Hebrew word · H1198

בַּ֫עַר

ba'ar

stupid

Brutishness, animal-like stupidity. Related to bəʿîr, "cattle, livestock" (Exod 22:5; Num 20:4, 8). It describes a person who lacks the understanding that marks a human being as distinct from a beast.

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

brutishness, stupidity, brutish (person)

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 Proverbs 12:1

Range of meaning

Brutishness, animal-like stupidity. Related to bəʿîr, "cattle, livestock" (Exod 22:5; Num 20:4, 8). It describes a person who lacks the understanding that marks a human being as distinct from a beast.

Against the English

BSB, WEB, NIV, ESV and NASB say "stupid"; KJV and YLT say "brutish." "Stupid" today suggests low intelligence or a schoolyard insult; "brutish" (older English for "like a brute beast") keeps the animal picture.

How it drifted

"Stupid" in modern English is mainly about mental ability or is a casual insult; the Hebrew is a moral and human verdict: such a person has sunk below human understanding.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 73:22 "I was baʿar and did not understand; I was like a beast (bəhēmôt) before you"; Prov 30:2 "Surely I am more baʿar than a man; I do not have human understanding"; Ps 49:10; 92:6; 94:8. The related verb describes idol-makers who "become brutish" (Jer 10:8, 14, 21). The Septuagint here uses aphrōn, "senseless."

From the study of Psalm 49:10

Range of meaning

Stupid, senseless, dull, lacking understanding. HALOT and BDB both connect it to bəʿîr, "cattle, livestock". The picture is a person who lives by appetite and does not think: animal-dull.

Against the English

KJV "brutish", BSB/WEB "senseless", ESV "stupid". "Senseless" and "stupid" get the meaning. "Brutish" was accurate in 1611 (beast-like, without reason), but today it suggests violence.

How it drifted

English "brutish" and "brute" have moved from "animal-like, without reason" toward "cruel, violent". The Hebrew word is about lacking understanding, not about aggression.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 92:6 uses the same pair: "the baʿar man does not know, the kəsîl does not understand." In Psalm 73:22 the psalmist confesses, "I was baʿar and ignorant; I was like a beast (bəhēmôt) before you." See also Psalm 94:8 and Proverbs 12:1 ("whoever hates correction is baʿar").

From the study of Proverbs 30:2

Range of meaning

An adjective, 'brutish, stupid'. It comes from the same root as beʿîr, 'cattle, beasts' (Exod 22:5; Num 20:4, 8). The root picture is the dullness of a grazing animal: it eats and lives without reflecting or discerning. In wisdom texts it names a person who is irrational and unteachable, who acts like an animal instead of a reasoning human.

Against the English

KJV and YLT 'brutish' keeps the animal link, but modern ears hear 'brutal, violent'. BSB and WEB 'ignorant' suggests a lack of information that could be fixed by learning. NASB/ESV 'stupid' is closer, but loses the animal comparison that the second line ('not … a human's understanding') depends on.

How it drifted

English 'brutish' originally meant 'like a brute (beast)'. Over time it moved toward 'savage, cruel'. Modern 'ignorant' has also narrowed to 'uninformed'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 73:22 is the closest parallel: 'I was brutish (baʿar) and did not know; I was a beast (behemot) before you'. There a worshipper confesses that his reasoning about God fell to an animal's level. Psalm 92:6 (Heb 92:7): 'the brutish man does not know'. Psalm 49:10 (Heb 49:11) puts the baʿar beside the fool. Proverbs 12:1: 'whoever hates correction is baʿar'. The Greek Septuagint renders it aphronestatos, 'most senseless'.

Where it appears

Psalms · 3

  1. Psalm 49:10 וָבַ֣עַר and a stupid [person]

    For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others.

    Here: Someone dull and unthinking like a farm animal (related to *bəʿîr*, "cattle"). It looks ahead to the psalm's refrain that man "is like the beasts that perish" (vv. 12, 20).

  2. Psalm 73:22 בַ֭עַר [was] stupid

    I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You.

    Here: There is no verb: literally 'and I, brutish'. The word describes the dull, animal-like mind of someone who cannot see past the surface. It is linked to a Hebrew word for livestock, so it sets up the 'beasts' later in the verse.

  3. Psalm 92:6 בַּ֭עַר stupid

    A senseless man does not know, and a fool does not understand,

    Here: Animal-like, dull as cattle. The word is tied to the Hebrew for livestock: this person lives like a grazing beast, aware only of what is in front of him, with no sense of what God is doing.

Proverbs · 2

  1. Proverbs 12:1 בָּֽעַר׃ [is] stupid

    Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.

    Here: Animal-like, lacking the distinctly human capacity to learn. The verdict lands as the last, blunt word of the line: such a person has made himself like livestock.

  2. Proverbs 30:2 בַ֣עַר [am] stupid

    Surely I am the most ignorant of men, and I lack the understanding of a man.

    Here: An adjective tied to the word for livestock (beʿîr). It means dull the way an animal is dull: without the reasoning that makes someone human. Placed first in the clause for emphasis: 'A brute, that is what I am.'

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