Aramaic word · H6562

פְּרַק

feruk

to break

The root prq means to tear loose, pull apart or free something. In biblical Hebrew it is used for tearing off a yoke (Gen 27:40), stripping off earrings (Exod 32:2) and rescuing someone from enemies (Ps 136:24; Lam 5:8).

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears once in the Aramaic of the Old Testament.

What it means

(P'al) to tear away, break off (sins)

Aramaic of pa.raq (פָּרַק "to tear" H6561)

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 Daniel 4:27

Range of meaning

The root prq means to tear loose, pull apart or free something. In biblical Hebrew it is used for tearing off a yoke (Gen 27:40), stripping off earrings (Exod 32:2) and rescuing someone from enemies (Ps 136:24; Lam 5:8). In Jewish Aramaic of the following centuries and in Syriac, prq is the ordinary verb for 'redeem, ransom, deliver.' The Aramaic Targums use it to translate Hebrew gāʾal and pādâ ('redeem'), and the noun purqānā means 'redemption'.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and ESV have 'break off', and BSB has 'break away from', which suggests quitting a habit. NIV ('renounce') moves further toward an inner decision. NRSV ('atone for') and NABRE follow the 'redeem/ransom' sense of the ancient Greek and Latin versions.

How it drifted

'Break off' is a fair rendering of the root, but in modern English it means 'stop doing', so it hides the possibility that the verb means 'free yourself from' or 'buy back', which is how its Aramaic-speaking readers came to hear it.

Used elsewhere in the period

Theodotion's Greek has lytrōsai ('redeem, ransom') and the Vulgate has redime ('redeem'). The Old Greek version of Daniel 4 is a much longer and freer text, but it also speaks of almsgiving in connection with the king's sins. Jastrow's dictionary of Talmudic Aramaic gives 'redeem, release' as a main sense of prq.

Where it appears

Daniel · 1

  1. Daniel 4:27 פְרֻ֔ק break off!

    Therefore, may my advice be pleasing to you, O king. Break away from your sins by doing what is right, and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed. Perhaps there will be an extension of your prosperity.”

    Here: A command: 'tear away!' or 'redeem!' The root means to pull something loose or free it. In later Aramaic it is the standard word for 'redeem, ransom, deliver.' The verb governs both halves of the sentence.

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