Hebrew word · H6521

פְּרָזִי

haperazi

villager

The words come from a root meaning 'open, spread out'. pərāzî is a person or settlement in the open country. pərāzôt are open, unwalled places. The point is always the lack of a fortification wall, not small size or farm work.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament.

What it means

1) villager, rural dweller, hamlet-dweller

2) (TWOT) open region

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 Esther 9:19

Range of meaning

The words come from a root meaning 'open, spread out'. pərāzî is a person or settlement in the open country. pərāzôt are open, unwalled places. The point is always the lack of a fortification wall, not small size or farm work.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and YLT keep the sense of open, unwalled places ('unwalled towns', 'cities of the villages'). BSB ('rural Jews... villages') and ESV ('rural towns') move it toward country versus town. That suggests farmers, when the real contrast is unfortified settlements versus the walled capital.

How it drifted

English 'village' and 'rural' are about size and farming. The Hebrew is about defence.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 3:5 sets walled cities against 'the towns of the pərāzî, very many'. 1 Sam 6:18 sets 'fortified city' against 'village of the pərāzî'. Ezek 38:11 describes a 'land of unwalled villages (pərāzôt)… dwelling without walls, bars or gates'. Zech 2:4 (2:8 Heb.) says Jerusalem will be inhabited 'as pərāzôt', meaning so full it spills past any wall. The Vulgate explains the phrase here as 'in oppidis non muratis', 'in unwalled towns'.

Similar words

Where it appears

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 3:5 הַפְּרָזִ֖י the hamlet-dweller[s]

    All these cities were fortified with high walls and gates and bars, and there were many more unwalled villages.

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 6:18 הַפְּרָזִ֑י the hamlet-dweller[s]

    The number of gold rats also corresponded to the number of Philistine cities belonging to the five rulers—the fortified cities and their outlying villages. And the large rock on which they placed the ark of the LORD stands to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.

Esther · 1

  1. Esther 9:19 הַפְּרָזִ֗ים the rural villagers

    This is why the rural Jews, who live in the villages, observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting. It is a holiday for sending gifts to one another.

    Here: People who live in settlements without walls. Here they are set against the Jews of fortified Susa (9:18).

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