Hebrew word · H1216

בָּצֵק

vatzekah

to swell

To swell, become puffy. The verb occurs only in Deut 8:4 and Neh 9:21. It is generally linked with the noun batseq, 'dough' (Exod 12:34, 39: the unleavened dough carried out of Egypt), so the picture is something puffing up like rising dough.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

(Qal) to swell, become blistered

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 Nehemiah 9:21

Range of meaning

To swell, become puffy. The verb occurs only in Deut 8:4 and Neh 9:21. It is generally linked with the noun batseq, 'dough' (Exod 12:34, 39: the unleavened dough carried out of Egypt), so the picture is something puffing up like rising dough.

Against the English

'Swell' in essentially all English versions. Accurate.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 8:4: 'your foot did not swell these forty years'. The parallel Deut 29:5 has instead 'your sandal did not wear out on your foot'. The Greek Septuagint of Deut 8:4 reads it differently, as 'your feet did not become callused'. HALOT and BDB list the verb as 'swell'.

Where it appears

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 8:4 בָצֵ֑קָה it swelled

    Your clothing did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.

Nehemiah · 1

  1. Nehemiah 9:21 בָצֵֽקוּ׃ they became swollen

    For forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

    Here: A rare verb, found only here and in Deut 8:4. It is related to the noun for dough, so the picture is feet puffing up like rising dough from endless walking on hot, rough ground.

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