זָרַק
to scatter
also: sprinkle, toss, throw, scatter abundantly fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Qal verb in the Hebrew Bible →
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: ‘toss’
- Qal Passive
- An archaic passive of the Qal, preserved in a few forms.
Form
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
- 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
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Grammatical forms 15 distinct
- Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 8 times (23%)
- Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural 5 times (14%)
- Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural 5 times (14%)
- Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 times (6%)
- Verb, Qal Passive, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 times (6%)
- Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 times (6%)
- Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 times (6%)
- Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 times (6%)
+7 more forms (7 occurrences)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (morphhb / Westminster Leningrad Codex — WLC text public domain, morphhb tagging CC BY 4.0), counted across 35 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where H2236 appears — 33 distinct verses across 9 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.
Exodus 6 verses
- Exodus 9:8 וּ/זְרָק֥/וֹ conj + Qal pf 3ms + sfx pers 3ms Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron, "Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh.
- Exodus 9:10 וַ/יִּזְרֹ֥ק conj + Qal wimpf 3ms They took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward the sky; and it became a boil breaking forth with boils on man and on animal.
- Exodus 24:6 זָרַ֖ק Qal pf 3ms Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.
- Exodus 24:8 וַ/יִּזְרֹ֖ק conj + Qal wimpf 3ms Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, "Look, this is the blood of the covenant, which Yahweh has made with you concerning all these words."
- Exodus 29:16 וְ/זָרַקְתָּ֥ conj + Qal wpf 2ms You shall kill the ram, and you shall take its blood, and sprinkle it around on the altar.
- Exodus 29:20 וְ/זָרַקְתָּ֧ conj + Qal wpf 2ms Then you shall kill the ram, and take some of its blood, and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood on the altar round about.
Leviticus 12 verses
- Leviticus 1:5 וְ/זָרְק֨וּ conj + Qal wpf 3cp He shall kill the bull before Yahweh. Aaron's sons, the priests, shall present the blood and sprinkle the blood around on the altar that is at the door of the Tent of Meeting.
- Leviticus 1:11 וְ/זָרְק֡וּ conj + Qal wpf 3cp He shall kill it on the north side of the altar before Yahweh. Aaron's sons, the priests, shall sprinkle its blood around on the altar.
- Leviticus 3:2 וְ/זָרְק֡וּ conj + Qal wpf 3cp He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the tent of meeting: and Aaron's sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood on the altar round about.
- Leviticus 3:8 וְ֠/זָרְקוּ conj + Qal wpf 3cp and he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it before the tent of meeting: and Aaron's sons shall sprinkle its blood on the altar round about.
- Leviticus 3:13 וְ֠/זָרְקוּ conj + Qal wpf 3cp and he shall lay his hand on its head, and kill it before the tent of meeting; and the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle its blood on the altar round about.
- Leviticus 7:2 יִזְרֹ֥ק Qal impf 3ms In the place where they kill the burnt offering, he shall kill the trespass offering; and its blood he shall sprinkle on the altar round about.
- Leviticus 7:14 הַ/זֹּרֵ֛ק ptcl def.art + Qal ptcp.act ms Of it he shall offer one out of each offering for a heave offering to Yahweh. It shall be the priest's who sprinkles the blood of the peace offerings.
- Leviticus 8:19 וַ/יִּזְרֹ֨ק conj + Qal wimpf 3ms He killed it; and Moses sprinkled the blood on the altar round about.
- Leviticus 8:24 וַ/יִּזְרֹ֨ק conj + Qal wimpf 3ms He brought Aaron's sons; and Moses put some of the blood on the tip of their right ear, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the great toe of their right foot; and Moses sprinkled the blood on the altar round about.
- Leviticus 9:12 וַ/יִּזְרְקֵ֥/הוּ conj + Qal wimpf 3ms + sfx pers 3ms He killed the burnt offering; and Aaron's sons delivered the blood to him, and he sprinkled it on the altar round about.
- Leviticus 9:18 וַ/יִּזְרְקֵ֥/הוּ conj + Qal wimpf 3ms + sfx pers 3ms He also killed the ox and the ram, the sacrifice of peace offerings, which was for the people: and Aaron's sons delivered to him the blood, which he sprinkled on the altar round about,
- Leviticus 17:6 וְ/זָרַ֨ק conj + Qal wpf 3ms The priest shall sprinkle the blood on the altar of Yahweh at the door of the Tent of Meeting, and burn the fat for a sweet savor to Yahweh.
Numbers 3 verses
- Numbers 18:17 תִּזְרֹ֤ק Qal impf 2ms But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy: you shall sprinkle their blood on the altar, and shall burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savor to Yahweh.
- Numbers 19:13 זֹרַ֤ק Qal Passive pf 3ms Whoever touches a dead person, the body of a man who has died, and doesn't purifies himself, defiles the tent of Yahweh; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet on him.
- Numbers 19:20 זֹרַ֥ק Qal Passive pf 3ms But the man who shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of Yahweh: the water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.
2 Kings 2 verses
- 2 Kings 16:13 וַ/יִּזְרֹ֛ק conj + Qal wimpf 3ms He burnt his burnt offering and his meal-offering, and poured his drink-offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace-offerings, on the altar.
- 2 Kings 16:15 תִּזְרֹ֑ק Qal impf 2ms King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meal-offering, and the king's burnt offering, and his meal-offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their meal-offering, and their drink-offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice: but the brazen altar shall be for me to inquire by.
2 Chronicles 4 verses
- 2 Chronicles 29:22 וַֽ/יִּזְרְק֖וּ וַ/יִּזְרְק֤וּ וַ/יִּזְרְק֥וּ conj + Qal wimpf 3mp conj + Qal wimpf 3mp conj + Qal wimpf 3mp So they killed the bulls, and the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar: and they killed the rams, and sprinkled the blood on the altar: they killed also the lambs, and sprinkled the blood on the altar.
- 2 Chronicles 30:16 זֹרְקִ֣ים Qal ptcp.act mp They stood in their place after their order, according to the law of Moses the man of God: the priests sprinkled the blood [which they received] of the hand of the Levites.
- 2 Chronicles 34:4 וַ/יִּזְרֹק֙ conj + Qal wimpf 3ms They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence; and the sun-images that were on high above them he hewed down; and the Asherim, and the engraved images, and the molten images, he broke in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it on the graves [of those] who had sacrificed to them.
- 2 Chronicles 35:11 וַ/יִּזְרְק֤וּ conj + Qal wimpf 3mp They killed the Passover, and the priests sprinkled [the blood which they received] of their hand, and the Levites flayed them.
Job 1 verse
Isaiah 1 verse
Ezekiel 3 verses
- Ezekiel 10:2 וּ/זְרֹ֖ק conj + Qal impv 2ms He spoke to the man clothed in linen, and said, Go in between the whirling [wheels], even under the cherub, and fill both your hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city. He went in as I watched.
- Ezekiel 36:25 וְ/זָרַקְתִּ֧י conj + Qal wpf 1cs I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
- Ezekiel 43:18 וְ/לִ/זְרֹ֥ק conj + prep + Qal inf.cs He said to me, Son of man, thus says the Lord Yahweh: These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon.
Hosea 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.
“to scatter” is the headline sense of the Hebrew verb זרק (zâraq). Translators differ — “sprinkled” in the King James Version, then “splattered” (Berean Standard Bible) and “and” (unfoldingWord Literal Text), as the renderings breakdown shows. It turns up in 33 verses across 9 books, a moderately common footprint. It concentrates in Leviticus, which alone accounts for 36% of its uses. The verb spans 2 stems, from Qal to Pual. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H2236 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 →
- 33
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 33 distinct verses.
- 9 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 9 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #1,023
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 1,023 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 33 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Leviticus 12 verses 36%
- Exodus 6 verses 18%
- 2 Chronicles 4 verses 12%
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 33 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 21 verses · 64%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 7 verses · 21%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 5 verses · 15%
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: Sprinkled 9×, Shall sprinkle 5×, Sprinkle 5×
- American Standard Version: Sprinkled 10×, Shall sprinkle 5×, Sprinkle 5×
- Berean Standard Bible: Splattered 8×, Shall splatter 4×, Splatter 4×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: And 10×, Shall splash 5×, Sprinkled 4×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H2236 across 35 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 9 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 H2236 across 35 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 10 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 H2236 across 35 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 14 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 H2236 across 46 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 18 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
7 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. This entry also uses Pual (the passive of 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 7 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.
Qal
- Pf. ז׳ Ex 24:6 Lv 17:6, sf. זְרָקוֹ Ex 9:8, זָֽרְקָה Ho 7:9 (12 times Pf.); Impf. יִזְרֹק Lv 7:2 + 16 times; Inf. לִזְרֹק Ez 43:18; Imv. זְרֹק Ez 10:2; Pt. זֹרֵק Lv 7:14, pl. זֹרְקִים 2 Ch 30:16; e.g. Exodus 24:6
- 1. toss (in handfuls, v. Ex 9:8; or from a bowl, מִזְרָק; opp. הִזָּה to sprinkle with the finger): e.g. Exodus 9:8
- a. cummin Is 28:25, dust, sq. עַל 2 Ch 34:4 Jb 2:12; ashes השׁמימה, heavenward, Ex 9:8, 10 (P), coals of fire על העיר Ez 10:2. e.g. Isaiah 28:25
- b. blood, על (ה)מזבח throw (from a bowl) against the altar Ex 24:6 (JE), Lv 17:6 (H), Nu 18:17 (P), 2 K 16:13, 15 Ez 43:18, especially in the ritual, על המזבח סביב against the altar round about Ex 29:16, 20 Lv 1:5, 11; 3:2, 8, 13; 7:2; 8:19, 24; 9:12, 18 (all P); sq. על העם Ex 24:8 (JE), sq. המזבחה 2 Ch 29:22(×3); without designation of place Lv 7:14 (P), 2 Ch 30:16; 35:11. e.g. Exodus 24:6
- c. water for purification, sq. על, Ez 36:25. e.g. Ezekiel 36:25
- 2. intrans. (si vera l.) Ho 7:9 גַּם שֵׂיבָה זָֽרְקָה בּוֹ grey hairs are profuse upon him (?read זָֽרְחָה, as in 2 Ch 26:19). e.g. Hosea 7:9
Pual
- Pf. זֹרַק, of water of purification poured over (עַל) one defiled by a corpse Nu 19:13, 20 (P). e.g. Numbers 19:13
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
vb. to toss or throw (in a volume), scatter abundantly (NH id.; Aramaic זְרַק id., ܙܪܰܩ disperse; Assyrian zarâḳu Lotz TP 138 Jäger BAS ii. 292 Anm.; cf. also Arabic زَرَقَ cast at, pierce, زَرَّاقَةٌ and مِزْرَاقٌ javelin = Ethiopic ምዝራቅ )—
— 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.
זָרַק
- to sprinkle; to cast, throw. Keth. 103ᵇ זְרוֹק וכ׳, v. מָרָה I. Sabb. XI, 1 הזוֹרֵק מרשות וכ׳ he who throws an object from private to public ground; a. fr.—Esp. to sprinkle blood on the altar (Lev. I, 5). Yoma III, 4 קבל … וזְרָקוֹ he received the blood and did the required sprinkling. Zeb. I, 4; a. fr.—Yoma 67ᵇ, v. זָקַר. e.g. Leviticus 1:5
- to be sprinkled. Pes. V, 3; a. fr.
זְרַק
- Targ. O. Ex. XXIV, 6 (Y. דריק); a. fr.—Gen. R. s. 53, end; s. 86, end [read:] זְרוֹק חוטרא … נפיל throw a stick in the air and it will fall back to its origin (the ground), i.e. innate disposition will always come forth; (cmp. Tanḥ. Balak 17; Num. R. s. 20).
- to be sprinkled. Targ. Num. XIX, 13; a. e.—Pes. 78ᵇ bot. אשתקד כי איז׳ דם last year when the blood of the Passover sacrifice was sprinkled.
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 29 distinct written forms H2236 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.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H2236, 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 → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 33 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 33 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
- Exodus 9:8
- Leviticus 1:5
- Numbers 18:17
- 2 Kings 16:13
- 2 Chronicles 29:22
- Job 2:12
- Isaiah 28:25
- Ezekiel 10:2
- Hosea 7:9
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.
