Hebrew word · H1641

גָּרַר

yigar

to drag|chew|saw

To drag, drag away; used of hauling fish in with a net (Habakkuk 1:15). Related forms mean 'to chew' (chewing the cud, Leviticus 11:7) and 'to saw' (1 Kings 7:9), all with the basic idea of drawing back and forth or pulling along.

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to drag, drag away

1a) (Qal) to drag away

1b) (Niphal) to chew the cud

1c) (Poal) sawn (participle)

1d) (Hithpoel) roaring (participle)

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 Proverbs 21:7

Range of meaning

To drag, drag away; used of hauling fish in with a net (Habakkuk 1:15). Related forms mean 'to chew' (chewing the cud, Leviticus 11:7) and 'to saw' (1 Kings 7:9), all with the basic idea of drawing back and forth or pulling along.

Against the English

NIV and NASB say 'drag them away', which is closest to the image. BSB and ESV 'sweep them away' gives a force carrying them off but loses the net. KJV 'destroy them' gives the result without the picture. YLT 'catcheth them' keeps the trapping image. WEB 'drive them away' is weaker and less precise.

Used elsewhere in the period

Habakkuk 1:15: the Babylonian conqueror 'brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out (yegorehu) with his net, and gathers them in his dragnet'. That is the same verb with almost the same suffix as here. Scholars generally take the unusual form yegorem in Proverbs 21:7 as this verb (BDB, HALOT; Waltke; Fox). The Septuagint read it differently (see textual notes).

From the study of Habakkuk 1:15

Range of meaning

To drag or haul along. Related forms are used for sawing (a saw is pulled back and forth, 1 Kgs 7:9) and for chewing the cud (Lev 11:7). The basic idea is pulling or scraping something back and forth or along.

Against the English

BSB, KJV and WEB: 'catches'. ESV and NASB: 'drag(s)'. 'Catch' is a fair summary, but it loses the picture of something hauled along against its will.

Used elsewhere in the period

Proverbs 21:7: 'the violence of the wicked will drag them away (yəgōrēm)'. The grammatical form is nearly the same, and the subject there is also violent injustice.

From the study of Hosea 7:14

Range of meaning

In the standard Hebrew text, a reflexive form of gûr ('to gather/stir oneself up') or gārar ('to drag'; also 'to chew the cud'). That gives 'they assemble themselves', 'they drag themselves about' or 'they are agitated.' The variant from gādad means 'to cut oneself, gash oneself', a mourning and pleading rite.

Against the English

KJV, WEB, YLT and NASB 1995 follow the standard Hebrew: 'assemble themselves.' BSB 'slash themselves', ESV 'gash themselves' and NIV follow the variant. The images are very different: a crowd gathering for crops, or self-cutting to move a god.

Used elsewhere in the period

The same reflexive form of gādad appears in 1 Kgs 18:28, where Baal's prophets 'cut themselves with swords and lances', and in Deut 14:1 and Jer 16:6; 41:5 (gashing in mourning). In the Ugaritic Baal Cycle (KTU 1.5 VI), the god El mourns dead Baal by gashing his cheeks and arms with a stone. Many medieval Hebrew manuscripts read יתגודדו. The Greek has κατετέμνοντο, 'they cut themselves.' The Latin Vulgate has 'ruminabant', 'they chewed the cud', taking the word from gārar.

Where it appears

Leviticus · 1

  1. Leviticus 11:7 יִגָּ֑ר it ruminates

    And the pig, though it has a split hoof completely divided, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you.

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 7:9 מְגֹרָר֥וֹת sawn

    All these buildings were constructed with costly stones, cut to size and trimmed with saws inside and out from the foundation to the eaves, and from the outside to the great courtyard.

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 21:7 יְגוֹרֵ֑ם it will drag away them

    The violence of the wicked will sweep them away because they refuse to do what is just.

    Here: 'It drags them off.' The verb is used of a fisherman hauling in his catch with a dragnet (Habakkuk 1:15). The violence they used to haul in other people's goods now hauls them in. The form describes something that keeps happening, a regular pattern.

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 30:23 מִתְגּוֹרֵ֑ר staying as a sojourner

    Behold, the storm of the LORD has gone out with fury, a whirlwind swirling down upon the heads of the wicked.

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 7:14 יִתְגּוֹרָ֖רוּ they assemble themselves

    They do not cry out to Me from their hearts when they wail upon their beds. They slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from Me.

    Here: The standard Hebrew suggests crowding together, or worked-up agitation, over the crops. The widely attested variant 'they gash themselves' describes self-cutting to move a god, as Baal's prophets did on Mount Carmel. Which reading is right decides what picture the verse paints.

Habakkuk · 1

  1. Habakkuk 1:15 יְגֹרֵ֣הוּ he drags away it

    The foe pulls all of them up with a hook; he catches them in his dragnet, and gathers them in his fishing net; so he rejoices gladly.

    Here: "He drags it": the victim is hauled along by force. Proverbs 21:7 uses the same verb for violence 'dragging away' the wicked. The present-ongoing form describes something he does again and again.

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