Hebrew word · H1281

בָּרִיחַ

bariach

fleeing

From bāraḥ, 'to flee, run away, slip off'. As a description of a serpent: fleeing, fugitive, gliding, slippery. A word spelled the same way, bərîaḥ, means 'bar, bolt' (as in a city gate).

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

adj

1) fleeing

subst

2) fugitive

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 Isaiah 27:1

Range of meaning

From bāraḥ, 'to flee, run away, slip off'. As a description of a serpent: fleeing, fugitive, gliding, slippery. A word spelled the same way, bərîaḥ, means 'bar, bolt' (as in a city gate).

Against the English

BSB/WEB/ESV/NASB 'fleeing'; NIV 'gliding'; KJV 'piercing'. The KJV's 'piercing' came through the Geneva Bible and seems to rest on the 'bar/bolt' sense (a bar passes through) or older Jewish interpretation. It does not match the Ugaritic parallel or the root meaning 'flee'.

How it drifted

Confusion with the like-spelled noun 'bar', seen already in the Vulgate's serpentem vectem ('bar-serpent'), led the KJV to 'piercing'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ugaritic btn brḥ in KTU 1.5 I 1; Job 26:13 nāḥāš bārîaḥ, the serpent God's hand pierces. A few scholars have suggested other meanings for the Ugaritic word (for example 'slithering' or 'primeval'), but 'fleeing' is the standard view (HALOT).

From the study of Isaiah 43:14

Range of meaning

From the root b-r-ḥ, "to flee, to pass through." Bariaḥ (H1281) means "fleeing, fugitive" (Isa 27:1; Job 26:13, of the serpent; Isa 15:5). Bᵊriaḥ (H1280) is the crossbar bolting a gate or door (Deut 3:5; Judg 16:3; Isa 45:2 "bars of iron"; Jon 2:6 "the bars of the earth").

Against the English

BSB, WEB and most modern versions have "fugitives." YLT and the Vulgate have "bars." The KJV's "nobles" follows an older Jewish reading in which the "bars" are a figure for Babylon's strong men, the people who held it secure.

Used elsewhere in the period

The standard Hebrew text points the word as bariḥim (fugitives). The Vulgate reads vectes, "bars." Isaiah 45:2, about Cyrus ("I will break the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron"), offers a close parallel for "bars."

From the study of Isaiah 15:5

Range of meaning

As an adjective or noun, 'fleeing, fugitive' (Isa 27:1, 'the fleeing serpent'; Job 26:13). A word with the same consonants, bᵉrîaḥ, means 'bar, bolt' of a gate.

Against the English

BSB, NIV and ESV give 'fugitives'. WEB, following the ASV, gives 'nobles', taking 'bars' as a figure for the men who hold up a city. KJV gives 'his fugitives', although the Hebrew suffix is feminine ('her').

How it drifted

The ambiguity is ancient, not a modern drift. The Vulgate's 'vectes eius' ('its bars') shows the 'bar' reading was already current in late antiquity.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 27:1 (nāḥāš bārîaḥ, 'fleeing serpent'); 'bars' as defenders may be meant in Hos 11:6. Jer 48 paraphrases the scene with clear words for flight (48:6, 'Flee! Save your lives!').

Where it appears

Job · 1

  1. Job 26:13 בָּרִֽיחַ׃ fleeing

    By His breath the skies were cleared; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

    Here: An adjective probably from bāraḥ, 'to flee.' The serpent is darting away from the divine warrior and is struck as it flees. It is a fixed title: Isaiah 27:1 and a Ugaritic text over 500 years older both use this exact phrase.

Isaiah · 3

  1. Isaiah 15:5 בְּרִיחֶ֕הָ fugitives its

    My heart cries out over Moab; her fugitives flee as far as Zoar, as far as Eglath-shelishiyah. With weeping they ascend the slope of Luhith; they lament their destruction on the road to Horonaim.

    Here: 'Her fleeing ones', the refugees of Moab (the land is spoken of as 'she'). The same consonants can also mean 'her bars' (gate-bars). That reading lies behind the Vulgate and, taken as a figure for Moab's leaders, the WEB's 'nobles'.

  2. Isaiah 27:1 בָּרִ֔חַ fleeing

    In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent—Leviathan the coiling serpent—and He will slay the dragon of the sea.

    Here: From the verb 'to flee, slip away'. It pictures a fast, elusive serpent that slides out of reach. The same phrase appears in Job 26:13, and the Ugaritic equivalent is btn brḥ.

  3. Isaiah 43:14 בָֽרִיחִים֙ [as] fugitives

    Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake, I will send to Babylon and bring them all as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice.

    Here: The vowels of the standard Hebrew text read this as "fugitives" (the same word as the "fleeing serpent" of 27:1). With different vowels the same consonants give "bars" (H1280), the bolts of city or prison gates. On that reading God breaks the locks that hold the captives. See debates.

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