Hebrew word · H901

בָּגוֹד

bagodah

treacherous

From the verb bagad, 'to act faithlessly, betray, deal treacherously'. It means breaking faith with someone you are bound to: a spouse (Mal 2:14–16; Exod 21:8), a friend or ally (Judg 9:23; Job 6:15), or God. Bagod, the adjective, is found only in Jer 3:7, 10. 8, 11.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

treacherous, deceitful

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 Jeremiah 3:10

Range of meaning

From the verb bagad, 'to act faithlessly, betray, deal treacherously'. It means breaking faith with someone you are bound to: a spouse (Mal 2:14–16; Exod 21:8), a friend or ally (Judg 9:23; Job 6:15), or God. Bagod, the adjective, is found only in Jer 3:7, 10. The participle bogedah ('the betraying one') is used in vv. 8, 11.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and YLT have 'treacherous'. BSB and NIV have 'unfaithful'. 'Unfaithful' fits the marriage picture best. 'Treacherous' keeps the force of betrayal but can sound like 'dangerous' to modern ears.

How it drifted

Modern English often uses 'treacherous' for hazards (treacherous roads, treacherous ice). The Hebrew is always about broken trust between parties who are bound to each other.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Malachi 2:14–16 bagad is used again and again for a husband betraying 'the wife of your covenant'. In Hosea 5:7 and 6:7 it is used for Israel's faithlessness to Yahweh. The Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation) of Jeremiah 3 renders it with asynthetos, 'one who does not keep agreements'.

Where it appears

Jeremiah · 2

  1. Jeremiah 3:7 בָּגוֹדָ֥ה treacherous

    I thought that after she had done all these things, she would return to Me. But she did not return, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it.

  2. Jeremiah 3:10 בָּגוֹדָ֧ה treacherous

    Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.

    Here: Judah's nickname in this oracle: 'Betrayer'. The word is for breaking faith with a partner, especially in marriage. This exact form appears only here and in v. 7.

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