Hebrew word · H6288

פֹּארָה

purah

bough

A leafy bough or branch, especially the spreading upper growth of a large tree. It is used of vine branches (Ezek 17:6) and of the boughs of the great cedar in Ezekiel 31:5–13.

Appears 7 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

bough, branch, shoot

Also means: pu.rah (פּוּרָה "bough" H6288B)

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 10:33

Range of meaning

A leafy bough or branch, especially the spreading upper growth of a large tree. It is used of vine branches (Ezek 17:6) and of the boughs of the great cedar in Ezekiel 31:5–13. Lexicons connect it with a root meaning 'to adorn, be splendid' (compare pĕʾēr, 'headdress', and tipʾeret, 'beauty, glory'), though this etymology is not certain.

Against the English

English "bough" or "branches" gives the literal picture. It cannot also carry the possible echo of 'splendour'. Some ancient translators heard that echo strongly (see textual notes).

Used elsewhere in the period

Ezekiel 31 is the closest parallel: Assyria is a cedar of Lebanon "lofty in height (gĕbah qômâ)", with beautiful boughs (pōʾrōt), and it is cut down and brought low. The vocabulary of Isaiah 10:33–34 (bough, height, tall, Lebanon, felling) appears there as a set.

Where it appears

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 10:33 פֻּארָ֖ה bough[s]

    Behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts will lop off the branches with terrifying power. The tall trees will be cut down, the lofty ones will be felled.

    Here: A full, leafy branch at the top of a tree, the part that makes a tree look splendid. Ezekiel 31 uses the same word for the branches of the great cedar that stands for Assyria. Singular in form but meaning the foliage as a whole, so 'boughs'.

Ezekiel · 6

  1. Ezekiel 17:6 פֹּארֽוֹת׃ boughs

    It sprouted and became a spreading vine, low in height, with branches turned toward him; yet its roots remained where it stood. So it became a vine and yielded branches and sent out shoots.

  2. Ezekiel 31:5 פֹארֹתָ֛יו branches its

    Therefore it towered higher than all the trees of the field. Its branches multiplied, and its boughs grew long as it spread them out because of the abundant waters.

  3. Ezekiel 31:6 פֹּֽארֹתָיו֙ branches its

    All the birds of the air nested in its branches, and all the beasts of the field gave birth beneath its boughs; all the great nations lived in its shade.

  4. Ezekiel 31:8 כְּפֹֽארֹתָ֑יו like branches its

    The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it; the cypresses could not compare with its branches, nor the plane trees match its boughs. No tree in the garden of God could compare with its beauty.

  5. Ezekiel 31:12 פֹֽארֹתָיו֙ branches its

    Foreigners, the most ruthless of the nations, cut it down and left it. Its branches have fallen on the mountains and in every valley; its boughs lay broken in all the earth’s ravines. And all the peoples of the earth left its shade and abandoned it.

  6. Ezekiel 31:13 פֹּארֹתָ֣יו branches its

    All the birds of the air nested on its fallen trunk, and all the beasts of the field lived among its boughs.

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