בְּרַךְ
to bless
‘to bless’ is one of 2 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Piel verb in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Qal Passive
- An archaic passive of the Qal, preserved in a few forms.
- Piel
- An intensive or resultative active stem.
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”).
Form
- Participle Passive
- A verbal adjective expressing action received (“written”).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Person
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
Number
- Singular
- One.
1 distinct verse where H1289 appears in the Qal stem, across 1 book. Filtered view — show all forms. 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.
Daniel 1 verse
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.
The Hebrew verb ברך centers on the idea of “to bless.” A scarce word — 5 verses in all of the Hebrew Bible. Daniel dominates its distribution — 5 of 5 verses. Its earliest occurrence is Daniel 2:19. As a verb its force shifts by stem, across 2 stems (Peal, Pael, and more). Dig into 5-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H1289 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 →
- 5
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 5 distinct verses.
- 1 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 1 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #3,337
- by frequency
- Top 5000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 3,337 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 5 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Daniel 5 verses 100%
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 5 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 5 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).
- King James Version: Blessed 3×
- American Standard Version: Blessed 3×
- Berean Standard Bible: Blessed 3×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Blessed 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H1289 across 5 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 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 H1289 across 5 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 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 H1289 across 5 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 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 H1289 across 5 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 3 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
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. This entry also uses Peal (the basic Aramaic stem, parallel to Qal) and Pael (the intensive Aramaic stem, parallel to Piel).
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.
Peal
- 1. act. kneeling on his knees (in prayer).
- 2. pass. blessed (be) the God, etc.
Pael
- . bless, praise
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
[ בְּרַךְ ] vb. kneel, bless
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from ברך (bârak) (H1288) — to bless.
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.
בָּרַךְ
- 1. to cave out. Denom. בְּרֵכָה, בֶּרֶךְ; cmp. בּוּרְכָּא, בּוּרְכְּתָא.
- 2. (cmp. ברר) to select, point out (cmp. esp. Gen. II, 3) whence to bless (Pi.).—Part. pass. בָּרוּךְ chosen, blessed, praised. הקדוש ב׳ הוא (abbr. הקב"ה) the Holy One, blessed be He. Pes. 118ᵃ; a. v. fr. Ib. 104ᵇ, a. fr. פותח בב׳ וכ׳ he (who prays) opens the benediction with barukh and closes with barukh (i.e. ברוך אתה ה׳). Tosef. Sot. I, 10 ב׳ בכלל, v. כְּלָל; a. fr. e.g. Genesis 2:3
- (b. h.)
- 1. to praise, bless, esp. to recite the due benediction. Ber. VI, 1. Ib. 5 בי׳ על היין having recited the blessing over wine &c. Pes. X, 9 ב׳ ברכת הפסח having recited the blessing over the Paschal lamb. Ib. 5 אנחנו חייבים … לְבָרֵךְ we are bound to … praise &c.; a. v. fr.
- 2. (cmp. נקב) to blaspheme. Snh. 56ᵃ עד שֶיְבָרֵךְ שם בשם until he blasphemes the Lord by His name. Ib. שבי׳ את השם בכינוי who blasphemed the Lord by an attribute.—Part. Pu. מְבוֹרָךְ blessed, praiseworthy. Ber. VII, 3; a. fr.
- 3. *to cut through, to clear virgin ground or forest. Tosef. Shebi. III, 20 ed. Zuck. (Var. מגדר); Y. ib. IV, 35ᵇ bot. מבדין; Y. Sabb. VII, 10ᵃ top המברה, v. בהי h. [Tosef. Shebi. I, 6 מבורכות, v. infra.]
- , Nithpa. נִתְבָּרֵךְ to be blessed (praised); to be increased (v. בְּרָכָה). Y. Ber. IX, 14ᵃ top ויִתְבָּרַךְ and be blessed. Y. M. Kat. I, beg. 80ᵃ if the waters were scanty ונִתְבָּרְכוּ and grew plentiful. Yeb. 63ᵃ; a. fr.
- (denom. of בֶּרֶךְ or בְּרִיכָה) to form a knee, to engraft; esp. to bend a vine by drawing it into the ground and making it grow forth as an independent plant, to sink. Shebi. II, 6; R. Hash. 10ᵇ; a. fr.—Tosef. Shebi. I, 6 אם היו מוּבְרָכוֹת (incorr. מבורכ׳) if they have been sunk before New Year &c.—Yeb. 63ᵃ (allud. to Gen. XII, 3) שתי ברכית טובות יש לי להַבְרִיךְ בך two good shoots (proselytes) have I to engraft on thee, Ruth and &c. (B. Kam. 38ᵇ … פרידות וכ׳). e.g. Genesis 12:3
בְּרַךְ
- Part. Peil בְּרִיךְ blessed. Targ. Gen. IX, 26; a. fr.—Sabb. 67ᵃ, a. fr. קודשא ב׳ הוא the Holiness (Holy One), blessed be He. Cant. R. to. IV, 4; Gen. R. s. 32 הדין טורא בְּרִיכָא this blessed mount (Gerizim, revered by the Samaritans; Deut. R. s. 3 קדיש).
- as preced. Pi.
- 1. to bless &c. Targ. Deut. VIII, 10; a. fr.—Esp. to say grace after meal. Ber. 46ᵃ כי מטי לְבָרוּכֵי וכ׳ when it was time to say grace, he said, Will you please, say grace for us. Y. ib. VI, 10ᵇ מהו למיבָרְכָה בסופה what benediction must be said after it? Ib. bot. לא אנא חכים מברכא I do not know how to say grace after it.—Part. pass. מְבָרַךְ. Targ. Y. II, Gen. XLIX, 2.
- 2. to blaspheme. Targ. Job II, 9.—Snh. 56ᵃ לישנא דברוכי in the sense of blaspheming.
- as preced. Hithpa. Targ. Gen. XII, 3; a. fr.
בֶּרֶךְ
- preced.)
- 1. knee. Y. Ber. I, 3ᵈ top.
- 2. a knee-shaped pole. Taan. 25ᵇ כמלא ב׳ חמחרישה (Var. כוך, v. Rabb. D. S. a. l.) (until the rain penetrates) as far as the knee of the plough enters the soil; Ohol. XVII, 1 בו׳. Kel. XXI, 2 בו׳. [Tosef. Shebi. IV, 20 ברך, v. בְּרִיכָה.]—Du. בִּרְכַּיִם. Ber. 34ᵇ; Meg. 22ᵇ; Shebu. 16ᵇ כריעה על ב׳ the word כרע means falling on one’s knees. [בִּרְכּוֹת, v. בְּרִיכָה.]
בֶּרֶךְ ²
- 1. knee. Targ. Is. XLV, 23.—Pl. בִּרְכַּיָא, בִּרְכֵּי, בִּי׳. Targ. Jud. VII, 6; a. e.—Ber. 6ᵃ הנהו ב׳ וכ׳ those fatigued knees (of scholars) must be ascribed to them (the demons). Pes. 108ᵃ, v. זְגָא.
- 2. = h. בְּרִיכָה. Pl. בִּירְכֵּי shoots, branches. Tam. 30ᵃ top (Var. in Rashi בְּרִיכֵי, Ar. בורכי).
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 5 distinct written forms H1289 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| בְּרִ֤יךְ | Verb, Qal Passive, Participle Passive, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Daniel 3:28 | 1 |
| בָּרְכֵ֔ת | Verb, Piel, Perfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular | Daniel 4:34 | 1 |
| בָּרִ֖ךְ | Verb, Piel, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular | Daniel 2:19 | 1 |
| בָּרֵ֣ךְ | Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Daniel 6:10 | 1 |
| מְבָרַ֔ךְ | Verb, Piel, Participle Passive, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Daniel 2:20 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H1289, 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
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 8 — not the complete family. 3 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 4 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 5 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.
