Hebrew word · H249

אֶזְרָח

ha'ezrach

born

Ezrach: a native, a full member of the land-holding Israelite clans (Ps 37:35 uses it for a tree flourishing in its native soil). Ger: a resident foreigner, an outsider settled long-term in Israel under its protection, usually without land and so economically vulnerable.

Appears 17 times in 17 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) a native (one rising from the soil)

1a) of man, native Israelites

1b) of tree, native (to Israel)

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 Numbers 15:30

Range of meaning

Ezrach: a native, a full member of the land-holding Israelite clans (Ps 37:35 uses it for a tree flourishing in its native soil). Ger: a resident foreigner, an outsider settled long-term in Israel under its protection, usually without land and so economically vulnerable.

Against the English

KJV 'born in the land, or a stranger'. BSB 'native or foreigner'. YLT 'native or sojourner'. 'Stranger' can mislead today, because a ger was not an unknown passer-by but a settled neighbour.

How it drifted

'Stranger' in modern English means someone unknown. In 1611 it meant an outsider or foreigner.

Used elsewhere in the period

Num 15:15–16, 29 repeat that there is 'one law' (torah achat) for native and resident foreigner. Exod 12:49 and Lev 24:22 say the same.

From the study of Psalm 37:35

Range of meaning

The 'native', a full-born member of the people, as opposed to the ger (resident alien). It is chiefly a legal term in the Torah (Exod 12:19, 48–49; Lev 16:29; 19:34; 24:22; Num 15:29–30; Josh 8:33; Ezek 47:22). Lexicons connect it to the root zarach, 'to rise, spring up', so it may mean 'one who springs from the soil.' This verse is the only place it describes a plant.

Against the English

KJV's 'green bay tree' (the laurel) takes it as the name of a species, following Coverdale and the Geneva Bible. ESV keeps this with 'laurel tree'. BSB ('well-rooted native tree'), NIV ('luxuriant native tree'), NASB and WEB ('tree in its native soil') and YLT ('native plant') follow the Hebrew's actual sense.

How it drifted

Some early interpreters took ezrach as a tree name, and the 16th-century English Bibles fixed 'bay tree' in the language. It became the proverb 'flourishing like the green bay tree.' The Hebrew names no species.

Used elsewhere in the period

Everywhere else in the Hebrew Bible it describes people with full standing in the land. The Septuagint here has 'cedars of Lebanon', apparently reading or interpreting the phrase quite differently.

From the study of Exodus 12:48

Range of meaning

A native, a full-born member of the people living in their own land, the opposite of ger. It is often linked to the verb zarach ('to rise, sprout'). In Psalm 37:35 the same word describes a 'native' or luxuriant tree that has always grown in its own soil.

Against the English

'Native' or 'one born in the land' is fair. A modern reader may hear 'citizen by birth' in a national or legal sense. The ancient sense is someone rooted in the land through kin and inheritance, with full standing in the community and its worship.

Used elsewhere in the period

It appears in the pairing 'the ger and the ezrach' throughout the priestly laws (Exodus 12:19, 49; Leviticus 16:29; 17:15; 24:16, 22; Numbers 9:14; 15:29–30). The Septuagint varies, using autochthōn ('sprung from the land itself') and enchōrios ('local').

Similar words

Where it appears

Exodus · 3

  1. Exodus 12:19 וּבְאֶזְרַ֥ח and in [the] native-born of

    For seven days there must be no leaven found in your houses. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreigner or native of the land, must be cut off from the congregation of Israel.

  2. Exodus 12:48 כְּאֶזְרַ֣ח like [the] native-born of

    If a foreigner resides with you and wants to celebrate the LORD’s Passover, all the males in the household must be circumcised; then he may come near to celebrate it, and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised man may eat of it.

    Here: 'Like one born into the land', a full insider. The 'like' matters: he is treated as a native, though his family history is different. See study.

  3. Exodus 12:49 לָֽאֶזְרָ֑ח to the native-born

    The same law shall apply to both the native and the foreigner who resides among you.”

Leviticus · 7

  1. Leviticus 16:29 הָֽאֶזְרָ֔ח the native-born

    This is to be a permanent statute for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month, you shall humble yourselves and not do any work—whether the native or the foreigner who resides among you—

    Here: The native-born Israelite, rooted in the land. The word is used of a tree growing in its own soil (Ps 37:35). This is the member of a land-holding clan.

  2. Leviticus 17:15 בָּאֶזְרָ֖ח among the native-born

    And any person, whether native or foreigner, who eats anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening; then he will be clean.

    Here: 'Among the native-born': a full Israelite who belongs to the land by descent. The picture behind the word is a plant rooted in its own soil.

  3. Leviticus 18:26 הָֽאֶזְרָ֔ח the native-born

    But you are to keep My statutes and ordinances, and you must not commit any of these abominations—neither your native-born nor the foreigner who lives among you.

  4. Leviticus 19:34 כְּאֶזְרָ֣ח like [the] native-born

    You must treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

    Here: The ezrach is the full member of the land: an Israelite born into a clan with an inherited share of land. The verse opens with this word, so the first thing heard is the standing the outsider is to be given.

  5. Leviticus 23:42 הָֽאֶזְרָח֙ <the> native-born

    You are to dwell in booths for seven days. All the native-born of Israel must dwell in booths,

  6. Leviticus 24:16 כָּֽאֶזְרָ֔ח as the native-born

    Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD must surely be put to death; the whole assembly must surely stone him, whether he is a foreign resident or native; if he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.

    Here: A full Israelite born to the land. The image is of a native tree that has sprung from the soil (Ps 37:35). Neither group is exempt.

  7. Leviticus 24:22 כָּאֶזְרָ֖ח as the native-born

    You are to have the same standard of law for the foreign resident and the native; for I am the LORD your God.’”

Numbers · 4

  1. Numbers 9:14 וּלְאֶזְרַ֥ח and to [the] native-born of

    If a foreigner dwelling among you wants to observe the Passover to the LORD, he is to do so according to the Passover statute and its ordinances. You are to apply the same statute to both the foreigner and the native of the land.’”

  2. Numbers 15:13 הָאֶזְרָ֥ח <the> native-born

    Everyone who is native-born shall prepare these things in this way when he presents a food offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

  3. Numbers 15:29 הָֽאֶזְרָח֙ the native-born

    You shall have the same law for the one who acts in error, whether he is a native-born Israelite or a foreigner residing among you.

  4. Numbers 15:30 הָֽאֶזְרָח֙ the native-born

    But the person who sins defiantly, whether a native or foreigner, blasphemes the LORD. That person shall be cut off from among his people.

    Here: A full Israelite born into the land-holding community. The word is thought to come from a root meaning 'to sprout', giving the picture of a plant growing in its native soil.

Joshua · 1

  1. Joshua 8:33 כָּֽאֶזְרָ֔ח as the native

    All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded earlier, to bless the people of Israel.

    Here: The native-born Israelite, rooted in the people and the land by descent. Both groups stand under the same covenant.

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 37:35 כְּאֶזְרָ֥ח like a native tree

    I have seen a wicked, ruthless man flourishing like a well-rooted native tree,

    Here: Elsewhere this is the legal word for a native-born Israelite, as opposed to a resident foreigner. Applied to a plant, it means one growing in its own soil, never transplanted, rooted deep. 'Tree' is not in the Hebrew. Translators supply it because of the next word.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 47:22 כְּאֶזְרָח֙ like [the] native-born

    You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the foreigners who dwell among you and who have children. You are to treat them as native-born Israelites; along with you, they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.

    Here: 'Like someone rooted in the land.' The 'like' matters: verse 23 still calls such a person a ger, so his origin is not erased, but he counts the same for land.

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