Hebrew word · H6520
פְּרָזוֹן
ferazon
villager
It occurs only in Judges 5:7 and 5:11.
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) rural population, rustics, rural people, people of unwalled villages
1a) meaning uncertain
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
It occurs only in Judges 5:7 and 5:11. The main proposals are: (1) village life / villagers / peasantry, from pərāzôt 'open, unwalled settlements' (Ezekiel 38:11; Zechariah 2:4) and pərāzî 'country-dweller' (Deuteronomy 3:5; Esther 9:19); (2) warriors, champions, compared with pərāzāyw in Habakkuk 3:14 (often 'his warriors') and supported by the Vulgate's 'strong ones'; (3) leadership, rule (WEB 'his rule').
- Against the English
KJV has 'inhabitants of his villages', NIV and ESV 'his villagers', NASB and NRSV 'his peasantry', WEB 'his rule'. The KJV also adds the word 'toward', which makes the villagers receivers of the righteous acts rather than doers of them.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Judges 5:7 says 'pirzôn ceased in Israel, they ceased, until I, Deborah, arose'. Read alongside 5:6, where roads were abandoned, village life collapsing under oppression fits that verse well. Habakkuk 3:14 is the main support for 'warriors'.
- Range of meaning
A rare word, used only in Judg 5:7 and 5:11. It is built on the root behind pərāzôt, 'open, unwalled settlements', and pərāzî, 'villager / dweller in the open country'. The natural sense is 'open-country folk' or 'village life' as a whole: the farming population living outside fortified cities. A second proposal links it to an Arabic root meaning 'to go out to single combat' (mubāriz, 'champion'), which would give 'warriors'. A third, older line, taken from the Greek and Latin versions, renders it 'mighty ones / leaders / rulers'.
- Against the English
BSB 'life in the villages', KJV '[the inhabitants of] the villages', YLT 'villages', NASB 'peasantry', and ESV 'villagers' all follow the first sense. WEB, following the ASV, has 'rulers', which goes back to the ancient Greek 'mighty ones' and the Latin fortes. The current NIV takes a middle course: villagers who would not fight.
- How it drifted
This is not drift so much as real uncertainty about a word that appears only twice. English 'villages' can sound sleepy and quaint, but the point is that these were unwalled settlements, with no defence against raiders and chariots.
- Used elsewhere in the period
The related forms are clear. Deut 3:5 and 1 Sam 6:18 contrast fortified cities with 'unwalled villages'. In Ezek 38:11 an invader says he will attack 'a land of unwalled villages'. Esth 9:19 has 'the Jews of the villages… who live in the open towns'. Zech 2:4 (Heb 2:8) says Jerusalem will be inhabited 'as open country', without walls. Hab 3:14 has a related form often read as 'his warriors'. The ancient Greek translation divides: one major tradition just transliterates the word, the other renders it 'mighty ones'.
Where it appears
Judges · 2
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Judges 5:7 פְרָז֛וֹן rural people
Life in the villages ceased; it ended in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, a mother in Israel.
Here: A rare word, found only here and in v. 11. Most likely it means the people of the unwalled farming hamlets, Israel's highland peasantry, as a group. A minority reading takes it as 'champions' or 'warriors'. See the study below.
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Judges 5:11 פִּרְזֹנ֖וֹ rural people his
the voices of the singers at the watering places. There they shall recount the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous deeds of His villagers in Israel. Then the people of the LORD went down to the gates:
Here: This rare noun occurs only here and in 5:7, and its meaning is debated. Most connect it with pərāzôt, 'open, unwalled villages', which gives 'his village folk'. Others take it as 'his warriors' or 'his leadership'. 'His' refers to Yahweh: they are his people.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.