בֹּר

From the study of Isaiah 1:25

Range of meaning

(1) Lye or potash, an alkaline salt from plant ash used for washing (Job 9:30). It may also have been used as a flux to help separate metal from impurities. (2) A related word bor means 'cleanness' (of hands: 2 Samuel 22:21, 25; Psalm 18:20, 24). Compare borit, 'soap' (Jeremiah 2:22; Malachi 3:2).

Against the English

KJV says 'purely purge' and YLT 'refine as purity', both following the 'cleanness' sense, as the Vulgate's 'ad purum' did. BSB and NIV turn that into the adverb 'thoroughly'. ESV and NASB say 'as with lye'. Some translations and commentaries follow the proposed reading 'in the furnace'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Jeremiah 2:22 is a close parallel: 'Though you wash yourself with lye (neter) and use much soap (borit), your guilt is still a stain before me.' Malachi 3:2 puts 'refiner's fire' beside 'launderers' soap (borit)', the same pairing of smelting and washing as here. Isaiah 48:10 uses 'furnace' (kur) with the same verb, which is why some scholars read bakkur ('in the furnace') here.

From the study of Job 9:30

Range of meaning

There are two words with this spelling. (1) Lye or potash: an alkaline washing agent made by soaking the ashes of certain plants, such as saltwort, in water. The related word is bōrît (Jeremiah 2:22; Malachi 3:2). (2) Cleanness or purity, from the root brr, 'to purify.' This one appears in the phrase 'the cleanness (bōr) of my hands' (2 Samuel 22:21, 25; Psalm 18:20, 24; Job 22:30).

Against the English

BSB, WEB, ESV and NASB say 'lye.' YLT says 'soap.' The KJV reads the word as 'cleanness' and turns it into 'make my hands never so clean.' The ancient Greek and Latin versions also take it as 'cleanness/pure' (see Textual notes).

How it drifted

'Soap' (YLT, and the KJV's 'sope' in Jeremiah 2:22) makes a modern reader picture a bar of soap. Bōr was a caustic alkali solution made from plant ash. It worked as a scouring agent, much as ancient fullers used it, rather than as a gentle soap.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isaiah 1:25 has 'I will smelt away your dross as with lye (kabbōr).' Jeremiah 2:22 is the closest parallel: 'Though you wash with natron and use much lye (bōrît), your guilt is still a stain before me.' Malachi 3:2 has 'fullers' lye.' The phrase 'cleanness (bōr) of hands' is the stock description of a righteous man in Psalm 18 and in Job 22:30.