Hebrew word · H6390
פְּלַגָּה
viflagot
stream
The root p-l-g means 'divide'. The feminine form pəlaggâ appears only here and in Judg 5:15–16 (the 'divisions/clans of Reuben', perhaps also wordplay on watercourses). The more common masculine peleg means a channel or artificial watercourse (Ps 1:3; 46:4; 65:9; Prov 21:1).
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) stream, division, river
1a) stream
1b) divisions, sections
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
- Range of meaning
The root p-l-g means 'divide'. The feminine form pəlaggâ appears only here and in Judg 5:15–16 (the 'divisions/clans of Reuben', perhaps also wordplay on watercourses). The more common masculine peleg means a channel or artificial watercourse (Ps 1:3; 46:4; 65:9; Prov 21:1). Akkadian palgu, 'canal, ditch', is a close relative.
- Against the English
'Streams' (BSB), 'rivers' (KJV, WEB), 'rivulets' (YLT). None of them brings out that these are irrigation channels made and maintained by people.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Ps 1:3, 'a tree planted by channels (palgê) of water', is an irrigated orchard tree. Job 29:6 uses the same word when Job remembers his own past: 'the rock poured out for me streams (palgê) of oil'.
Where it appears
Job · 1
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Job 20:17 בִפְלַגּ֑וֹת on streams
He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.
Here: 'On channels.' The root means 'to divide'. These are streams split off for irrigation, the ditches that carry water to fields and orchards. Water that has been managed and put to use stands for a prosperous estate.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.