Hebrew word · H7524
רֶ֫צַח
beretzach
shattering
The noun is rare: it appears only here and in Ezekiel 21:22 (Hebrew 21:27). It comes from the root ratsach, which elsewhere means to kill a human being, whether as murder or as manslaughter (Exod 20:13; Num 35).
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
shattering
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
The noun is rare: it appears only here and in Ezekiel 21:22 (Hebrew 21:27). It comes from the root ratsach, which elsewhere means to kill a human being, whether as murder or as manslaughter (Exod 20:13; Num 35). Lexicons give "shattering" for this verse (BDB) and "slaughter / murderous blow" or "crushing" more generally (HALOT). A related verb form in Psalm 62:3 (Hebrew 62:4) probably means "batter, assault" a person.
- Against the English
KJV, WEB and YLT say "sword," a weapon the Hebrew never names. BSB ("crushing") and NASB ("shattering") stay closer to the root. Some versions bring out the deadly edge with wording like "deadly wound" (ESV) or "mortal agony" (NIV).
- How it drifted
"Sword" probably comes from older interpretation that took the word as "a murderous instrument" and supplied a weapon. It makes a vivid picture but adds an object the text does not mention.
- Used elsewhere in the period
In Ezekiel 21:22 the king of Babylon is to "open the mouth with slaughter," a war cry. There too the word is tied to speech used as violence. The Greek Septuagint renders our verse "while crushing my bones" (a form of kataklaō/katathlaō), and the Latin Vulgate (Gallican Psalter) has "while my bones are being broken."
Where it appears
Psalms · 1
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Psalm 42:10 בְּרֶ֤צַח׀ with a shattering
Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
Here: "With a shattering." The noun comes from the root of the verb for killing a person (the verb in "You shall not murder"). It shows up only here and in Ezekiel 21:22, so the idea is a blow that kills or smashes. The preposition can mean "with," "as" or "while": the taunts feel like a lethal crushing, or they come while the speaker is already crushed.
Ezekiel · 1
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Ezekiel 21:22 בְּרֶ֔צַח for shattering
In his right hand appears the portent for Jerusalem, where he is to set up battering rams, to call for the slaughter, to lift a battle cry, to direct the battering rams against the gates, to build a ramp, and to erect a siege wall.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.