Definition

to cleave; generally, to rend, break, rip or open

Etymology

a primitive root;

Where the KJV renders it

• make a breach
• break forth (into
• out
• in pieces
• through
• up)
• be ready to burst
• cleave (asunder)
• cut out
• divide
• hatch
• rend (asunder)
• rip up
• tear
• win

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.