Hebrew word · H1252

בֹּר

kevor

cleanness

Cleanness, purity. It comes from bārar, 'to purify, sift, select', and is used almost only with 'hands' (2 Sam 22:21, 25; Ps 18:20, 24; Job 22:30). A homonym, possibly related, means 'lye, potash', a cleaning alkali (Job 9:30; Isa 1:25).

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

What it means

cleanness, pureness

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 Psalm 18:20

Range of meaning

Cleanness, purity. It comes from bārar, 'to purify, sift, select', and is used almost only with 'hands' (2 Sam 22:21, 25; Ps 18:20, 24; Job 22:30). A homonym, possibly related, means 'lye, potash', a cleaning alkali (Job 9:30; Isa 1:25).

Against the English

All the major versions use 'cleanness' or 'clean hands'. NLT turns the image into a plain word: 'innocence'. That gets the meaning but loses the picture of scrubbed hands.

Used elsewhere in the period

Close parallels: Ps 24:4, 'clean hands' (nĕqî kappayim), as a condition for entering God's presence. Deut 21:6–7: elders wash their hands over a sacrificed heifer and declare, 'Our hands did not shed this blood.' Job 22:30: deliverance 'through the cleanness of your hands'. The Septuagint uses katharotēs, 'purity'.

From the study of Job 22:30

Range of meaning

Cleanness, purity. Related to bōr II (H1253), 'lye, potash', an alkali used for washing and refining metal (Isaiah 1:25). Used with 'hands' for moral innocence (2 Samuel 22:21, 25; Psalm 18:20, 24).

Against the English

'Cleanness', 'pureness' and 'purity' are all accurate. English loses the link to washing with lye, and the reader of Job hears that link.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 18:20, 24, 'according to the cleanness of my hands'. Job 9:30, where Job says that even if he scrubbed his hands with lye (bōr), God would plunge him into a pit.

Where it appears

2 Samuel · 2

  1. 2 Samuel 22:21 כְּבֹ֥ר according to [the] cleanness of

    The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness; He has repaid me according to the cleanness of my hands.

  2. 2 Samuel 22:25 כְּבֹרִ֖י according to cleanness my

    So the LORD has repaid me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in His sight.

Job · 1

  1. Job 22:30 בְּבֹ֣ר by [the] cleanness of

    He will deliver even one who is not innocent, rescuing him through the cleanness of your hands.”

    Here: The 'by' gives the means: the rescue comes through someone else's cleanness. The noun bōr also means lye or potash, the soap of the day (compare Job 9:30). So 'cleanness of hands' brings to mind hands washed clean.

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 18:20 כְּבֹ֥ר according to [the] cleanness of

    The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness; He has repaid me according to the cleanness of my hands.

    Here: "According to the cleanness of". The word comes from a root meaning to purify or sift. A word spelled the same way means lye or washing-soda (Job 9:30), so the picture is hands that have been scrubbed clean.

  2. Psalm 18:24 כְּבֹ֥ר according to [the] cleanness of

    So the LORD has repaid me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.

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