרָהּ דבת the son of the daughter of … Sabb. 116ᵇ במקום ברא ברתא וכ׳ where there is a son, the daughter cannot inherit. Y. Shebi. IX, 39ᵃ bot. אמה דהן ילדת ב׳ this nan’s mother has born a son, i.e. she may be proud of him; Y. Ab. Zar. IV, 43ᵈ אית לאימיה ב׳ (not ואית); a. v. fr.—Pl. [בְּרִין, בְּרֵי. Targ. Y. Ex. X, 9 (some ed.). Targ. Ps. CXXVII, 5 Ms.] בְּנִין, בְּנֵי, בְּנַיָּא. Targ. Gen. V, 4 בְּנִין וּבְנָן sons and daughters; a. fr.—Keth. IV, 10 (in a marriage contract) בנין דכרין male issue, opp. בְּנָן נוקבין, ib. 11.—Ber. 10ᵃ ב׳ דמעלו good children. Y. B. Bath. VIII, 16ᵇ bot. אין הוון בנוי דהנייה (read בָּנַיי) if my children turn out well; a. v. fr.—בר בר, בר בת grandson. Esth. R. introd. (expl. נין ונכד) בר ובר בר (not וברבר) son and grandson; a. fr.
- [The meaning of בר in compounds is generally the same as of בן a. בעל, e.g. ב׳ אולפן a scholar, ב׳ אמודאי a diver, ב׳ שטיא a maniac, ב׳ דעת a rational being. בר בי רב, v. בֵּי. For compounds which are not self-evident, see the respective determinants.]
בַּר I
- [empty, open]
- 1. uncultivated ground, forest, prairie; opp. יישוב. Kil. VIII, 6. Ḥull. 80ᵃ שור הבר the ox of the prairie, buffalo. Ib. איל הב׳ forest ram. Y. Sabb. XIV, 14ᵇ bot. חזיר של ב׳ wild swine.
- 2. clear, visible, whence the outside, surface, opp. תוך. Yoma 72ᵇ a scholar שאין תוכו כבָרוֹ whose inside is not as his outside (who is insincere); Ber. 28ᵃ. Y. Pes. VII, 34ᵃ bot. תוך בר the inner parts of the Passover lamb must hang outside (not be put inside, v. R. Akiba in Mish. ib. VII, 1); Mekh. Bo, 6 תוך ובר (read תוכו בר); Pes. 74ᵃ R. Ish. called it תוך בר Ar. s. v. תך 2 (ed. תוך תוך, Var. in Rashi a. Ar. תוכברא q. v.).
בַּר
- 1. (= h. שָׂדֶה, יַעַר) forest, prairie &c. Targ. Ps. L, 10 sq. &c. Targ. Ps. L, 10 sq. Targ. O. Gen. III, 1; a. e.
- 2. (adj.) living in the forest &c., wild. Targ. Ps. l. c. Var. תרנגול ברא; Sabb. 78ᵃ תרנגולא ב׳ Ms. M. (ed. … לת) woodcock (hen of the prairie).—
- *3. peel. Ib. 139ᵇ ב׳ דתומא the peel of garlic; [Rashi, expl. צלע, must have read אברא].
- 4. (= h. חוּץ) outside, outdoors, street. Targ. Gen. XXXIV, 31 נפקת ב׳ a prostitute, v. חוּץ II; a. fr.—Y. Kil. IX, 32ᵇ מאן בעי לך לבר who wants thee outside? (an intimation to leave the room). Snh. 62ᵃ; 62ᵇ; Sabb. 106ᵃ, a. e. פוק תני לברא go out and teach it in the street (i.e. your tradition is rejected).—תנא ברא a Tannai not recorded in the Mishnah, v. בָּרַיְיתָא. M. Kat. 17ᵇ (Rashi: האי תנא דברייתא); B. Bath. 93ᵇ Ar. (ed. בתרא); cmp. בָּרָאָה.—4) (prep. a. adv.) outside; בר מן outside of, except, without. Targ. O. Gen. XIV, 24; a. fr.—Ber. 38ᵇ ב׳ מן דין וב׳ וכ׳ without this and without that, i.e. apart from these two arguments. Y. Erub. VII, end 24ᵈ ב׳ מדעתיה without his knowledge; a. fr.—Ḥull. 62ᵇ וסימניך ב̇ר̇ מיניה and thy mnemonical sign (as to צרדא a. ב̇ר̇דא, the one being forbidden, the other permitted) be: keep aloof from it (ב̇ר̇דא).—Trnsf. restriction (everywhere except …), proviso. Succ. 45ᵇ; Snh. 97ᵇ who enter the heavenly courts בב׳ with certain qualifications (by special grant), בלא ב׳ without any restrictions.—לְבַר, מִלְּבַר apart from, outside, exclusively. Cant. R. to VII, 8 לב׳ מישראל except the Israelites. Ḥull. 98ᵃ sixty one, בהדי דידה או … לב׳ מינה the one (egg) included or excluded? B. Bath. 90ᵇ שתותא מלב׳ the sixth part (as an addition) is outside, i.e. to each five portions one is added, an addition of twenty percent, opp. מִלְגֵו. B. Mets. 53ᵇ, v. חוּמְשָׁא.
בַּר III
- clear, bright, clean, pure. Tosef. Kil. III, 6 (missing in ed. Zuckerm., v. Var. a. l.) שהוא בר ובקי וכ׳ who is clear and well-versed in &c. Num. R. s. 10 (ref. to ברי Prov. XXXI, 2, a. בר Ps. II, 12) the Law שהיא נקראת בר which is called bar (clear, pure, Ps. XIX, 9).—Pl. בָּרִים. Ib. e.g. Proverbs 31:2
בַּר IV
- v. בָּרַר) [sifted] grain. Ber. 55ᵃ כשם שא"א לבר בלא וכ׳ as there can be no grain without straw, so there is no dream without idle things; Ned. 8ᵃ
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 7 distinct written forms H1249 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| בָּ֑ר | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Proverbs 14:4 | 1 |
| בָּ֝רָ֗ה | Adjective, Adjective, Feminine, Singular, Absolute | Psalms 19:8 | 1 |
| בָּרָ֥ה | Adjective, Adjective, Feminine, Singular, Absolute | Song of Solomon 6:9 | 1 |
| בָּרָה֙ | Adjective, Adjective, Feminine, Singular, Absolute | Song of Solomon 6:10 | 1 |
| וּ֝/בַ֗ר | Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Job 11:4 | 1 |
| וּֽ/בַר | Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Singular, Construct | Psalms 24:4 | 1 |
| לְ/בָרֵ֥י | Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Plural, Construct | Psalms 73:1 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H1249, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derives from
Shares the same root
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 7 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 7 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
