גָּזַר
gâzar · H1504 · Hebrew · 13 occurrences
Meanings
-
to cut off, to cut down, to cut out
Causative action by which part of an object is removed with force from a larger unit, with the help of a sharp object
Examples2 Kings 6:4 So he went with them; and when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees.
-
to snatch and devour
Causative action by which part of an edible object is removed with force from a larger unit, and eaten
ExamplesIsaiah 9:20 They devour what is on the right hand but are still hungry, And they eat what is on the left hand, but they are not satisfied; Each of them eats the flesh of his own arm.
-
to cut in two
Causative action by which humans or deities divide objects into two halves
Examples1 Kings 3:25 And the king said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.”
-
to cut off, to exclude, to banish
To permanently remove, isolate, or eliminate individuals or things, often conveying a sense of finality, banishment, or utter destruction
ExamplesHabakkuk 3:17 Even if the fig tree does not blossom, And there is no fruit on the vines, If the yield of the olive fails, And the fields produce no food, Even if the flock disappears from the fold, And there are no cattle in the stalls,
Isaiah 53:8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off from the land of the living For the wrongdoing of my people, to whom the blow was due?
Ezekiel 37:11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the entire house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.’
-
to decide, to decree
Action by which humans in a position of authority end a period of consideration and come to a resolution in their minds
ExamplesEsther 2:1 After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done, and what had been decided regarding her.
Job 22:28 “You will also decide something, and it will be established for you; And light will shine on your ways.
How it’s used In 5 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
Who or what does itSubject
13 occurrences in 9 groups
- Not stated: he, she or it 4
- Other words · 8 groups that occur once or twice (9) 9
What it acts on, or what is saidObject
4 occurrences in 4 groups
- יֶלֶדchild, young man 1
- יָםsea 1
- אֹמֶרword 1
- עֵץtree, wood 1
With prepositionsPrepositional phrases
9 occurrences in 9 groups
- Other words · 9 groups that occur once or twice (9) 9
What is done to itIt is the object
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- זָכַרto remember 1
After prepositionsPrepositional phrases
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- לto/for 1
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Near synonyms 4 words
- קָצָה qâtsâh · H7096 · to cut off, to sever, to strip
- Both lexemes denote cutting actions, with genuinely overlapping senses of severing or cutting that could plausibly substitute for one another in context.
- גָּרַע gâraʻ · H1639 · to shear, to cut off, to draw up
- Both lexemes denote actions of removal/reduction (cutting, clipping, diminishing) and plausibly substitute in contexts of reducing or severing. This is a real near-synonym relationship.
- קָצַץ qâtsats · H7112 · to cut off, to sever, to strip
- Both words are verbs of cutting that share the core sense of severing or detaching (גָּזַר (gâzar, H1504): "cut down, off, divide"; קָצַץ (qâtsats, H7112): "cut asunder, in pieces, off").
- גָּדַע gâdaʻ · H1438 · to break off, to cut off, to cut down
- Both words are verbs of cutting or detachment — "to cut asunder, down, or off" — with a clear overlap in the basic sense of cutting.
In the other Testament 1 word
- διαιρέω diairéō · G1244 · to divide, to distribute, division
- Greek διαιρέω emphasizes the distributive aspect of division (separating into parts to allocate), while Hebrew גָּזַר encompasses both physical cutting/severing and juridical decree-making.
Semantic domains 7 entries
- Detach002003001006
- גָּזַר most directly denotes cutting or dividing something, as in the king's order to cut the living child in two in 1 Kings 3:25.
- Ingest002001001025
- This code is inherited from a related usage of this lexeme (something being consumed or devoured); it does not independently apply to the cutting citations here.
- Move002002001012
- This code is inherited from a related usage of this lexeme (something being snatched or moved away); it does not independently apply to the cutting citations here.
- Non-Exist002002002006
- This code is inherited from a figurative usage of this lexeme (being cut off from existence); it does not independently apply to the physical-cutting citations here.
- Think002004002013
- This entry carries no independent "Think" sense of its own; the tagged occurrences of גָּזַר are the physical act of cutting or dividing, or the derived sense of decreeing (issuing a firm decision, not the cognitive act of thinking generally), as at Job 22:28 and 1 Kings 3:25 — "Divide the living child in two."
- Non-Whole002003001021
- The word further denotes dividing something into separate parts, closely related to the physical-cutting sense attested in 1 Kings 3:25-26.
- Professions001001003009
- This code is inherited from a related usage of this lexeme (a class of diviners or decree-makers); it does not independently apply to the citations here.
Word family 7 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H1504. gazar גָּזַר verb cut, divide (Arabic , Late Hebrew גָּזַר cut, determine,…
גָּזַר verb cut, divide (Arabic , Late Hebrew גָּזַר cut, determine, circumcise; Ethiopic Aramaic גְּזַר, ) —
Qal Perfect גָּזַר Hab 3:17; Imperfect וַיִּגְזֹר Isa 9:19; Isa 9:2masculine singular תִּגְזַר Job 22:28; וַיִּגְזְרוּ 2Ki 6:4; Participle active גֹּזֵר Psa 136:13; —
1 divide, cut in two, followed by accusative 1Ki 3:25 (׳ג לִשְׁנָ֑יִם) compare 1Ki 3:26 (object not expressed).
2 divide the Red Sea (accusative) Psa 136:13 followed by לִגְזָרִים.
3 cut down הָעֵצִים 2Ki 6:4.
4 cut off (piece of meat to eat, but object not expressed || אכל) Isa 9:19.
5 cut off, i.e. destroy, exterminate Hab 3:17 (with accusative; indefinite subject), followed by מִן local
6 decree (Aramaism, compare Biblical Aramaic) Job 22:28 with accusative
Niph`al Perfect נִגְזַר2Ch 26:21; Est 2:1, נִגְזָ֑רְתִּי Lam 3:24, נִגְזָ֑רוּ Psa 88:6, נִגְזַרְנוּ Eze 37:11; Isa 53:8; —
1 be cut off, separate, excluded from (מִן) temple 2Ch 26:21, from (מִן) Yahweh's hand Psa 88:5 (of the slain), from (מִן) the land of the living Isa 53:8 (of the suffering servant of ׳י).
2 be cut off = destroyed Lam 3:54; Eze 37:11.
3 be decreed, Est 2:1 followed by עַל against (compare Qal 6).
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain
Topical studies with this word 7 entries
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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