בָּרָק

Exodus 19:16 וּבְרָקִ֜ים and lightning<s>

On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning. A thick cloud was upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the ram’s horn went out, so that all the people in the camp trembled.

Here: Flashes of lightning. The plural suggests flash after flash. Lightning is part of the standard picture of God arriving in a storm (Ps 18:14; 77:18).

Deuteronomy 32:41 בְּרַ֣ק [the] lightning of

when I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and repay those who hate Me.

Here: Literally 'the lightning of (my sword)': the polished blade is called lightning. It means a gleaming, flashing edge, and it calls up the storm-god's lightning weapon: this is the sword of the God who commands the storm.

2 Samuel 22:15 בָּרָ֖ק [with] lightning

He shot His arrows and scattered the foes; He hurled lightning and routed them.

Job 20:25 וּ֭בָרָק and lightning

It is drawn out of his back, the gleaming point from his liver. Terrors come over him.

Job 38:35 בְּרָקִ֣ים lightning<s>

Can you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?

Psalm 18:14 וּבְרָקִ֥ים and lightning flashes

He shot His arrows and scattered the foes; He hurled lightning and routed them.

Here: 'And lightnings', in the plural: bolt after bolt. The word for flash can also mean the glint of a polished blade or arrowhead. That double sense is how lightning and weapons blur together in this poetry.

Psalm 77:18 בְרָקִ֣ים lightning flashes

Your thunder resounded in the whirlwind; the lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked.

Here: Plural, 'lightnings', many flashes. The previous verse calls them God's 'arrows' darting about; lightning is the divine warrior's weapon.

Psalm 97:4 בְרָקָ֣יו lightning flashes his

His lightning illuminates the world; the earth sees and trembles.

Here: Plural with "his": "his lightnings," bolt after bolt. These are YHWH's own weapons and signals in the storm in which he appears, carried over from the cloud and fire of vv. 2–3.

Psalm 135:7 בְּרָקִ֣ים lightning<s>

He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.

Here: Lightning bolts, in the plural. This was the signature weapon of storm gods across the ancient Near East. Here it is something the LORD makes, not something he takes over from another god.

Psalm 144:6 בָּ֭רָק lightning

Flash forth Your lightning and scatter them; shoot Your arrows and rout them.

Jeremiah 10:13 בְּרָקִ֤ים lightning<s>

When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.

Here: Plural: flash after flash. In the ancient Near East, lightning was the weapon of storm-gods. Here it is something God makes, not a power of its own.

Jeremiah 51:16 בְּרָקִ֤ים lightning<s>

When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.

Here: Lightning bolts. It is plural, so the picture is of repeated flashes. In the ancient world the lightning bolt was the weapon of the storm god.

Ezekiel 1:13 בָרָֽק׃ lightning

In the midst of the living creatures was the appearance of glowing coals of fire, or of torches. Fire moved back and forth between the living creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it.

Here: Lightning, the classic sign of God appearing in a storm (Exod 19:16; Ps 18:14; Ps 97:4). It ties the vision to the storm wind out of the north in 1:4.

Ezekiel 21:10 בָּ֖רָק lightning

it is sharpened for the slaughter, polished to flash like lightning! Should we rejoice in the scepter of My son? The sword despises every such stick.

Ezekiel 21:15 לְבָרָ֖ק for lightning

So that their hearts may melt and many may stumble, I have appointed at all their gates a sword for slaughter. Yes, it is ready to flash like lightning; it is drawn for slaughter.

Ezekiel 21:28 בָּרָֽק׃ lightning

Now prophesy, son of man, and declare that this is what the Lord GOD says concerning the Ammonites and their contempt: ‘A sword! A sword is drawn for slaughter, polished to consume, to flash like lightning—

Daniel 10:6 בָרָק֙ lightning

His body was like beryl, his face like the brilliance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of polished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.

Here: A lightning flash. It is also used for the glint of a polished sword or spear. The face gives off sudden, blinding, frightening light.

Nahum 2:4 כַּבְּרָקִ֖ים like <the> lightning flashes

The chariots dash through the streets; they rush around the plazas, appearing like torches, darting about like lightning.

Here: "Like lightning flashes." The word is used for lightning and for the gleam of a polished weapon (Deut 32:41; Nah 3:3, "flashing spear"), so it conveys both speed and dazzling, deadly brightness.

Nahum 3:3 וּבְרַ֣ק and [the] flash of

Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end—they stumble over their dead—

Habakkuk 3:11 בְּרַ֥ק [the] lightning flash of

Sun and moon stood still in their places at the flash of Your flying arrows, at the brightness of Your shining spear.

Here: "The lightning of": both the flash of a polished blade and literal lightning. The phrase "lightning of your spear" holds both pictures at once, a gleaming weapon that is a lightning bolt.

Zechariah 9:14 כַבָּרָ֖ק like <the> lightning

Then the LORD will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord GOD will sound the ram’s horn and advance in the whirlwinds of the south.

Here: A lightning bolt or flash. The comparison gives the arrow's speed, brightness and lethal force, and it calls up the old picture of God as a storm-warrior whose arrows are lightning.