פָּזַר
pa.zar
to scatter
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Analysis of פָּזַר (Pazár) — "To Scatter" The Hebrew verb פָּזַר (pazár) denotes the action of scattering or dispersing, appearing ten times throughout the biblical text. This relatively low frequency suggests it was employed for specific contexts where the concept of spreading things apart or distributing widely held particular significance for the biblical writers. While the lexicon data provided does not specify the exact contexts in which pazár appears, the core meaning—to scatter—indicates the word was used to describe the dispersal of physical objects, people, or abstract concepts. The verb captures a fundamental human experience: the breaking apart of unified wholes into distributed, separated components. This semantic range would have made it useful for describing both literal scattering (such as seeds or flocks) and figurative uses (such as the dispersal of a people or community). The modest number of occurrences (ten instances) combined with the word's straightforward definition suggests that pazár served as a specialized but recognizable term in biblical Hebrew, employed when writers needed to emphasize the idea of spreading or dispersal rather than synonymous alternatives. Understanding this word requires attention to its specific narrative contexts in Scripture, which would clarify whether each usage emphasizes random distribution, deliberate dispersion, or other nuanced meanings within the broader semantic field of scattering.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
10 total occurrences across the text
Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, and their laws are different from other people’s. They don’t keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not for the king’s profit to allow them to remain.
Psalms 53:5There they were in great fear, where no fear was, for God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against you. You have put them to shame, because God has rejected them.
Psalms 89:10You have broken Rahab in pieces, like one of the slain. You have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
Psalms 112:9He has dispersed, he has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted with honor.
Psalms 141:7“As when one plows and breaks up the earth, our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.”
Psalms 147:16He gives snow like wool, and scatters frost like ashes.
Proverbs 11:24There is one who scatters, and increases yet more. There is one who withholds more than is appropriate, but gains poverty.
Jeremiah 3:13Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,’ says Yahweh.”
Jeremiah 50:17“Israel is a hunted sheep. The lions have driven him away. First, the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones.”
Joel 3:2I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment on them there for my people, and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have divided my land,