Hebrew word · H5214

נִיר

niru

to break

Verb: to break up ground for the first time or after a long rest. Noun: such ground, land that is untilled, hardened, or newly brought under the plow.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

(Qal) to break up, freshly plough or till

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 Hosea 10:12

Range of meaning

Verb: to break up ground for the first time or after a long rest. Noun: such ground, land that is untilled, hardened, or newly brought under the plow.

Against the English

"Fallow ground" (KJV, WEB) to a modern farmer can mean land deliberately rested in good condition. The Hebrew picture is hard, neglected or unbroken ground that resists the seed. "Unplowed ground" (BSB, NIV) is clearer.

Used elsewhere in the period

Jer 4:3 uses the identical phrase: "Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns." Prov 13:23: "the nîr of the poor yields much food." Septuagint translators read the same consonants as nēr, "lamp", giving "light for yourselves the light of knowledge".

From the study of Jeremiah 4:3

Range of meaning

The verb (used only here and in Hosea 10:12) means to break up or till land that is not ready for seed. That means turning over hard, overgrown or never-worked soil. The noun means that kind of land. BDB defines it as 'tillable, untilled or fallow ground'. HALOT leans toward 'newly broken / newly cultivated land'. Elsewhere the noun appears in Proverbs 13:23, where the poor man's nîr yields plenty of food: land opened up by hard work that can be very fertile.

Against the English

KJV, ESV, NASB and WEB say 'fallow ground'. NIV and BSB say 'unplowed ground'. YLT keeps the echo of the Hebrew ('Till for yourselves tillage'). NLT adds 'of your hearts'. 'Fallow' is not wrong, but in modern English it suggests land resting on purpose. The Hebrew stresses that the ground is closed and still has to be broken open.

How it drifted

In older English 'fallow' meant both plowed-but-unsown land and land left uncultivated. Today it mostly means land deliberately rested, and devotional writing often uses 'a fallow season' for a healthy pause. That positive sense of rest is not what the Hebrew word is about.

Used elsewhere in the period

Hosea 10:12 has the exact phrase nîrû lākem nîr, 'break up for yourselves broken ground', next to 'sow for yourselves righteousness, reap according to steadfast love… for it is time to seek the LORD.' Jeremiah draws on Hosea in many places, and here he quotes him almost word for word. The Septuagint translates both with neoō, 'make new' ('renew for yourselves new ground'). The Vulgate has 'novate vobis novale' ('make new for yourselves a new field').

Where it appears

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 4:3 נִ֥ירוּ plow

    For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground, and do not sow among the thorns.

    Here: A plural command: 'break up!' It means plowing ground that has not been worked, or has gone hard and wild, so that it can take seed. The work is hard and comes first, before any sowing.

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 10:12 נִ֥ירוּ plow

    Sow for yourselves righteousness and reap the fruit of loving devotion; break up your unplowed ground. For it is time to seek the LORD until He comes and sends righteousness upon you like rain.

    Here: "Break up, plow for the first time." It picks up v.11, where Jacob must "break the clods". It is hard work under a yoke, the opposite of the easy threshing Ephraim enjoyed.

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