Hebrew word · H6350

פַּחֲזוּת

uvefachazutam

recklessness

This word occurs only here in the Bible. Related words in Aramaic and Arabic suggest boasting, arrogance or wantonness (HALOT, BDB).

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

recklessness, extravagance, frivolity

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 Jeremiah 23:32

Range of meaning

This word occurs only here in the Bible. The root p-ḥ-z means to boil over, be reckless, unrestrained, insolent: Reuben is "unstable [paḥaz] as water" (Gen 49:4); Abimelech hires "worthless and reckless men" (Judg 9:4); Zephaniah says "her prophets are reckless [pōḥăzîm], men of treachery" (Zeph 3:4). Related words in Aramaic and Arabic suggest boasting, arrogance or wantonness (HALOT, BDB).

Against the English

KJV "lightness" and YLT "instability" catch the unsteady, frothing side. WEB "vain boasting" and some modern versions catch the arrogance. ESV "recklessness" is closest to the range. BSB and NIV merge it into an adjective ("reckless lies"), which turns a second, separate charge into a description of the lies.

How it drifted

KJV "lightness" meant frivolity or lack of gravity in 1611. Today readers may take it as mere light-heartedness and miss the insolence and lack of restraint.

Used elsewhere in the period

Gen 49:4; Judg 9:4; Zeph 3:4. Zephaniah, Jeremiah's near-contemporary, applies the same root to prophets, so the charge may have been a recognised accusation against court prophets in late Judah. In later Hebrew the root carries the sense of rashness.

Where it appears

Jeremiah · 1

  1. Jeremiah 23:32 וּבְפַחֲזוּתָ֑ם and by recklessness their

    “Indeed,” declares the LORD, “I am against those who prophesy false dreams and retell them to lead My people astray with their reckless lies. It was not I who sent them or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all to these people,” declares the LORD.

    Here: "And by their recklessness": a word found only here in the Bible, from a root meaning to boil over or be reckless and insolent. It describes how they behave: careless, arrogant, unrestrained.

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