‫ברא‬

A Biblical Word Study

Matthew P. Monger
TEOL2725 – Methods and Tools for Biblical Exegesis

The word ‫ ברא‬is a highly significant word in the Hebrew Bible. It is found in the first verse of
the Bible and is the verb that signifies God creating. In the following, we will look at the
different meanings and usages of ‫ ברא‬and discuss significant theological issues related it.

1. Background and Etymology

We will begin here with a discussion of the background and etymology of root in question,
‫ברא‬. The Hebrew root ‫ ברא‬has at least two different meanings, and it is currently unclear how
or if they are related. 1 HALOT groups the meanings into three separate roots, The first root,
‫ ברא‬1 is generally defined as to create in the majority of texts where the word appears in the
Hebrew Bible whereas the second, ‫ ברא‬2 means to be fat or to fatten. 2 A third root may also
be posited, ‫ ברא‬3, meaning to cut. 3 It should be noted that each of these meanings is related to
certain verb stems, with ‫ ברא‬to create 1 being limited to Qal and Niphal, ‫ ברא‬2 to be fat/fatten
to Hiphil, and ‫ ברא‬3 to Piel. 4 It may be possible that ‫ ברא‬2 is related to ‫ ברה‬to consume food
(Qal), to eat (Piel), 5 by way of the confusion of the final radical. If this is the case, then the
basic meanings of ‫ ברא‬would be to create and to cut, which relates closely to Arabic cognate,
barā to form, fashion by cutting, the Old South Arabian bry meaning a religious figure
sculpted in stone and the Assyrian cognate barû to make, create. 6 Thus, the meaning is likely
5F

connected to creation through forming, sculpting or cutting. Note that TDOT suggests the
original meaning was to separate, divide. 7 See below for a further discussion of the
6F

1
See Brown, F., Driver, S. R., & Briggs, C. A. (1977), Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English
Lexicon, (Oxford: Clarendon Press), 135. Accessed in Logos Bible Software. (Henceforth BDB)
2
Ibid.
3
Schmidt, W.H. “‫ ברא‬brʾ to create” in Jenni, E., & Westermann, C. (1997), Theological lexicon of the Old
Testament, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers), 253-256. (Henceforth TLOT)
4
See HALOT
5
See BDB, 135
6
Ibid.
7
Bernhardt, Bergman, Ringgren and Botterweck (1977), “‫ בָ ָרא‬bara’” in Botterweck and Ringgren (eds).
Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, Volume II, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans), 242-249, here at 245.
(Henceforth TDOT)
implications of the meaning of ‫ ברא‬being related to cutting or forming as opposed to creation
from nothing.

‫ ברא‬is primarily found in the Hebrew Bible as a verbal root, but the few derivatives should
also be mentioned here. ‫ ְבּ ִריאָ ה‬a creation, created thing is found in Num. 16:30 and the name
‫ ְבּ ָראיָה‬Yahweh has created is found in 1 Chr. 8:21. Both of these forms are clearly related to
the primary meaning of ‫ ברא‬as discussed above. Related to ‫ ברא‬2 is the adjective ‫ בָּ ִריא‬fat,
which is found throughout the Hebrew Bible.

2. Usage and Distribution

We now turn to a presentation and analysis of the distribution of ‫ ברא‬in the Hebrew Bible. In
total, the verb occurs 54 times in the Hebrew Bible. 8 Of these, 48 are in qal (38) or niphal
7F

(10), with the remaining 6 in piel (5) and hiphil (1). In the following, we will discuss the
distribution of each verb stem in turn. 9 8F

We will begin with the very limited distribution of ‫ ברא‬in the hiphil, with the meaning to
fatten. This is found only once in the Hebrew Bible, in 1 Sam 2:29, where it is used as a
hiphil infinitive construct: “Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I
commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the
choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’”

The distribution of ‫ ברא‬in the piel is also of a limited nature. The verb, here carrying meaning
related to cutting down is found only 5 times in the Hebrew Bible, and only in the books of
Joshua and Ezekiel. In Joshua, the meaning is to cut down trees, as is clear in Jos. 17:15:
“And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up by yourselves to the forest,
and there clear ground for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim, since
the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.” In Ezekiel, the verb is used in two ways,
the first, twice in Ezekiel 21:19 is related to forming or making something from wood: “As
for you, son of man, mark two ways for the sword of the king of Babylon to come. Both of
them shall come from the same land. And make a signpost; make it at the head of the way to
a city.” The second, in Ezekiel 23:47 is more closely related with the idea of cutting down,

8
See TDOT, 245, where the figure of the main root in Qal and Niphal is 48. Adding to that the Hiphil and Piel
we arrive at the present figure.
9
Qal and Niphal are treated together as the basic meaning of the root does not change between these stems, the
only difference being that of active vs. passive.
but this time of people: “And the host shall stone them and cut them down with their
swords.”

The primary meaning of ‫ ברא‬is related to creation, and thus it is in the primary creation texts
of the Hebrew Bible that we find the majority of references. The typical usage is as is found
already in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” There are
a further 10 occurrences in Genesis, making 11 in total. There is a dense collection of
references in Deutero-Isaiah, with 20 of the 48 occurrences being found in Isaiah 40-66.
Typical for this portion of Isaiah God speaking in the first person, such as Isaiah 45:12: “I
made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I
commanded all their host.” Note that the act of creation is also referenced in the future tense,
such as in Isaiah 65:17: “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former
things shall not be remembered or come into mind.” Further occurrences of the verb are
found in other books of the Pentateuch (3), Psalms (6), Ecclesiastes (1), Amos (1), Malachi
(1), Jeremiah (1) and Ezekiel (3).

This distribution, with the majority of references in exilic/post-exilic works such as Deutero-
Isaiah and the P-source of the Pentateuch, seems to indicate that the verb came into fashion
during the exilic or post-exilic period.

There are a number of Hebrew roots that are used to describe the act of creating, often
specifically in parallel with ‫ברא‬: ‫ עשה‬to do, make (Isa 41:20; 42;1,7 etc), ‫( יצר‬Isa 43:1,7;
45:7,18), and ‫( כון‬Isa 45:18). 10 ‫ ברא‬may also have a similar meaning and use as the root ‫בנה‬,
such as in the Akkadian banû ‘to build’. 1110F

3. Meaning

Given the above discussions of the background, etymology and distribution of ‫ברא‬, we will
now turn to discussion of the theological significance of the word itself. As noted above, the
basic meaning of the verb seems to be related to creating or forming, with a further
connection to the cutting down or carving of trees/wood. Given this, it is possible that the
basic concept of creation expressed by ‫ ברא‬is not necessarily a creation ex nihilo (out of
nothing) but perhaps the forming, shaping or sculpting of something. However, this stands in

10
Cf. TWOT, 246.
11
See HALOT, 139 and TWOT, 245.
contrast to Bernhardt who argues that ‫ ברא‬was used in Genesis specifically to replace ‫ עשה‬in
an earlier tradition, which may be interpreted as meaning that God created from something. 12
In either case, it seems that the later development of the theology of the Hebrew Bible clearly
moved in the direction of understanding ‫ ברא‬as indicating God’s creative work, through only
his command.

‫ ברא‬in the Hebrew Bible is only found with God as the subject. Within the Bible this is an
important theological concern—that it is God who does the act of creation an no other—
though it is important to note that we have no sources outside the Bible which would confirm
the hypothesis that only the God of Israel could be the subject of the verb. We find that the
whole range of created beings can be referred to as created by God when ‫ ברא‬is the verb: the
heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1), living creatures (Gen 1:21), humankind (Gen 1:27), new
heavens and new earth (Isa 65:17). This final reference, that of the Isaiah 65 is worth noting
in particular. Not only is the creative work related to the establishing of the earth in history,
but also is ascribed to the process of renewing the heavens and the earth in the end times.

12
TDOT, 246-247.