Hebrew word · H6559

פְּרָצִים

peratzim

(Mount )Perazim

Plural of pereṣ, "breach, breakthrough, bursting out", from the root pāraṣ, "to break through, burst out, make a breach" (of walls, of floodwater, of a sudden violent outbreak). As a place-name it is Baal-perazim, "Lord of breakthroughs".

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 25, 2026

What it means

§ Perazim = "breaches"

a mountain in Palestine

possibly the same as 'Baal-perazim' which was the scene of a victory of David over the Philistines located in the valley of Rephaim, south of Jerusalem, on the road to Bethlehem

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 Isaiah 28:21

Range of meaning: Plural of pereṣ, "breach, breakthrough, bursting out", from the root pāraṣ, "to break through, burst out, make a breach" (of walls, of floodwater, of a sudden violent outbreak). As a place-name it is Baal-perazim, "Lord of breakthroughs".
Against the English: English versions simply transliterate "Perazim", which is correct, but a reader without Hebrew loses the meaning of the name: "Mount Breakthrough".
Used elsewhere in the period: 2 Samuel 5:20 and 1 Chronicles 14:11: David defeats the Philistines in the Rephaim valley near Jerusalem and says, "Yahweh has broken through my enemies before me like a breakthrough of waters", so the place is named Baal-perazim. The same root comes back in 2 Samuel 6:8, where Yahweh "broke out" against Uzzah, one of Israel's own, and the place is called Perez-uzzah. Isaiah 28 is full of flood imagery: the "overflowing scourge" (28:15, 18) and "mighty waters overflowing" (28:2).

Where it appears

Isaiah · 1

Isaiah 28:21 פְּרָצִים֙ Perazim

For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim. He will rouse Himself as in the Valley of Gibeon, to do His work, His strange work, and to perform His task, His disturbing task.

Here: The place where David beat the Philistines and said Yahweh had "broken through" his enemies like water bursting out (2 Samuel 5:20). The name itself means "breakthroughs" or "breaches".

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