Hebrew word · H6582
פָּשַׁח
vayfashecheni
to tear
Occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. Meaning is fixed mainly by related languages: in Aramaic and Syriac pšḥ means to tear, split or pull apart, for example tearing off a branch or dismembering. Most lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give "tear in pieces."
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
1) to tear, rip, tear in pieces
1a) (Piel) to tear in pieces
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 Lamentations 3:11
- Range of meaning
Occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. Meaning is fixed mainly by related languages: in Aramaic and Syriac pšḥ means to tear, split or pull apart, for example tearing off a branch or dismembering. Most lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give "tear in pieces."
- Against the English
KJV/WEB "pulled me in pieces"; ESV/NASB/BSB "tore me to pieces"; NIV "mangled me." All of these are close. The Septuagint departs from them (see textual notes).
- Used elsewhere in the period
Later Jewish Aramaic uses the root for tearing or stripping, and the Targum tradition understood the line as tearing. It is part of a cluster of mauling vocabulary used of God as a beast: Hosea 5:14 and 6:1 ("he has torn," using a different verb, ṭārap̄), Hosea 13:8, Job 16:9 ("his anger has torn me").
Where it appears
Lamentations · 1
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Lamentations 3:11 וַֽיְפַשְּׁחֵ֖נִי and he has torn in pieces me
He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces; He left me without help.
Here: "And he tore me apart." This verb occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. Related Aramaic and Syriac words mean to tear or split something apart. It is the word for a predator mauling a body limb from limb.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.