parats · break out, spread

What it means

parats (פָּרַץ) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “break out, spread”.

Break through, break out; spread out in all directions.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. To smash a wall, burst in.
2. To grow greatly, multiply.
3. To press someone.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To break, to make a breach; hence, to spread without limit, to increase greatly, and also to press someone until his resistance gives way. From the same root is פֶּרֶץ, ‘breach’, which gives its name to Perez and to Baal-perazim.

• Making a breach in a wall 2 Kings 14:13Micah 2:13
• YHWH “has made a breach” 2 Samuel 5:202 Samuel 6:8
• Spreading out, increasing Genesis 28:14Exodus 1:12Genesis 30:30
• Urging someone 1 Samuel 28:232 Kings 5:23
• Breaking down a wall Isaiah 5:5Ecclesiastes 3:3

Historical and cultural background

At Sinai, YHWH warns that the people and the priests are not to cross the limit, “lest YHWH break out against them” (Exodus 19:22; also 19:24).

How we translate it

“Made a breach” 8 times and “broken through” 4, and, with the preposition בְּ before a person, “urged” (2) or “insisted” (2). When it is growing or multiplying, “you will spread out” (Genesis 28:14) or “increased” (Genesis 30:30). The names that come from this word are explained in notes: “What a breach you have broken for yourself!” and Perez (Genesis 38:29), Baal-perazim and Perez-uzzah.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• made a breach ×8
• broken through ×4
• spread ×4
• breaches ×3
• break out ×3
• had made ×2
• increased ×2
• insisted ×2
• urged ×2
• you will spread out ×2
• others ×17

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×4
• Exodus×3
• 1 Samuel×3
• 2 Samuel×4
• 2 Kings×2
• 1 Chronicles×5
• 2 Chronicles×7
• Nehemiah×4
• Job×3
• Psalms×4
• Proverbs×2
• Ecclesiastes×2
• Isaiah×2
• Hosea×2
• Micah×2

• Genesis 28:14

  Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the ground will be blessed in you and in your offspring.

• Genesis 30:30

  For you had little before me, and it has increased abundantly, and YHWH has blessed you at my coming. But now, when will I too do something for my own house?”

• Genesis 30:43

  The man increased exceedingly, and he had many flocks, female slaves and male slaves, camels and donkeys.

• Genesis 38:29

  But as he drew back his hand, look, his brother came out; and she said, “What a breach you have broken for yourself!” So he called his name Perez.

• Exodus 1:12

  But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out, and the Egyptians came to dread the sons of Israel.

• Exodus 19:22

  And also the priests who come near to YHWH must consecrate themselves, lest YHWH break out against them.”

• Exodus 19:24

  YHWH said to him, “Go, go down, and come up, you and Aaron with you; but the priests and the people must not break through to come up to YHWH, lest he break out against them.”

• 1 Samuel 3:1

  And the boy Samuel was ministering to YHWH before Eli. And the word of YHWH was rare in those days; there was no vision breaking through.

• 1 Samuel 25:10

  Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? Today many are the slaves who are breaking away, each from his master.

• 1 Samuel 28:23

  He refused and said, “I will not eat.” But his servants, and the woman too, urged him, and he listened to their voice; he arose from the ground and sat on the bed.

• 2 Samuel 5:20

  David came to Baal-perazim, and David struck them there; and he said, “YHWH has made a breach in my enemies before me, like a breach of waters.” Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim.

• 2 Samuel 6:8

  David was angry because YHWH had made a breach against Uzzah; and he called that place Perez-uzzah, to this day.

• 2 Samuel 13:25

  The king said to Absalom, “No, my son, let us not all go, so that we will not be a burden to you.” He insisted with him, but he was not willing to go, and he blessed him.

• 2 Samuel 13:27

  Absalom insisted with him, and he sent with him Amnon and all the king’s sons.

• 2 Kings 5:23

  Naaman said, “Be pleased to take two talents.” He urged him, and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothes, and gave them to two of his young men, and they carried them before him.

• 2 Kings 14:13

  And Amaziah king of Judah, son of Joash son of Ahaziah, Joash king of Israel seized at Beth-shemesh; and he came to Jerusalem and made a breach in the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits.

• 1 Chronicles 4:38

  These, those mentioned by name, were chiefs in their families, and their fathers’ houses spread out greatly.

• 1 Chronicles 13:2

  David said to all the assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if it is from YHWH our Elohim, let us send everywhere to our brothers who remain in all the lands of Israel, and with them to the priests and the Levites in the cities with their pasturelands, so that they may gather to us;

• 1 Chronicles 13:11

  David was angry because YHWH had made a breach against Uzzah; and he called that place Perez-uzzah, to this day.

• 1 Chronicles 14:11

  They went up to Baal-perazim, and David struck them there; and David said, “Elohim has made a breach in my enemies by my hand, like a breach of waters.” Therefore they called the name of that place Baal-perazim.

• 1 Chronicles 15:13

  Because the first time it was not you, YHWH our Elohim made a breach in us, for we did not consult him according to the rule.”

• 2 Chronicles 11:23

  He acted with understanding and distributed all his sons through all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, to all the fortified cities, and he gave them provisions in abundance, and he asked for a multitude of wives for them.

• 2 Chronicles 20:37

  Eliezer son of Dodavahu from Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you allied yourself with Ahaziah, YHWH has made a breach in your works.” And the ships were broken, and they were not able to go to Tarshish.

• 2 Chronicles 24:7

  For Athaliah, the wicked woman, and her sons had made a breach in the house of Elohim, and also all the holy things of the house of YHWH they had used for the Baals.

• 2 Chronicles 25:23

  And Amaziah king of Judah, son of Joash son of Jehoahaz, Joash king of Israel seized at Beth-shemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem and made a breach in the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate, four hundred cubits.

• 2 Chronicles 26:6

  He went out and fought against the Philistines, and made a breach in the wall of Gath and in the wall of Jabneh and in the wall of Ashdod; and he built cities in Ashdod and among the Philistines.

• 2 Chronicles 31:5

  When the order spread, the sons of Israel gave in abundance the firstfruits of grain, new wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the produce of the field; and the tithe of everything they brought in abundance.

• 2 Chronicles 32:5

  He strengthened himself and built all the wall that was broken down, and raised on it the towers, and outside another wall; and he repaired the Millo in the city of David, and made weapons in abundance and shields.

• Nehemiah 1:3

  And they said to me, “Those who remain, who have been left from the captivity there in the province, are in great trouble and in reproach; and the wall of Jerusalem is full of breaches, and its gates have been set on fire.”

• Nehemiah 2:13

  And I went out by the Valley Gate at night, toward the Dragon Fountain and to the Dung Gate, and I was examining the walls of Jerusalem, which were full of breaches, and its gates, consumed by fire.

• Nehemiah 4:3

  And Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Even what they are building— if a fox goes up, it will make a breach in the wall of their stones.”

• Nehemiah 4:7

  It happened that when Sanballat and Tobiah, and the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward, that the breaches had begun to be closed, they burned with anger greatly;

• Job 1:10

  Have you not yourself put a hedge around him and around his house and around all that he has, on every side? The work of his hands you have blessed, and his livestock has spread out in the land.

• Job 16:14

  He breaks through me, breach upon breach; he runs at me like a mighty man.

• Job 28:4

  He breaks open a shaft far from where people live; forgotten by the foot, they hang far from mortals, they sway.

• Psalms 60:1

  For the director. On The Lily of the Testimony. A Miktam of David, for teaching, when he fought against Aram-naharaim and against Aram of Zobah, and Joab returned and struck Edom in the Valley of Salt, twelve thousand. Elohim, you have rejected us, you have broken through us; you have been angry; restore us.

• Psalms 80:12

  Why have you broken through its fences, and all who pass along the way pick its grapes?

• Psalms 89:40

  You have broken through all his fences; you have made his strongholds a ruin.

• Psalms 106:29

  And they provoked him to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them.

• Proverbs 3:10

  and your barns will be filled with plenty, and your winepresses will burst with new wine.

And 9 more times.