Hebrew word · H6500

פָּרָא

yafri'

be fruitful

A rare by-form of the common root pārâ, 'bear fruit, be fruitful'. In the causative stem it means 'produce fruit, thrive'. This is its only occurrence in this exact form.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament.

What it means

(Hiphil) to bear fruit, be fruitful

Another spelling of pa.rah (פָּרָה "be fruitful" H6509)

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 Hosea 13:15

Range of meaning

A rare by-form of the common root pārâ, 'bear fruit, be fruitful'. In the causative stem it means 'produce fruit, thrive'. This is its only occurrence in this exact form.

Against the English

'Be fruitful' (KJV, WEB), 'flourish' (BSB, ESV), 'thrive' (NIV). All are accurate. None can carry the pun on Ephraim's name, so English readers lose the point that the name is being turned against its bearer.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 41:52 explains Ephraim's name by the same root: 'God has made me fruitful (hiprani) in the land of my affliction.' Genesis 49:22 calls Joseph 'a fruitful bough (ben porat) by a spring (ʿayin)', which combines fruitfulness and a water-source as this verse does. Hosea uses the same wordplay in 9:16 ('Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up, they bear no fruit') and in 14:8 ('from me comes your fruit'). The Septuagint read a different verb (yaprid, 'divide'), which suggests the rare form was already hard for ancient translators.

Where it appears

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 13:15 יַפְרִ֑יא he flourishes

    Although he flourishes among his brothers, an east wind will come—a wind from the LORD rising up from the desert. His fountain will fail, and his spring will run dry. The wind will plunder his treasury of every precious article.

    Here: 'He bears fruit, thrives.' This is a deliberate pun on the name Ephraim (ʾEprayim, explained in Genesis 41:52 as 'God has made me fruitful'). The name itself is turned into the image that is about to wither.

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