בָּרָה
to eat
‘to eat’ is one of 4 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”). Here: ‘obj. heaven and earth Gn 1’
- Hiphil
- The causative active stem (“he caused / brought about”).
- Piel
- An intensive or resultative active stem. Here: ‘cut down’
Form
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Jussive
- A third- or second-person volitional form expressing wish or command (“let him write”).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
Person
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
Gender
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Every verse where H1262 appears in the Book of 1 Samuel — 1 distinct verse. 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.
1 Samuel
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.
ברה — transliterated bârâh — is a Hebrew verb carrying the sense “to eat.” Its uses cluster heavily in 2 Samuel (71% of all occurrences). With 7 verses in 3 books, it is an uncommon word in the Hebrew Bible. Debuting at 1 Samuel 17:8, it then recurs through the corpus. As a verb its force shifts by stem, across 4 stems (Qal, Niphal, and more). See the sense tree, 7-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H1262 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.
- 3 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 3 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
- 2 Samuel 5 verses 71%
- 1 Samuel 1 verse 14%
- Lamentations 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.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 6 verses · 86%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 1 verse · 14%
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 3 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†: I may eat 2×
- American Standard Version†: I may eat 2×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Choose 1×, Eat 1×, Food 1×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Eat 2×, I will eat 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H1262 across 8† 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.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H1262 across 8† 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.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H1262 across 6† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H1262 across 9† 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.
16 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB
Hebrew verbs can shift meaning by stem (binyan): Qal is the basic action, Niphal is often passive or reflexive, Piel often intensifies or makes it factitive, and Hiphil is typically causative. The senses below are grouped under the stem BDB assigns to each.
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 16 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.
ברה I shape, create (cf. Arabic بَرَى, form, fashion by cutting, shape out, pare a reed for writing, a stick for an arrow
Qal
- Pf. Gn 1:1 + 19 times; Impf. יִבְרָא Gn 1:21, 27 Nu 16:30; Inf. בְּרֹא Gn 5:1; Imv. בְּרָא ψ 51:12; Pt. בּוֹרֵא Is 42:5 + 10 times; sf. בֹּרַאֲךָ Is 43:1; בּוֹרְאֶיךָ Ec 12:1;—shape, fashion, create, always of divine activity, with acc. rei, seldom except in P and Is 2. e.g. Genesis 1:1
- 1. obj. heaven and earth Gn 1:1; 2:3 (P) Is 45:18, 18; mankind Gn 1:27(×3); 5:1, 2 (P) 6:7 (J) Dt 4:32 ψ 89:48 Is 45:12; the host of heaven Is 40:26; heavens Is 42:5; ends of the earth Is 40:28; north and south ψ 89:13; wind Am 4:13; the תנינים Gn 1:21 (P). e.g. Genesis 1:1
- 2. the individual man Mal 2:10 (‖ father) Ec 12:1; the smith and the waster Is 54:16(×2) Israel as a nation Is 43:15; Jacob Is 43:1; the seed of Israel Is 43:7. e.g. Malachi 2:10
- 3. new conditions and circumstances: righteousness and salvation Is 45:8; darkness and evil Is 45:7; fruit of the lips Is 57:19; a new thing חֲדָשָׁה (a woman encompassing a man) Je 31:22; בְּרִיאָה (swallowing up the Korahites) Nu 16:30 (J); cloud and flame over Zion Is 4:5. e.g. Isaiah 45:8
- 4. of transformations: a clean heart ψ 51:12 (‖ חִדֵּשׁ; new heaven and earth Is 65:17 (in place of old); transformation of nature Is 41:20; with double acc. בורא ירושׁלם גילה transform Jerusalem into rejoicing Is 65:18. e.g. Psalms 51:12
Niphal
- Pf. 2 fs. נִבְרֵאתְ Ez 21:35; 3 pl. נִבְרְאוּ Ex 34:10 + 2 times; Impf. יִבָּרֵא֑וּן ψ 104:30; Inf. sf. הִבָּרַאֲךָ Ez 28:13; הִבָּֽרְאָךְ Ez 28:15; הִבָּֽרְאָם Gn 2:4; 5:2; Pt. נִבְרָא ψ 102:19;—Pass. e.g. Ezekiel 21:35
- 1. be created: heaven and earth Gn 2:4 (P); creatures ψ 104:30; mankind Gn 5:2 (P); heavens ψ 148:5. e.g. Genesis 2:4
- 2. with reference to birth: במקום אשׁר נבראת in the place where thou wast created (i.e. native land) Ez 21:35; יום הבראך day when thou wast created (king of Tyre) Ez 28:13, 15 (cf. היום ילדתיך ψ 2:7); עַם נִבְרָא ψ 102:19 (‖ עַם נוֹלָד ψ 22:32). e.g. Ezekiel 21:35
- 3. of something new, astonishing: miracles Ex 34:10 (J); new things, חדשׁית Is 48:6. e.g. Exodus 34:10
Piel
- Pf. בֵּרֵאתָ Jos 17:15; בֵּרֵאתוֹ Jos 17:18; Inf. abs. בָּרֵא Ez 21:24(×2) 23:47;— e.g. Joshua 17:15
- 1. cut down: a forest Jos 17:15, 18 (J); וּבָרֵא אוֹתְהֶן בְּחַרְבוֹתָם Ez 23:47. e.g. Joshua 17:15
- 2. cut out: יָד hand, as an index Ez 21:24(×2). e.g. Ezekiel 21:24
ברה II be fat (Arabic بَرِئَ be free from disease, debt
Hiphil
- Inf. לְהַבְרִיאֲכֶם 1 S 2:29 to make yourselves fat. e.g. 1 Samuel 2:29
ברה III eat (Assyrian barû & deriv. ZimBP 31)
Qal
- Pf. 2 S 12:17 בָּרָה; Impf. אֶבְרֶה 2 S 13:6, 10 eat bread (בְּרוּ־לָכֶם 1 S 17:8 scribal error for בחדו לכם 1 K 18:25 DrSm 107). e.g. 2 Samuel 12:17
Piel
- Inf. לְבָרוֹת La 4:10 for devouring. e.g. Lamentations 4:10
Hiphil
- Impf. תַּבְרֵנִי 2 S 13:5; Inf. לְהַבְרוֹת 2 S 3:35 cause to eat bread. e.g. 2 Samuel 13:5
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. vb. shape, create (cf. Arabic بَرَى, form, fashion by cutting, shape out, pare a reed for writing, a stick for an arrow; بَرَأَ, create (loan-word); Ph. הברא CISi. 347 incisor, a trade involving cutting; Assyrian barû, make, create, COTGloss & Hpt KAT2 Gloss 1 but dub.; Sab. ברא found, build, DHMZMG 1883, 413, synon. בנה; BaZA 1888, 58, comp. Assyrian banû, create, beget, with change of liquid; Aramaic בְּרָא, ܒܪܳܐ, create)—
II. vb. be fat (Arabic بَرِئَ be free from disease, debt; v. מרא)—
I. vb. eat (Assyrian barû & deriv. ZimBP 31)
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: a primitive root
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.
בָּרָה
- 1. fem. of 1) fem. of בָּר.
- 2. v. ברי
ברי II
- (b. h.) to cut out (v. בָּרָא). Part. pass. בָּרוּי, fem. בְּרוּיָה hollowed out. Tosef. Kel. B. Kam. III, 3, v. חִידּוּק a. כָּרָה.
- denom. of בָּרִי, v. ברי I Hif.) to strengthen, to offer refreshment, esp. to mourners on coming from the funeral. M. Kat. III, 7 ואין מַבְרִין and no mourner’s meal is offered (during the festive week). Snh. II, 3. Ib. 20ᵃ, v. כָּרָה; a. fr. V. הַבְרָאָה. [Y. Sabb. VII, 10ᵃ top המברה בחרשים read המבְהֶה, v. בהי h.]
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 6 distinct written forms H1262 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| וְ/אֶבְרֶ֖ה | Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular | 2 Samuel 13:6 | 2 |
| בָרָ֥א | Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | 2 Samuel 12:17 | 1 |
| בְּרוּ | Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural | 1 Samuel 17:8 | 1 |
| וְ/תַבְרֵ֣/נִי | Verb, Hiphil, Jussive, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular | 2 Samuel 13:5 | 1 |
| לְ/בָרוֹת֙ | Verb, Piel, Infinitive Construct | Lamentations 4:10 | 1 |
| לְ/הַבְר֧וֹת | Verb, Hiphil, Infinitive Construct | 2 Samuel 3:35 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H1262, 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.
Derived from this word
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 5 — not the complete family. 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.
