Hebrew word · H6385

פָּלַג

palag

to divide

To split, divide, cleave. The noun peleg means a channel or stream that divides the ground (Psalm 1:3; 46:4). The verb is rare: Genesis 10:25 / 1 Chronicles 1:19 ("in his days the earth was divided," explaining the name Peleg); Job 38:25 (God "cuts a channel" for the rain).

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to divide, split

1a) (Niphal) to be split, be divided

1b) (Piel)

1b1) to split, cleave

1b2) to divide

Aramaic equivalent: pe.lag (פְּלַג "to divide" H6386)

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 Psalm 55:9

Range of meaning

To split, divide, cleave. The noun peleg means a channel or stream that divides the ground (Psalm 1:3; 46:4). The verb is rare: Genesis 10:25 / 1 Chronicles 1:19 ("in his days the earth was divided," explaining the name Peleg); Job 38:25 (God "cuts a channel" for the rain).

Against the English

"Divide" (KJV, ESV, NASB, YLT) is accurate and keeps the picture of splitting. "Confound" (BSB, WEB, NIV) keeps the Babel result but loses the image of one thing torn into pieces.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 10:25 ties the root to the dividing of humanity right before the Babel story (Genesis 11:1-9), where God "confuses their language" so they can no longer work together. Commentators (e.g. Tate, WBC; Goldingay) note that Psalm 55:9 puts a Babel-sounding verb (balla') next to a Peleg verb (pallag).

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 10:25 נִפְלְגָ֣ה <it> was divided

    Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his days the earth was divided, and his brother was named Joktan.

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 1:19 נִפְלְגָ֣ה it was divided

    Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his days the earth was divided, and his brother was named Joktan.

Job · 1

  1. Job 38:25 פִלַּ֣ג does he divide

    Who cuts a channel for the flood or clears a path for the thunderbolt,

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 55:9 פַּלַּ֣ג divide

    O Lord, confuse and confound their speech, for I see violence and strife in the city.

    Here: A second command, "split!" in the same intensive form. It is the root behind the name Peleg, "for in his days the earth was divided" (Genesis 10:25), so it points to the scattering of the nations once again.

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