Hebrew word · H6388

פֶּ֫לֶג

peleg

stream

A channel, canal or artificial watercourse. It comes from the root p-l-g, 'to divide, split', so it is water divided off and led somewhere. In poetry it widens to 'streams' generally, but it always pictures water that is channelled.

Appears 10 times in 10 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

channel, canal

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 Proverbs 21:1

Range of meaning

A channel, canal or artificial watercourse. It comes from the root p-l-g, 'to divide, split', so it is water divided off and led somewhere. In poetry it widens to 'streams' generally, but it always pictures water that is channelled.

Against the English

KJV 'rivers of water' makes the picture too big and too wild. A river follows its own bed, but a peleg is a ditch someone dug and steers. BSB 'waterway', NASB 'channels' and WEB 'watercourses' keep the man-made, directed sense. ESV and NLT 'stream' are acceptable but lose the idea of a dug channel.

How it drifted

In 1611 'rivers of water' was a stock phrase from Psalm 1:3 and similar verses. Modern readers hear 'river' as something large and natural, which hides the farmer's irrigation ditch the image depends on.

Used elsewhere in the period

Same phrase palgê mayim in Ps 1:3, Isa 32:2 ('like streams of water in a dry place'), Lam 3:48; peleg ʾĕlōhîm, 'God's channel', in Ps 65:9. The related Akkadian word palgu is the ordinary term for an irrigation canal in Mesopotamia. The personal name Peleg ('in his days the earth was divided', Gen 10:25) plays on the same root. The Vulgate's divisiones aquarum ('divisions of waters') keeps the root idea.

From the study of Psalm 1:3

Range of meaning

Peleg (plural palgê) comes from the root p-l-g, 'to divide, split'. It means a channel, a watercourse split off from a main source, a canal. It is close to Akkadian palgu, 'canal, irrigation ditch'. Uses: Prov 21:1, 'the king's heart is palgê mayim in the LORD's hand; he turns it wherever he wishes', a farmer steering irrigation water; Isa 32:2, 'like palgê mayim in a dry place'; Ps 46:4 [Heb 46:5], the 'streams' that make glad the city of God; Ps 65:9 [Heb 65:10], 'the channel of God is full of water'; Lam 3:48, 'channels of water' of tears. It can be used poetically of natural streams, but the root idea is water divided and directed.

Against the English

KJV 'rivers of water' calls up a large natural river. BSB, ESV, NIV, NASB and WEB have 'streams', which is closer but can still suggest a wild brook. NLT 'along the riverbank' goes further from the Hebrew. YLT 'rivulets' gets the size right. 'Channels' or 'irrigation channels' gives the picture best.

How it drifted

Since the KJV, 'rivers of water' has shaped how people picture the verse: a lone tree on the bank of a broad river. The Hebrew points instead to a tended orchard where water is led to each tree.

Used elsewhere in the period

Royal and temple gardens in Mesopotamia and Egypt depended on canals (Akkadian palgu) dug from rivers. Assyrian kings boasted of the canals they cut to water their parks. In Israel, where most agriculture relied on winter rain, a tree with a guaranteed water channel was a privileged tree. The Septuagint has tas diexodous tōn hudatōn, 'the outlets/runnels of the waters'.

From the study of Isaiah 30:25

Range of meaning

Peleg (from pālag, 'to divide, split') is a channel or cleft carrying water. It can be a natural runnel or a dug irrigation canal. Yābāl (from yābal, 'to carry, bring along') is a watercourse, something that 'conveys' water. Neither word means a great river; the usual Hebrew for that is nāhār.

Against the English

KJV's 'rivers [and] streams' makes the picture bigger than it is, and it adds an 'and' that is not in the Hebrew (KJV's own italics show this). 'Brooks' (WEB), 'streams' (BSB, NIV) and 'brooks running with water' (ESV) are closer. The Hebrew puts two nouns side by side for emphasis, 'channels, watercourses of water', so the second restates the first.

How it drifted

In 1611, 'rivers' could mean watercourses in general. Today it suggests large rivers like the Jordan or the Thames.

Used elsewhere in the period

Palgê mayim appears in Ps 1:3 (the tree planted by 'channels of water') and Ps 46:4 ('a river whose streams…'). Yiblê mayim appears in Isa 44:4 (willows by watercourses). Akkadian palgu, 'canal, ditch', is the same word used for Mesopotamian irrigation canals (per HALOT).

Where it appears

Job · 1

  1. Job 29:6 פַּלְגֵי־ streams of

    when my steps were bathed in cream and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

Psalms · 4

  1. Psalm 1:3 פַּלְגֵ֫י streams of

    He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.

    Here: 'Channels of', plural. The word comes from a root meaning 'to divide'. It names water split off into runnels, typically the irrigation ditches of a garden or orchard, not a single great river.

  2. Psalm 46:4 פְּלָגָ֗יו streams its

    There is a river whose streams delight the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.

    Here: "Its channels" are the branches or watercourses the river divides into. The word suggests irrigation ditches that carry water where it is needed, as in Psalm 1:3. This is guided, life-giving water, not a flood.

  3. Psalm 65:9 פֶּ֣לֶג [the] stream of

    You attend to the earth and water it; with abundance You enrich it. The streams of God are full of water, for You prepare our grain by providing for the earth.

    Here: A cut or dividing water-channel, like an irrigation ditch. 'God's channel' is the conduit through which God sends water down to the land. In context this is most likely the rain.

  4. Psalm 119:136 פַּלְגֵי־ streams of

    My eyes shed streams of tears because Your law is not obeyed.

    Here: "Channels of." A peleg is a watercourse, often a man-made irrigation channel. It is the same word as in Psalm 1:3, where the person who meditates on God's instruction is a tree "planted by channels of water." It opens the verse and supplies the letter Pe (פ) this stanza of the acrostic requires.

Proverbs · 2

  1. Proverbs 5:16 פַּלְגֵי־ streams of

    Why should your springs flow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?

  2. Proverbs 21:1 פַּלְגֵי־ [is] streams of

    The king’s heart is a waterway in the hand of the LORD; He directs it where He pleases.

    Here: Plural, 'channels of'. The word comes from a root meaning 'to divide', so it means water split off into ditches or runnels, not a great natural river. It is placed first in the Hebrew, so the picture comes before the subject: 'Irrigation channels, that is what the king's heart is.'

Isaiah · 2

  1. Isaiah 30:25 פְּלָגִ֖ים streams

    And from every high mountain and every raised hill, streams of water will flow in the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall.

    Here: Water channels, from a root meaning 'to divide or split'. These are runnels and canals that carry water across the land (compare Ps 1:3, 'streams of water'). They are not large rivers.

  2. Isaiah 32:2 כְּפַלְגֵי־ like streams of

    Each will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry land, like the shadow of a great rock in an arid land.

    Here: Peleg means a channel or watercourse, often a dug irrigation channel (Ps 1:3, 'a tree planted by channels of water'). It pictures steady water that is directed where it is needed.

Lamentations · 1

  1. Lamentations 3:48 פַּלְגֵי־ streams of

    Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.

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