Hebrew word · H965

בָּזָק

habazak

lightning

Found only here in the Bible. Most lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'flash of lightning'. Related words in later Hebrew and Aramaic mean a spark or a flash, and a Syriac verb from the same root means 'to scatter'. That fits light that bursts out and is instantly gone.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

lightning, lightning flash

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 Ezekiel 1:14

Range of meaning

Found only here in the Bible. Most lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'flash of lightning'. Related words in later Hebrew and Aramaic mean a spark or a flash, and a Syriac verb from the same root means 'to scatter'. That fits light that bursts out and is instantly gone.

Against the English

'Flash of lightning' (KJV, WEB, ESV) and 'flashes of lightning' (BSB, NIV) are reasonable. YLT's bare 'the flash' is closest to the uncertainty. NASB's 'bolts of lightning' suggests a heavier, more solid strike than a word possibly meaning 'spark or flash' supports.

Used elsewhere in the period

There are no other biblical occurrences. Later rabbinic Hebrew uses bazaq or bezeq for a flash or spark, and the Talmud (Hagigah 13b) discusses this verse. The Latin Vulgate renders it 'fulguris coruscantis' (flashing lightning). The Old Greek has no verse to compare. Some scholars think bazaq is simply a variant of baraq, the normal word for lightning used in v. 13.

Where it appears

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 1:14 הַבָּזָֽק׃ <the> lightning

    The creatures were darting back and forth as quickly as flashes of lightning.

    Here: "The flash": a word found nowhere else in the Bible. Related words in later Hebrew and Aramaic suggest a sudden flash or spark, maybe scattering light. 'The' points back to the lightning that leapt from the fire in v. 13: the creatures move the way that flash moves.

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