Hebrew word · H1250
בַּר
bar
grain
Threshed and winnowed grain, clean kernels (often wheat), ready to store or sell (Gen 41:35, 49, Joseph's stored grain; Amos 5:11, 8:5–6; Ps 65:13).
Appears 14 times in 14 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
corn, grain
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 Jeremiah 23:28
- Range of meaning
Threshed and winnowed grain, clean kernels (often wheat), ready to store or sell (Gen 41:35, 49, Joseph's stored grain; Amos 5:11, 8:5–6; Ps 65:13).
- Against the English
KJV's and ESV's "wheat" is narrower than the Hebrew. Bar is grain in general once it has been cleaned. BSB, WEB and NASB have "grain"; YLT has "corn" in the old British sense of cereal grain.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Used in the Joseph story for the grain that kept Egypt alive through famine (Gen 41–42), and in Amos for grain that merchants trade. Some commentators hear a possible echo of the related adjective bar, "clean, pure" (Ps 24:4, "pure of heart"). If so, it would mean what has been separated from the stalk, but this is suggestive rather than certain.
From the study of Genesis 41:35
- Range of meaning
Grain, specifically threshed and winnowed (cleaned) grain ready for storage or sale. It probably shares a root with the adjective bar, "pure, clean", so it may be literally the "cleaned" grain. It differs from dagan (grain as a crop or general produce) and shever (grain as rations bought and sold, Gen 42:1–2).
- Against the English
KJV "corn" (in older British English, any cereal grain); modern versions "grain". To many modern readers, especially Americans, "corn" means maize, a New World plant unknown in the ancient Near East.
- How it drifted
In English of 1611, "corn" meant the main cereal crop of a region (wheat in England, oats in Scotland). In American English it narrowed to maize ("Indian corn" shortened to "corn"), so the KJV word now calls up the wrong plant.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Gen 41:35, 49; 42:3, 25; 45:23 (the grain of the Joseph story); Prov 11:26 ("the people curse him who holds back grain"); Amos 5:11; 8:5–6 (selling grain dishonestly); Ps 65:13 [MT 65:14] (valleys covered with grain).
From the study of Proverbs 11:26
- Range of meaning
Grain that has been threshed and winnowed, cleaned of chaff and ready for market or the mill. It is related to the adjective bar, 'clean, pure.' It differs from dāgān, the general word for grain or cereal crop, and from standing grain in the field.
- Against the English
KJV and YLT have 'corn.' In 1611 English that meant grain in general, especially wheat and barley. Modern readers, especially Americans, picture maize, an American crop unknown in the ancient Near East.
- How it drifted
'Corn' narrowed to mean maize in American English from the colonial period on. British usage kept the older general sense longer.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Genesis 41:35, 49 (Joseph gathers bār 'like the sand of the sea'); Genesis 42:3, 25; Amos 5:11 ('exactions of grain'); Amos 8:5–6 (merchants who want to 'sell the refuse of the wheat,' bār); Psalm 65:13 (valleys 'covered with grain').
Where it appears
Genesis · 5
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Genesis 41:35 בָ֞ר grain
Under the authority of Pharaoh, let them collect all the excess food from these good years, that they may come and lay up the grain to be preserved as food in the cities.
Here: Threshed, cleaned grain, ready to store or sell, chiefly wheat, barley and emmer. It is the key commodity of the whole Joseph story. It does not mean maize (American "corn").
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Genesis 41:49 בָּ֛ר grain
So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance, like the sand of the sea, that he stopped keeping track of it; for it was beyond measure.
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Genesis 42:3 בָּ֖ר grain
So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.
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Genesis 42:25 בָּר֒ grain
Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return each man’s silver to his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. This order was carried out,
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Genesis 45:23 בָּ֣ר grain
And he sent to his father the following: ten donkeys loaded with the best of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provisions for his father’s journey.
Job · 1
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Job 39:4 בַבָּ֑ר in the open
Their young ones thrive and grow up in the open field; they leave and do not return.
Psalms · 2
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Psalm 65:13 בָ֑ר grain
The pastures are clothed with flocks, and the valleys are decked with grain. They shout in triumph; indeed, they sing.
Here: Standing grain or threshed grain, mainly wheat and barley. It was the basic food of the land. Here it is the ripening crop that covers the valley floor.
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Psalm 72:16 בַּ֨ר׀ grain
May there be an abundance of grain in the land; may it sway atop the hills. May its fruit trees flourish like the forests of Lebanon, the people of its cities like the grass of the field.
Here: Cereal grain, especially wheat, often meaning cleaned, threshed grain: the basic food of the land and the measure of whether a year was good or a famine.
Proverbs · 1
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Proverbs 11:26 בָּ֭ר grain
The people will curse the hoarder of grain, but blessing will crown the one who sells it.
Here: Grain that has already been threshed and winnowed, ready to sell or eat. This is the word used for the grain Joseph stored and sold in Egypt (Genesis 41:35, 49; 42:3). In Amos 8:5–6 it is the wheat that crooked merchants can't wait to sell. The man in this verse is not short of food. He has finished, marketable grain on hand.
Jeremiah · 1
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Jeremiah 23:28 הַבָּ֖ר the grain
Let the prophet who has a dream retell it, but let him who has My word speak it truthfully. For what is straw compared to grain?” declares the LORD.
Here: Threshed and winnowed grain, the cleaned kernels people actually eat. It is the product the whole harvest is for.
Joel · 1
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Joel 2:24 בָּ֑ר grain
The threshing floors will be full of grain, and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
Amos · 3
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Amos 5:11 בַּר֙ grain
Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.
Here: Cleaned, threshed grain: the finished food crop, the household's year of bread. This is what is taken from the farmer.
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Amos 8:5 בָּ֑ר grain
asking, “When will the New Moon be over, that we may sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat? Let us reduce the ephah and increase the shekel; let us cheat with dishonest scales.
Here: Threshed, cleaned grain, ready for market. It is a general word for cereal, not specifically wheat, and it stands in parallel with 'shever'.
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Amos 8:6 בַּ֖ר grain
Let us buy the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the chaff with the wheat!”
Here: Threshed, cleaned grain, usually wheat. The word is related to 'pure', which is why YLT has 'pure corn'. There is an ironic contrast: the 'refuse of the clean grain' is what gets sold.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.