Hebrew word · H6480
פָּצַם
petzamtah
to split open
Found only here in the Hebrew Bible. Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'split open, break open,' based on related words in Aramaic and Arabic (Arabic faṣama, 'to crack, split').
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) to split or break open
1a) (Qal) to crack
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
Found only here in the Hebrew Bible. Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'split open, break open,' based on related words in Aramaic and Arabic (Arabic faṣama, 'to crack, split').
- Against the English
'Torn it open' (BSB, WEB, NIV), 'broken it' (KJV, YLT), 'split it open' (NASB). All sit within the likely range. 'Broken' is the vaguest and loses the picture of ground cracking open.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Because the word occurs only once, its meaning comes from cognates and from context. Its pairing with 'quake' and with 'fractures' later in the line points to cracking. The ancient translators seem to have been unsure of it: the LXX has syntarassō, 'throw into confusion, trouble,' and the Vulgate follows with conturbasti, 'you have disturbed.'
Where it appears
Psalms · 1
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Psalm 60:2 פְּצַמְתָּ֑הּ you have split open it
You have shaken the land and torn it open. Heal its fractures, for it is quaking.
Here: 'You have cracked it open.' This word appears only here in the Hebrew Bible. Its meaning comes from related words in other Semitic languages that mean splitting or cracking. The picture is ground split open by a quake.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.