Hebrew word · H6475

פָּצָה

petzeh

to open

Patsah means 'to open wide' and is used of mouths, and of the earth (Genesis 4:11; Deuteronomy 11:6 uses a different verb for the earth swallowing Korah, but the image is the same). 'Akhal is ordinary eating, also used for 'devouring' and figuratively for taking something in.

Appears 15 times in 15 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to part, open, separate, set free

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to open (mouth), utter

1a2) to snatch away, set free

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 Ezekiel 2:8

Range of meaning

Patsah means 'to open wide' and is used of mouths, and of the earth (Genesis 4:11; Deuteronomy 11:6 uses a different verb for the earth swallowing Korah, but the image is the same). 'Akhal is ordinary eating, also used for 'devouring' and figuratively for taking something in.

Against the English

English versions agree: 'open your mouth and eat.' What English loses is the matching structure. 'What I am speaking to you' and 'what I am giving to you' are built word for word the same in Hebrew, so hearing and eating are presented as one act.

Used elsewhere in the period

Jeremiah 1:9: 'I have put my words in your mouth.' Jeremiah 15:16: 'your words were found, and I ate them.' Deuteronomy 8:3: 'man does not live by bread alone but by everything that comes from the mouth of the LORD.' Psalm 81:10 has a different verb but a similar idea: 'Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.' Ezekiel 3:1–3 completes the act: the scroll is 'as sweet as honey.' Revelation 10:9–10 takes up this scene directly.

From the study of Lamentations 2:16

Range of meaning

To open the mouth wide: to speak boldly, to make a vow, to jeer, or (of the earth or beasts) to devour.

Against the English

'Open their mouths' can sound merely like 'start talking'. The Hebrew picture is a wide gape, both mocking and devouring.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lam 3:46, where the pe line of chapter 3 almost repeats this one: 'All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.' Gen 4:11 and Num 16:30: the earth 'opened its mouth' to swallow. Ps 22:13: 'they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.'

From the study of Psalm 22:13

Range of meaning

To open, especially the mouth: to gape wide. It is used of the earth opening its mouth to swallow (Gen 4:11; Num 16:30), of opening one's mouth to speak or vow (Judg 11:35–36; Ps 66:14), and of enemies gaping in triumph or mockery (Lam 2:16; 3:46).

Against the English

'Open' (BSB, YLT) is accurate but mild. 'Gaped' (KJV) and 'open wide' (WEB, ESV, NASB) better capture the menace of a mouth stretched open over a victim.

Used elsewhere in the period

The closest parallels are Lamentations 2:16 and 3:46, 'all your enemies have opened their mouth against you,' where the enemies gloat as they hiss, grind their teeth and say 'we have swallowed her up.' Job 16:10 uses a similar verb (pāʿar): 'they have gaped at me with their mouth.' Psalm 35:21 uses yet another verb (rāḥab), 'they open their mouth wide against me, saying Aha, aha!'

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 4:11 פָּצְתָ֣ה <it> has opened

    Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

Numbers · 1

  1. Numbers 16:30 וּפָצְתָ֨ה and it will open

    But if the LORD brings about something unprecedented, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them and all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.”

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 11:6 פָּצְתָ֤ה it opened

    and what He did in the midst of all the Israelites to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that belonged to them.

Judges · 2

  1. Judges 11:35 פָּצִ֤יתִי־ I have opened

    As soon as Jephthah saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “No! Not my daughter! You have brought me to my knees! You have brought great misery upon me, for I have given my word to the LORD and cannot take it back.”

  2. Judges 11:36 פָּצִ֤יתָה you have opened

    “My father,” she replied, “you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me as you have said, for the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites.”

Job · 1

  1. Job 35:16 יִפְצֶה־ he opens

    So Job opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words without knowledge.”

Psalms · 5

  1. Psalm 22:13 פָּצ֣וּ they have opened

    They open their jaws against me like lions that roar and maul.

    Here: They have opened wide. The verb is used for a mouth gaping open, whether to swallow or to jeer. The form describes something done and still in effect: the jaws are open now, over him.

  2. Psalm 66:14 פָּצ֥וּ they opened

    the vows that my lips promised and my mouth spoke in my distress.

  3. Psalm 144:7 פְּצֵ֣נִי set free me

    Reach down from on high; set me free and rescue me from the deep waters, from the grasp of foreigners,

    Here: 'Set me free' or 'tear me loose'. The usual Hebrew sense of this verb is 'open (the mouth)'. Here, and in verses 10 and 11, it carries a sense common in Aramaic: 'release, rescue'.

  4. Psalm 144:10 הַ֭פּוֹצֶה who sets free

    to Him who gives victory to kings, who frees His servant David from the deadly sword.

    Here: Another title-like participle, matching 'the Giver'. Elsewhere this verb means 'open' (usually the mouth), but in this psalm (vv. 7, 10, 11) it means 'tear loose, rescue', as the related Aramaic word does.

  5. Psalm 144:11 פְּצֵ֥נִי set free me

    Set me free and rescue me from the grasp of foreigners, whose mouths speak falsehood, whose right hands are deceitful.

    Here: An urgent command: 'tear me loose!' Elsewhere this verb means to open the mouth; in Psalm 144 (vv. 7, 10, 11) it has the rare sense 'rescue, set free', probably under the influence of Aramaic, where the same root means 'deliver'. It echoes v. 10, where God is 'the one who frees (ha-potseh) David'.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 10:14 וּפֹצֶ֥ה and opening

    My hand reached as into a nest to seize the wealth of the nations. Like one gathering abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth. No wing fluttered, no beak opened or chirped.’”

Lamentations · 2

  1. Lamentations 2:16 פָּצ֨וּ they have opened

    All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day for which we have waited. We have lived to see it!”

    Here: To gape open, usually the mouth. The word comes first because it starts the pe (פ) line of the alphabet poem. The picture is a jaw opened wide, ready both to jeer and to devour.

  2. Lamentations 3:46 פָּצ֥וּ they have opened

    All our enemies open their mouths against us.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 2:8 פְּצֵ֣ה open

    And you, son of man, listen to what I tell you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I give you.”

    Here: A command to open the mouth wide. The verb is used for the earth opening its mouth (Gen 4:11) and for mouths opened in speech. Here the opened mouth is the opposite of a defiant one.

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