בָּרַק
ba.raq
to flash
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Analysis of בָּרַק (baraq) — "to flash" The Hebrew word *baraq* appears only once in the biblical text, making it a rare verb in the Hebrew scriptures. Its definition—"to flash"—suggests a sudden, bright emission of light, most likely referring to lightning or a similar instantaneous luminous phenomenon. The singular occurrence limits our ability to establish the full semantic range of this word or to observe variations in how different biblical authors employed it. Because *baraq* occurs just one time in the biblical corpus, we cannot determine whether it was used metaphorically, whether it had specialized religious meaning, or how common it was in everyday Hebrew speech. The single attestation means this word represents a minor element of biblical Hebrew vocabulary, and its precise nuances and contextual applications remain largely inaccessible from the biblical data alone. For understanding this word's full significance, one would need to consult comparative Semitic languages and extra-biblical sources, which lie outside the scope of the biblical lexicon itself.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
1 total occurrence across the text