פָּרַס
Persia
BDB lists 3 entries for ‘Persia’ 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
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Proper
- A name of a specific person, place, or people (e.g. Abraham, Zion, Israel).
- Gentilic
- A noun naming a member of a people, tribe, or region of origin (e.g. an Israelite, a Moabite).
State
- Determined
- A noun marked definite — in Aramaic, the emphatic state.
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
Grammatical forms
- Noun, Proper 5 times (83%)
- Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Determined 1 time (17%)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (morphhb / Westminster Leningrad Codex — WLC text public domain, morphhb tagging CC BY 4.0), counted across 6 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where H6540 appears — 6 distinct verses across 2 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.
Ezra 2 verses
- Ezra 4:24 פָּרָֽס n Proper Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem; and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
- Ezra 6:14 פָּרָֽס n Proper The elders of the Jews built and prospered, through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.
Daniel 4 verses
- Daniel 5:28 וּ/פָרָֽס conj + n Gentilic ms det PERES; your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.
- Daniel 6:8 וּ/פָרַ֖ס conj + n Proper Now, O king, establish the interdict, and sign the writing, that it not be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which doesn't alter.
- Daniel 6:12 וּ/פָרַ֖ס conj + n Proper Then they came near, and spoke before the king concerning the king's interdict: Haven't you signed an interdict, that every man who shall make petition to any god or man within thirty days, save to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which doesn't alter.
- Daniel 6:15 וּ/פָרַ֔ס conj + n Proper Then these men assembled together to the king, and said to the king, Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians, that no interdict nor statute which the king establishes may be changed.
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.
פרס (Pâraç) is a Hebrew name most often rendered “Persia.” Daniel dominates its distribution — 4 of 6 verses. Spanning 6 verses in 2 books, it ranks among the uncommon words of the Hebrew Bible. It first appears in Ezra 4:24. The sections below give every occurrence and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H6540 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 →
- 6
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 6 distinct verses.
- 2 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 2 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #3,040
- by frequency
- Top 5000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 3,040 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 6 occurrences in the concordance →
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 6 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 6 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 2 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†: Persians 4×, Persia 2×
- American Standard Version†: Persians 4×, Persia 2×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Persians 4×, Persia 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Persians 4×, Persia 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H6540 across 6† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H6540 across 6† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H6540 across 6† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H6540 across 6† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
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 2 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.
פרס I Persia, Περσῶν (genit.), Dn 11
פרס II erron. פָּרַשׂ NöZA j, 417] vb. break in two, divide (NH in der. forms
- 1. c. acc. פַּרְסָה divide hoof, i.e. have divided hoof (> denom. have hoofs), Dt 14:6, 7, 8 and ‖ Lv 11:3, 4, 5, 6, 7, so also Lv 11:26; מַפְרִיסֵי הַפּ׳ Dt 14:7 = מַפְרִסֵי הַפּ׳ Lv 11:4 (H). e.g. Deuteronomy 14:6
- 2. pt. abs. denom. ψ 69:32 having hoofs (+ מַקְרִן). e.g. Psalms 69:32
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.pr.terr. Persia, Περσῶν (genit.), Dn 11:2 τῇ Περσίδι (𝔊 et Θ), 2 Ch 36:20 Μήδων (OPers. Pârsa, Persian, Persia, SpiegAPK 231, NPers. پَارْسِ, فَارْسِ; Arabic فَارِسُ );—פ׳ 2 Ch 36:22 +, פָּרָ֑ס v 20 +;—in late lit., 2 Ch 36:20, v 22(×2), 23 = Ezr 1:1(×2), 2; Dn 10:1 + 11 times Ezr Dn + (c. מָדַי) Est 1:3, 14, 18, 19; 10:2; Dn 8:20; פ׳ Ez 27:10; 38:5 is doubted by Toy (who, 27:10, reads כּוּשׁ, after Gr), but Krae defends.
II. erron. פָּרַשׂ NöZA j, 417] vb. break in two, divide (NH in der. forms; Assyrian parâsu, divide, hinder; Arabic فَرَسَ break neck, etc.; Syriac ܦܰܪܣܳܐ hoof, 𝔗 פַּרְסְתָא (v. פַּרְסָה infr.); cf. NöZA i. 417 f.);—Qal Pf. 3 pl. וּפָֽרְשׂוּ Mi 3:3 they have broken up bones, as in kettle (? read Impf. וַיִּפְרְשׂוּ Nöl.c.); Inf. abs. פָּרֹס לָרָעֵב לַחְמֶ֑ךָ Is 58:7 a breaking for the hungry thy bread, so Impf. 3 mpl. יִפְרְסוּ לָהֶם Je 16:7 (לֶחֶם om.; but read יִפ׳ לֶחֶם אֶל־אָבֵל Gie, cf. [in part] 𝔊 𝔙 Gf); Pt. פֹרֵשׂ לָהֶם La 4:4 (acc. לֶחֶם om.). Hiph. Pf. 3 fs. הִפְרִיסָה Lv 11:6, etc.; Impf. 3 ms. יַפְרִיס v 5; Pt. מַפְרִיס v 4 +, מַפְרֶסֶת v 3 +, etc.;—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from פרס (Pâraç) (H6539) — Persia.
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.
פָּרַס I
- (b. h.)
- 1. to split, break, esp. (v. בָּצַע) to break bread and say grace. R. Hash. 29ᵇ לא יִפְרוֹס אדם פרוסה וכ׳ a person should not break bread and say grace for his guests, unless he dines with them אבל פּוֹרֵס הוא לבניו וכ׳ but he may do so for his children and his household in order to train them in religious practice. Pes. 37ᵃ; Men. 78ᵇ (expl. מצה הינא) כל שפּוֹרְסָהּ ואין וכ׳ when he breaks it apart, and no cords (of unbaked dough) can be drawn out of it; a. e.—Part. pass. פָּרוּס; f. פְּרוּסָה; pl. פְּרוּסִים, פְּרוּסִין; פְּרוּסוֹת. Lev. R. s. 34 (ref. to פָּרֹס, Is. LVIII, 7) הלא תִפְרוֹשׂ … פָרוּס כבר היא פ׳ וכ׳ it does not read, ‘behold, thou shalt break’, but, ‘behold broken’; it (thy bread) is broken for thee, for from the beginning of the year it is decreed &c. Y. Dem. I, 21ᵈ bot. בפ׳ when it is a broken piece of an eatable, opp. שלם. Y. Ber. VI, 10ᵇ bot. פ׳ של חטים (sub. פת) a broken loaf of wheat bread; a. fr.—V. פְּרוּס, פְּרוּסָה. e.g. Isaiah 58:7
- 2. (cmp. פָּרַץ) to break through; part. pass. as ab. open, plain. Tosef. Kel. B. Mets. V, 4, v. סַוָּאר.
- 3. to spread. Meg. III, 3 (28ᵃ) ואין פּוֹרְשִׂין לתוכו מצודות nor dare you spread traps leading into it (the synagogue in ruins). Yoma III, 4 פָּרְסוּ סדין וכ׳ (Y. ed. פָּרְשׂוּ), v. סָדִין. Num. R. s. 11 הכהנים פּוֹרְשִׂים את כפיהם the priests spread their hands (when blessing). Ex. R. s. 42 אחז … ופ׳ הקב"ה וכ׳ he (Moses) took hold of the divine throne, and the Lord spread his cloak over him. Ib. (ref. to פּ֗ר̇ש̇ז̇, Job XXVI, 9) פ̇' ר̇חום ש̇די ז̇יו וכ׳ the Merciful Almighty spread the splendor of his cloud over him; ib. s. 41 פ׳ והגין עליו הקב"ה the Lord spread (his cloak) over him and protected him; a. fr.—Deut. R. s. 5 היה פוֹרֵשׂ דיאטגמא וכ׳ (not דאטגמא) he spread (published) a decree wherever he conquered &c.—Part. pass. as ab. Ab. III, 16, v. מְצוּדָה; a. e.—פ׳ על שמע (interch. with פ׳ את שמע) to spread a cloak over the head for the recitation of the prayers preceding the Shmʿa (Ḳaddish and Bar’khu), esp. to recite the prayers &c. for the benefit of those who have come too late for the regular service (cmp. Ber. 51ᵃ פריס סודרא, quot. in next w.). Meg. IV, 3 (23ᵇ) אין פורסין על שמע וכ׳ (Mish. ed. את; Mish. Pes. פורשין, v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note 90) the prayers for the Shmʿa are not read aloud … with less than two persons; [Rashi: to divide the Sh’ma (v. supra), i.e. to read parts of the prayers preceding the Shmʿa;] Y. ib. IV, 75ᵃ bot. פורסין את שמע. Ib. IV, 5 המפטיר … פורס וכ׳, v. פָּטַר. Ib. 6. Lev. R. s. 23 א"ל פְּרוֹס על שמע פ׳ they said to him, recite the prayers for the Shmʿa; he did; Cant. R. to II, 2 (mixed dict.) פְּרוֹס לן את שמע פרוס לון (read: פָּרֵיס); a. fr. e.g. Job 26:9
- to be divided, broken. T’bul Yom III, 1, v. עָרָה II. B. Mets. VII, 7 נִתְפָּרְסוּ עיגוליו if his fig cakes were broken; a. e.
- 1. to assign, give a share, a present. Gen. R. s. 74 end ולא היו מַפְרִיסִים וכ׳ Ar. (ed. מפרינים) they endowed only with their mouth, v. פָּרַן. Yalk. ib. 22 מַפְרִיס והולך, v. פְּרָת.
- 2. (denom. of פַּרְסָה) to part the foot, to have a parted hoof. Sifra Sh’mini, ch. V, Par. 4 משוסע, חזיר מפריס the swine parts its foot and is cloven-footed. Ḥull. 59ᵃ אין לך דבר שמפריס פרסה וכ׳ there is no animal that parts its foot and yet is unclean, except swine; a. e.—Ib. 51ᵇ ה׳ ע"ג קרקע the animal, after its fall, in attempting to rise made an impression of its parted feet on the ground (an evidence of its spine’s being unaffected).—Trnsf. to show the cloven foot (like swine, as if saying, ‘I am clean’, v. Lev. R. s. 13, end), to pretend piety. Gen. R. s. 22 יצא כמפריס וכמרמה וכ׳ (some ed. מפרים, corr. acc.) he went forth like a hypocrite and as one deceiving his Creator; (Yalk. ib. 38; Lev. R. s. 10 כמַעֲרִים, v. עָרַם II).
- 1. to spread. Bekh. 44ᵃ (ref. to Ex. XL, 19) רבינו פֵּירְשׂוֹ Moses our teacher spread it (hence he must have been ten cubits high); Sabb. 92ᵃ פרשו; Yalk. Ex. 372; a. e. e.g. Exodus 40:19
- 2. to put a wrap on, only in פֵּירְסָה נדה she became menstruous. Keth. 2ᵃ. Gen. R. s. 48; a. fr.
פְּרַס I
- 1. to split, divide, break; esp. to break bread and say grace. Targ. II Kings IV, 39 (h. text פלח). Targ. I Sam. IX, 13 פריס על מזונא ed. Lag. (oth. ed. פ׳ מזונא; Ar. יַפְרִיס נכסתא Af.).—Yalk. Prov. 947 פָּרֵיס מנחם ויהיב לאבל the comforter breaks the bread and gives it to the mourner (ref. to Lam. I, 17). Snh. 49ᵃ bot. פריס להו he divided with them, v. מוֹנִינֵי. B. Mets. 40ᵃ פריס ר׳ י׳ שיתא וכ׳ R. J. sold at the rate of six kuzé for &c.; a. e.—Part. pass. פָּרִיס; f. פְּרִיסָא. Pes. 37ᵇ והכא כמאן דפ׳ דמיא and here it has the appearance of being broken; Men. 78ᵇ (not דמי). Bekh. 40ᵃ דשפיד ופריס (ed. ופרוס, Hebr. form) when the mouth is pointed and (the lip) parted (like that of swine); a. e. e.g. Lamentations 1:17
- 2. to divide, arrange; (= h. העריך, סדר) to arbitrate, value. Targ. O. Lev. XXVII, 8; a. fr.—Denom. פּוּרְסָא, פּוֹרָסָא, פּוּרְסָנָא.
- 3. to distribute, spread; to publish. Targ. Job XXXVI, 30. Targ. II Sam. XVII, 19 ופַרְסַת (not ופֵ׳). Targ. Prov. XXIX, 5; a. fr.—Part. pass. פָּרִיס; f. פְּרִיסָא; pl. פְּרִיסִין; פְּרִיסַן. Targ. Ex. XXV, 20 (Bxt. פָּרְסִין); a. fr.—Targ. II Esth. IV, 8 פָּרִיס published.—Ber. 55ᵇ בעידנא דפַרְסֵי וכ׳ when they (the priests) spread their hands (to bless). Y. Sabb. XX, beg. 17ᶜ הוון פָּרְסִין קילעיה וכ׳ they spread the curtains on the day before up to four cubits, and the next day they spread them entirely. Ber. 51ᵃ (expl. עיטוף) ר׳ אסי פָרֵיס סודרא וכ׳ R. A. used to spread a cloth over his head (before taking up the cup of benediction). Sabb. 48ᵃ. Y. ib. XVII, end, 15ᵈ, v. גְּדִישָׁא; a. fr.
- 1. to spread. Targ. Lam. I, 17; a. e.
- 2. (Pali) פַּרְסִי (v. P. Sm. 3276) to publish, divulge. Targ. Y. II, Gen. XXXVIII, 25 מפרסיא (Y. I מפרסמא).
- 1. to distribute, arrange. Targ. I Sam. IX, 13 Ar. (v. supra).
- 2. to spread forth. Targ. Is. XXV, 11.
- 3. (v. preced.Hif.) to set the foot. Targ. II Esth. I, 2.
- to be spread, published. Ib. III, 15; VIII, 13, sq. אתפרסת Ar. s. v. דיטגמא (ed. אתפרסמת).—Lam. R. to II, 2 ולא תִתְפַּרְסִין וכ׳ (fr. פַּרְסִי) rather than that the secrets of the government be divulged.
פָּרַס II
- (b. h.) pr. n. Persia. Esth. R. to I, 3 כשהמלכות במדי פ׳ טפילה לה כשהמלכות בפ׳ וכ׳ when the government is in Media, Persia is named as an attachment to it, and when the government is in Persia, Media is &c. Ib. למה קרין אותה פ׳ וכ׳ why is it called Paras?, v. פְּרוּסָה; a. fr.—[Deut. R. s. 10, a. e. פ׳, a censorial change, for רומי.].—Targ. II Chr. XXXVI, 20; 22; a. e.
פְּרָס
- (פָּרַס)
- 1. part, half, v. פְּרוּס.
- 2. a piece, esp. a certain quantity of bread. Neg. XIII, 9 כדי אכילת פ׳ פת חטין וכ׳ as much time as is required for eating a piece, that is, a piece of wheat bread &c. Ib. 10. Tosef. ib. VII, 10 וכמה הוא פ׳ חצי וכ׳ and how much is a p’ras? Half a loaf, of which three make a Kab; Tosef. Mikv. VII (VIII), 6; Erub. 83ᵃ; a. fr.—Pl. פְּרָסִים; Du. פְּרָסַיִים. Y. Sabb. I, 2ᵇ bot. אכילת פ׳ eating two p’rasim (with interruption); ib. כמה זתים בכמה פ׳ several olive sizes of eatables eaten within a time required for eating several pieces; Y. Hor. III, 47ᵇ bot.—Trnsf. the fare received by members of a household, or by slaves. Erub. 72ᵇ במקבלי פ׳ שנו the Mishnah speaking of brothers eating at their father’s table means those receiving, each his separate fare, at the hands of their father. Ib. 73ᵃ מי שיש לו … מקבלות פ׳ וכ׳ if a man has five wives (occupying separate dwellings in one court) receiving their fare at the hands of their husband, and five slaves receiving &c. Y. Taan. I, beg. 63ᶜ הוא תובע פְּרָסוֹ ממנו he (the slave) begs him for his fare; (ib. פרנסתו). Ib. סמוך לפרסו near the period when his fare is due. Ab. I, 3, v. עֶבֶד; a. fr.
- 3. P’ras, half a Maneh (מָנֶה). Eduy. III, 3 מנה ופ׳ each weighing one Maneh and a half. Peah VIII, 5; a. fr.—מנה בן פ׳, v. מָנֶה.
- 4. P’ras, half the length of a furrow (v. infra); בית (ה)פ׳ an area of a square P’ras, esp. a field, of a square P’ras, declared unclean on account of crushed bones carried over it from a ploughed grave. M. Kat. 5ᵇ החורש את הקבר הרי הוא עושה בית פ׳ וכמה הוא עושה חצי מענה וכ׳ Ms. M. a. Rashi (ed. מלא מענה, v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note) he who ploughs over a grave, makes a beth-p’ras (an unclean field), and how much of it does he make unclean? Half the length of a furrow of one hundred cubits; Ohol. XVII, 1 החורש … עושה בית פ׳ … מאה אמה בית ארבעה סאים he who ploughs &c.; how far does he make it unclean? (Half) the size of a furrow of a hundred cubits (in all directions), which is a square of the capacity of four S’ahs of seed; Nidd. 57ᵃ; Tosef. Ohol. XVII, 1. Ohol. XVII, 2 בית פ׳ עושה בית פ׳ an unclean field may create another unclean field (if the plough passes over and beyond it). Tosef. ib. XVII, 4 אבל עולה הוא כמדת הפ׳ (read: במדת; R. S. to Ohol. XVII, 3 כמדת בית הפ׳) but it is counted in so as to complete the measure of a beth-p’ras; a. fr.—Pl. בית פְּרָסוֹת. Ohol. XVIII, 2 (M. Kat. 5ᵇ בית פרס). [Maim. explains בית הפ׳, by ref. to פָּרַס to extend, the area of extension; Rashi, by ref. to פָּרַס to break, an area of bone splinters.]
פְּרַס II
- as preced. 2, the slave’s or serf’s fare. Targ. II Sam. VIII, 2; 6 עבדין נטלי פ׳ serfs working for their fare (h. text נושאי מנחה); Targ. I Chr. XVIII, 2 נטלי פ׳ מקרבי דורון; ib. 6 נטלי פ׳ מסקי מסין (combining two interpretations).
פָּרָס
- (פָּרַס)
- 1. curtain, canopy, baldachin. Num. R. s. 10 כמין פ׳ שטחה לו וכ׳ she (Pharaoh’s daughter) spread over him (Solomon) a sort of baldachin in which were fixed precious stones &c.—Pl. פָּרָסִין. Y’lamd. to Num. XV, 37 quot. in Ar., v. קִיטָּי.
- 2. net. Tosef. Bets. III, 1 (ה)מעלה את פְּרָסוֹ וכ׳ (Var. כל שפרסוהו) if one puts up his net on the eve of the Holy Day, and, coming in on the Holy Day, finds it disturbed.
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 4 distinct written forms H6540 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| וּ/פָרַ֖ס | Noun, Proper | Daniel 6:8 | 2 |
| פָּרָֽס | Noun, Proper | Ezra 4:24 | 2 |
| וּ/פָרַ֔ס | Noun, Proper | Daniel 6:15 | 1 |
| וּ/פָרָֽס | Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Determined | Daniel 5:28 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H6540, 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
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 → 2 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Bible dictionary
Public-domain dictionary articles matched to this entry by name (Persia). A biblical name can be shared by more than one person or place, so an article may treat several.
Easton's Bible Dictionary · M. G. Easton, 1897
An ancient empire, extending from the Indus to Thrace, and from the Caspian Sea to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. The Persians were originally a Medic tribe which settled in Persia, on the eastern side of the Persian Gulf. They were Aryans, their language belonging to the eastern division of the Indo-European group. One of their chiefs, Teispes, conquered Elam in the time of the decay of the Assyrian Empire, and established himself in the district of Anzan. His descendants branched off into two lines, one line ruling in Anzan, while the other remained in Persia. Cyrus II., king of Anzan, finally united the divided power, conquered Media, Lydia, and Babylonia, and carried his arms into the far East. His son, Cambyses, added Egypt to the empire, which, however, fell to pieces after his death. It was reconquered and thoroughly organized by Darius, the son of Hystaspes, whose dominions extended from India to the Danube.
Smith's Bible Dictionary · William Smith, 1863
(pure, splended), Per'sians. Persia proper was a tract of no very large dimensions on the Persian Gulf, which is still known as Fars or Farsistan, a corruption of the ancient appellation. This tract was bounded on the west by Susiana or Elam, on the north by Media on the south by the Persian Gulf and on the east by Carmania. But the name is more commonly applied, both in Scripture and by profane authors to the entire tract which came by degrees to be included within the limits of the Persian empire. This empire extended at one time from India on the east to Egypt and Thrace on the west, and included. besides portions of Europe and Africa, the whole of western Asia between the Black Sea, the Caucasus, the Caspian and the Jaxartes on the north, the Arabian desert the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean on the south. The only passage in Scripture where Persia designates the tract which has been called above "Persia proper" is (Ezekiel 38:5) Elsewhere the empire is intended. The Persians were of the same race as the Medes, both being branches of the great Aryan stock.
+ Character of the nation .--The Persians were a people of lively and impressible minds, brave and impetuous in war, witty, passionate, for Orientals truthful, not without some spirit of generosity: and of more intellectual capacity than the generality of Asiatics. In the times anterior to Cyrus they were noted for the simplicity of their habits, which offered a strong contrast to the luxuriousness of the Medes; but from the late of the Median overthrow this simplicity began to decline. Polygamy was commonly practiced among them. They were fond of the pleasures of the table. In war they fought bravely, but without discipline. + Religion .--The religion which the Persians brought with there into Persia proper seems to have been of a very simple character, differing from natural religion in little except that it was deeply tainted with Dualism. Like the other Aryans, the Persians worshipped one supreme God. They had few temples, and no altars or images. + Language .--The Persian language was closely akin to the Sanskrit, or ancient language of India. Modern Persian is its degenerate representative, being largely impregnated with Arabic. + History .--The history of Persia begins with the revolt from the Medes and the accession of Cyrus the Great, B.C. 558. Cyrus defeated Croesus, and added the Lydian empire to his dominions. This conquest was followed closely by the submission of the Greek settlements on the Asiatic coast, and by the reduction of Caria and Lycia The empire was soon afterward extended greatly toward the northeast and east. In B.C. 539 or 538, Babylon was attacked, and after a stout defence fell into the hands of Cyrus. This victory first brought the Persians into contact with the Jews. The conquerors found in Babylon an oppressed race--like themselves, abhorrers of idols, and professors of a religion in which to a great extent they could sympathize. This race Cyrus determined to restore to their own country: which he did by the remarkable edict recorded in the first chapter of Ezra. (Ezra 1:2-4) He was slain in an expedition against the Massagetae or the Derbices, after a reign of twenty-nine years. Under his son and successor, Cambyses, the conquest of Egypt took place, B.C. 525. This prince appears to be the Ahasuerus of (Ezra 4:6) Gomates, Cambyses' successor, reversed the policy of Cyrus with respect to the Jews, and forbade by an edict the further building of the temple. (Ezra 4:17-22) He reigned but seven months, and was succeeded by Darius. Appealed to, in his second year, by the Jews, who wished to resume the construction of their temple, Darius not only granted them this privilege, but assisted the work by grants from his own revenues, whereby the Jews were able to complete the temple as early as his sixth year. (Ezra 6:1-15) Darius was succeeded by Xerxes, probably the Ahasuerus of Esther. Artaxerxes, the son of Xerxes, reigned for forty years after his death and is beyond doubt the king of that name who stood in such a friendly relation toward Ezra, (Ezra 7:11-28) and Nehemiah. (Nehemiah 2:1-9) etc. He is the last of the Persian kings who had any special connection with the Jews, and the last but one mentioned in Scripture. His successors were Xerxes II., Sogdianus Darius Nothus, Artaxerxes Mnemon, Artaxerxes Ochus, and Darius Codomannus, who is probably the "Darius the Persian" of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 12:22) These monarchs reigned from B.C. 424 to B.C. 330. The collapse of the empire under the attack of Alexander the Great took place B.C. 330.
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary · Roswell D. Hitchcock, 1869
that cuts or divides; a nail; a gryphon; a horseman
Classic public-domain reference works; full attribution on Sources.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 5 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 6 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.
