בַּרְזֶל

From the study of Proverbs 27:17

Range of meaning

Iron, the metal; iron objects such as tools, blades, fetters and plough-points. Also a byword for hardness and strength (Deut 28:23, 48; Ps 2:9).

Against the English

No real drift. 'Iron' is accurate.

Used elsewhere in the period

Iron working spread in the southern Levant during the Iron Age (from c. 1200 BC). 1 Sam 13:19–21 records that under Philistine dominance Israelites had to go to Philistine smiths to sharpen ploughshares, mattocks and axes, paying a pîm (a set weight of silver) for the job. Sharpening edged iron tools was an ordinary, paid, everyday task.

From the study of Deuteronomy 33:25

Range of meaning

Iron and copper or bronze, the two strongest metals in common use in Late Bronze and Iron Age Canaan. As a pair they mean unbreakable strength (Lev 26:19; Deut 28:23; Isa 48:4; Mic 4:13).

Against the English

KJV's 'brass' is the older English name for bronze or copper. Modern readers picture yellow brass, an alloy that was not what the Hebrew meant.

How it drifted

In the 1600s 'brass' was used loosely for copper alloys. Later English narrowed it to the copper–zinc alloy.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deuteronomy 8:9 describes the land as one 'whose stones are iron and from whose hills you can dig copper'. That verse may stand behind the old rabbinic idea that this blessing hints at metal-bearing hills.

From the study of Psalm 107:10

Range of meaning

Iron, the metal. It is also used for things made of iron: tools, weapons, and especially fetters ('iron' = shackles).

Against the English

BSB 'chains' and ESV 'irons' make the fetters explicit. KJV, WEB and YLT keep the bare 'iron', which preserves the Hebrew's terse pairing of abstract and concrete nouns.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 105:18 (Joseph: 'his neck came into iron'); Ps 149:8 ('fetters of iron'); Deut 28:48 ('a yoke of iron' on the neck as covenant curse). In the same stanza, v. 16 ('he cuts in two the bars of iron') echoes Isa 45:2.