Hebrew word · H1069

בָּכַר

levaker

to be|bear firstborn

Basic sense: to be first, early. The intensive (piel) stem means to treat as firstborn (Deuteronomy 21:16) or, of plants, to bear early or first-ripe fruit. The root gives bekhor 'firstborn', bikkurim 'first-fruits', and bikkurah 'early fig'.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to be born first

1a) (Piel)

1a1) to bear early, new fruit

1a2) to give the right of the firstborn

1a2a) to make as firstborn

1a2b) to constitute as firstborn

1b) (Pual)

1b1) to be born a firstling

1b2) to be made a firstling

1c) (Hiphil) one bearing her first child

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Ezekiel 47:12

Range of meaning

Basic sense: to be first, early. The intensive (piel) stem means to treat as firstborn (Deuteronomy 21:16) or, of plants, to bear early or first-ripe fruit. The root gives bekhor 'firstborn', bikkurim 'first-fruits', and bikkurah 'early fig'.

Against the English

BSB/NIV 'bear fruit' loses the 'first' element. KJV/WEB 'new fruit' keeps the freshness. YLT 'yieldeth first-fruits' is closest to the root.

Used elsewhere in the period

This is the only place the verb is used of trees. Bikkurim, the first-fruits brought to the sanctuary, are commanded in Exodus 23:19 and Deuteronomy 26:1–11, and the 'day of first-fruits' is Shavuot (Numbers 28:26). The Septuagint renders the verb prōtobolēsei, 'will put out first-growth'.

Similar words

Where it appears

Leviticus · 1

  1. Leviticus 27:26 יְבֻכַּ֤ר it will be born a firstling

    But no one may consecrate a firstborn of the livestock, because a firstborn belongs to the LORD. Whether it is an ox or a sheep, it is the LORD’s.

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 21:16 לְבַכֵּר֙ to treat as firstborn

    when that man assigns his inheritance to his sons he must not appoint the son of the beloved wife as the firstborn over the son of the unloved wife.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 4:31 כְּמַבְכִּירָ֔ה like a [woman] bearing a first child

    For I hear a cry like a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child—the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands to say, “Woe is me, for my soul faints before the murderers!”

    Here: A woman giving birth for the first time: inexperienced and frightened, often in the longest and most dangerous labor. It sharpens the picture of pain that is new, overwhelming and possibly fatal.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 47:12 יְבַכֵּ֔ר it will bear early fruit

    Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of all kinds will grow. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. Each month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will be used for food and their leaves for healing.”

    Here: From the same root as 'firstborn' (bekhor) and 'first-fruits' (bikkurim). It means 'it will produce first-ripe fruit'. Each month brings a new first crop, the kind Israel normally offered at the sanctuary once a year.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.