Hebrew word · H909

בָּדַד

boded

be alone

The root bdd means to be separate or alone. The participle bôdēd is used for a straggler or one who stands apart: the lonely bird on the roof (Ps 102:8 Heb.), the man who 'breaks ranks' in an army (Isa 14:31).

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to withdraw, be separate, be isolated

1a) (Qal) an army straggler (part.)

1a1) of Ephraim (metaph.)

2) (TWOT) alone

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 Hosea 8:9

Range of meaning

The root bdd means to be separate or alone. The participle bôdēd is used for a straggler or one who stands apart: the lonely bird on the roof (Ps 102:8 Heb.), the man who 'breaks ranks' in an army (Isa 14:31). Related forms describe Israel 'dwelling alone' (Num 23:9; Deut 33:28), where separateness under God's protection is a blessing.

Against the English

BSB 'on its own', ESV 'wandering alone', NASB 'all alone', KJV/YLT 'alone by himself'. 'Wandering' is added by translators to fill out the picture; the Hebrew stresses isolation and self-direction ('by itself, for itself'), not motion.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 102:8 (Heb.); Isa 14:31; related forms in Num 23:9; Deut 33:28; Lam 1:1 ('how lonely sits the city').

Where it appears

Psalms · 1

  1. Psalm 102:7 בּוֹדֵ֥ד isolated

    I lie awake; I am like a lone bird on a housetop.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 14:31 בּוֹדֵ֖ד [is] an isolated [one]

    Wail, O gate! Cry out, O city! Melt away, all you Philistines! For a cloud of smoke comes from the north, and there are no stragglers in its ranks.

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 8:9 בּוֹדֵ֣ד isolated

    For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey on its own. Ephraim has hired lovers.

    Here: 'Off on its own', a straggler. Onagers normally move in herds, so a lone one is cut off and exposed, and also self-willed. The same participle describes the lonely bird on the rooftop in Psalm 102:7 (Heb. 102:8).

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