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Hebrew verb · H1254

בָּרָא

barabaw-raw'

to create; to fatten

55 uses in the Hebrew text, one for each word STEP Bible has tagged with this key

Concordance spelling: bârâʼ

Word page · Part of the concordance, one page for every word of the Hebrew and Greek text. Strong's H1254is this word's number in James Strong's 1890 index of the King James Bible.

  • 14 of 39
    Old Testament books
  • 53
    spellings
  • 2
    meanings

The definition in full

Strong's key (1890) · H1254

(absolutely) to create; (qualified) to cut down (a wood), select, feed (as formative processes)

The King James renders it: choose, create (creator), cut down, dispatch, do, make (fat).

James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), public domain. Strong indexed the King James text, and this site quotes his entry as that index.

Summary

bara is rendered "to create; to fatten". It stands 55 times in the Hebrew text, across fourteen books.

  • Twenty-one of the uses stand in Isaiah, more than in any other book.
  • The lexicon lists two meanings for it, beginning with "to create".
  • Its first use in canonical order opens the ledger below.Genesis 1:1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
  • The Greek text spells it fifty-three different ways.

The first use

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1בָּרָ֣א

The first use, in the order of the Old Testament's books.

Where the word stands

Twenty-one of the word's fifty-five uses are in Isaiah.

The other 25 Old Testament books never use the word.

What the word means

The word carries two meanings: to create, and to fatten.

Each meaning, and the words it is translated by

The English STEP Bible gives each use, word by word, and how many times.
to createStrong's entry ATagged aslisted under the tableWhereGenesis 1:1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
to fattenStrong's entry BTagged aslisted under the tableWherein the ledger below

How the Greek text is glossed, word by word

  • about to create4
  • created4
  • he created4
  • I created4
  • and creates2
  • and he created2
  • are created you2
  • make2
  • they have been created2
  • and created1
  • and he will create1
  • and they were created1

and 26 more, 55 uses in all

The words built on the same word-part

Each word below begins with the same letters this one begins with. A shared word-part shows a family. It does not settle what any one of them means, so each word carries its own uses on its own page. Scholars call that shared part the stem.

בָּרַחbarachto fleeUses63
בָּרָדbaradhailUses29
בָּרָקbaraqto use lightningUses21
בָּרַרbararto purifyUses18
בָּרbargrainUses14
בָּרִיאbarifatUses13
בָּרָהbarahto eatUses6
בָּרֹדbarodspottedUses4
בָּרִיחַbariachfleeingUses4
בָּרֶקֶתbareqethgemUses3
בָּרַדbaradto hailUses1
בָּרַקbaraqto flashUses1

and 1 more on the stem.

The words it stands beside

All 55, in canonical order

Every use, in order

Every use, grouped by book, with its verse.

53 spellings and their grammar

STEP Bible tags every word of the Hebrew and Greek text with its spelling and its grammar. Both lists below count the rows printed underneath, written out in English, with the code beside each one as it was tagged.

How it is spelled

  • בָּרָ֣א2
  • בָּרָ֥א2
  • בְּהִבָּֽרְאָ֑ם1
  • בוֹרֵ֛א1
  • בוֹרֵ֑א1
  • בוֹרֵ֧א1
  • בּוֹרֵא֙1
  • בּוֹרֵ֤א1
  • בּוֹרֵ֥א1
  • בּוֹרֵ֨א1
  • בּוֹרֵ֖א1
  • בּ֣וֹרְאֶ֔יךָ1

and 41 more spellings in the ledger below.

The grammar of each form

  • verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singular8HVqp3ms
  • verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine singular7HVqrmsa
  • verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singular4HVqp1cs
  • conjunction (“and”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine singular3HC/Vqrmsa
  • Hc/Vqw3ms2Hc/Vqw3ms
  • verb · passive or reflexive (niphal), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 2nd person masculine singular2HVNcc/Sp2ms
  • verb · passive or reflexive (niphal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common plural2HVNp3cp
  • verb · intensive (piel), command · 2nd person masculine singular2HVpv2ms
  • verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singular + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singular2HVqp1cs/Sp3ms
  • verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singular + pronoun suffix · 3rd person feminine singular2HVqp3ms/Sp3fs
  • verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 2nd person masculine singular2HVqrmsc/Sp2ms
  • conjunction (“and”) + verb · passive or reflexive (niphal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common plural1HC/VNp3cp

Genesis

eleven uses
  • In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

    Genesis 1:1

    • בָּרָ֣אbara'verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he created
  • So God created the great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters teemed according to their kinds, and every bird of flight after its kind. And God saw that it was good.

    Genesis 1:21

    • וַיִּבְרָ֣אvaiyivra'Hc/Vqw3mstagged: and he created
  • So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

    Genesis 1:27

    • וַיִּבְרָ֨אvaiyivra'Hc/Vqw3mstagged: and he created
    • בָּרָ֣אbara'verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he created
    • בָּרָ֥אbara'verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he created
  • Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on that day He rested from all the work of creation that He had accomplished.

    Genesis 2:3

    • בָּרָ֥אbara'verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he had created
  • This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made them.

    Genesis 2:4

    • בְּהִבָּֽרְאָ֑םbehibareampreposition + verb · passive or reflexive (niphal), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine pluraltagged: when were created they
  • This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in His own likeness.

    Genesis 5:1

    • בְּרֹ֤אbero'verb · simple (qal), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: created
  • Male and female He created them, and He blessed them. And in the day they were created, He called them “man.”

    Genesis 5:2

    • בְּרָאָ֑םberaamverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singular + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine pluraltagged: he created them
    • הִבָּֽרְאָֽם׃ סhibareamverb · passive or reflexive (niphal), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine pluraltagged: were created they
  • So the LORD said, “I will blot out man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—every man and beast and crawling creature and bird of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.”

    Genesis 6:7

    • בָּרָ֙אתִי֙barativerb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: I created

Exodus

one use
  • And the LORD said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will perform wonders that have never been done in any nation in all the world. All the people among whom you live will see the LORD’s work, for it is an awesome thing that I am doing with you.

    Exodus 34:10

    • נִבְרְא֥וּnivreuverb · passive or reflexive (niphal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common pluraltagged: they have been created

Numbers

one use
  • But if the LORD brings about something unprecedented, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them and all that belongs to them so that they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.”

    Numbers 16:30

    • יִבְרָ֣אyivra'verb · simple (qal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he will create

Deuteronomy

one use
  • Indeed, ask now from one end of the heavens to the other about the days that long preceded you, from the day that God created man on earth: Has anything as great as this ever happened or been reported?

    Deuteronomy 4:32

    • בָּרָ֨אbara'verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he created

Joshua

two uses
  • Joshua answered them, “If you have so many people that the hill country of Ephraim is too small for you, go to the forest and clear for yourself an area in the land of the Perizzites and the Rephaim.”

    Joshua 17:15

    • וּבֵרֵאתָ֤uveretaHc/Vpq2mstagged: and you will cut down
  • because the hill country will be yours as well. It is a forest; clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours. Although the Canaanites have iron chariots and although they are strong, you can drive them out.”

    Joshua 17:18

    • וּבֵ֣רֵאת֔וֹuveretoHc/Vpq2ms/Sp3mstagged: and you will cut down it

1 Samuel

one use
  • Why then do you kick at My sacrifice and offering that I have prescribed for My dwelling place? You have honored your sons more than Me by fattening yourselves with the best of all the offerings of My people Israel.’

    1 Samuel 2:29

    • לְהַבְרִֽיאֲכֶ֗םlehavriakhempreposition + verb · causative (hiphil), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 2nd person masculine pluraltagged: by fattening yourselves

2 Samuel

one use
  • The elders of his household stood beside him to help him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with them.

    2 Samuel 12:17

    • בָרָ֥אvara'verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he ate

Psalms

six uses
  • Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

    Psalms 51:10

    • בְּרָא־bera'-verb · simple (qal), command · 2nd person masculine singulartagged: create
  • North and south You created; Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name.

    Psalms 89:12

    • בְרָאתָ֑םveratamverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 2nd person masculine singular + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine pluraltagged: you created them
  • Remember the briefness of my lifespan! For what futility You have created all men!

    Psalms 89:47

    • בָּרָ֥אתָbarataverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 2nd person masculine singulartagged: have you created
  • Let this be written for the generation to come, so that a people not yet created may praise the LORD.

    Psalms 102:18

    • נִ֝בְרָ֗אnivra'verb · passive or reflexive (niphal), participle · masculine singulartagged: be created
  • When You send Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the earth.

    Psalms 104:30

    • יִבָּרֵא֑וּןyibareunverb · passive or reflexive (niphal), yiqtol (imperfect) · 3rd person masculine plural + paragogic nuntagged: they are created
  • Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He gave the command and they were created.

    Psalms 148:5

    • וְנִבְרָֽאוּ׃venivrauconjunction (“and”) + verb · passive or reflexive (niphal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common pluraltagged: and they were created

Ecclesiastes

one use
  • Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of adversity come and the years approach of which you will say, “I find no pleasure in them,”

    Ecclesiastes 12:1

    • בּ֣וֹרְאֶ֔יךָboreikhaverb · simple (qal), participle · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 2nd person masculine singulartagged: creators your

Isaiah

twenty-one uses
  • Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud of smoke by day and a glowing flame of fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a canopy,

    Isaiah 4:5

    • וּבָרָ֣אuvara'Hc/Vqq3mstagged: and he will create
  • Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

    Isaiah 40:26

    • בָרָ֣אvara'verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: did he create
  • Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary; His understanding is beyond searching out.

    Isaiah 40:28

    • בּוֹרֵא֙bore'verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine singulartagged: created
  • so that all may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this and the Holy One of Israel has created it.”

    Isaiah 41:20

    • בְּרָאָֽהּ׃ פberaahverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singular + pronoun suffix · 3rd person feminine singulartagged: he has created it
  • This is what God the LORD says—He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk in it:

    Isaiah 42:5

    • בּוֹרֵ֤אbore'verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine singulartagged: created
  • Now this is what the LORD says— He who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine!

    Isaiah 43:1

    • בֹּרַאֲךָ֣boraakhaverb · simple (qal), participle · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”) + pronoun suffix · 2nd person masculine singulartagged: created you
  • everyone called by My name and created for My glory, whom I have indeed formed and made.”

    Isaiah 43:7

    • בְּרָאתִ֑יוberativverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singular + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: I created him
  • I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, and your King.”

    Isaiah 43:15

    • בּוֹרֵ֥אbore'verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine singular · in construct (“…of”)tagged: creator of
  • I form the light and create the darkness; I bring prosperity and create calamity. I, the LORD, do all these things.

    Isaiah 45:7

    • וּבוֹרֵ֣אuvore'conjunction (“and”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine singulartagged: and creates
    • וּב֣וֹרֵאuvore'conjunction (“and”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine singulartagged: and creates
  • Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open up that salvation may sprout and righteousness spring up with it; I, the LORD, have created it.

    Isaiah 45:8

    • בְּרָאתִֽיו׃ סberativverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singular + pronoun suffix · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: I have created it
  • It is I who made the earth and created man upon it. It was My hands that stretched out the heavens, and I ordained all their host.

    Isaiah 45:12

    • בָרָ֑אתִיvarativerb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: I created
  • For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens—He is God; He formed the earth and fashioned it; He established it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited: “I am the LORD, and there is no other.

    Isaiah 45:18

    • בּוֹרֵ֨אbore'verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine singulartagged: created
    • בְרָאָ֖הּveraahverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singular + pronoun suffix · 3rd person feminine singulartagged: he created it
  • They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today. So you cannot claim, ‘I already knew them!’

    Isaiah 48:7

    • נִבְרְאוּ֙nivreuverb · passive or reflexive (niphal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person common pluraltagged: they have been created
  • Behold, I have created the craftsman who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its task; and I have created the destroyer to wreak havoc.

    Isaiah 54:16

    • בָּרָ֣אתִיbarativerb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: I created
    • בָּרָ֥אתִיbarativerb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 1st person common singulartagged: I created
  • bringing praise to their lips. Peace, peace to those far and near,” says the LORD, “and I will heal them.”

    Isaiah 57:19

    • בּוֹרֵ֖אbore'verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine singulartagged: about to create
  • For behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

    Isaiah 65:17

    • בוֹרֵ֛אvore'verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine singulartagged: about to create
  • But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight.

    Isaiah 65:18

    • בוֹרֵ֑אvore'verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine singulartagged: about to create
    • בוֹרֵ֧אvore'verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine singulartagged: about to create

Jeremiah

one use
  • How long will you wander, O faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing in the land—a woman will shelter a man.”

    Jeremiah 31:22

    • בָרָ֨אvara'verb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singulartagged: he has created

Ezekiel

six uses
  • “Now you, son of man, mark out two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to take, both starting from the same land. And make a signpost where the road branches off to each city.

    Ezekiel 21:19

    • בָּרֵ֔אbare'verb · intensive (piel), command · 2nd person masculine singulartagged: make
    • בָּרֵֽא׃bare'verb · intensive (piel), command · 2nd person masculine singulartagged: make
  • Return the sword to its sheath! In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you.

    Ezekiel 21:30

    • נִבְרֵ֛אתnivretverb · passive or reflexive (niphal), qatal (perfect) · 2nd person feminine singulartagged: you were created
  • The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords. They will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses.

    Ezekiel 23:47

    • וּבָרֵ֥אuvare'conjunction (“and”) + verb · intensive (piel), infinitive (“to…”)tagged: and they will cut down
  • You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every kind of precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald. Your mountings and settings were crafted in gold, prepared on the day of your creation.

    Ezekiel 28:13

    • הִבָּרַאֲךָ֖hibaraakhaverb · passive or reflexive (niphal), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 2nd person masculine singulartagged: are created you
  • From the day you were created you were blameless in your ways—until wickedness was found in you.

    Ezekiel 28:15

    • הִבָּֽרְאָ֑ךְhibareakhverb · passive or reflexive (niphal), infinitive (“to…”) + pronoun suffix · 2nd person masculine singulartagged: are created you

Amos

one use
  • For behold, He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind and reveals His thoughts to man, who turns the dawn to darkness and strides on the heights of the earth—the LORD, the God of Hosts, is His name.”

    Amos 4:13

    • וּבֹרֵ֣אuvore'conjunction (“and”) + verb · simple (qal), participle · masculine singulartagged: and created

Malachi

one use
  • Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why then do we break faith with one another so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?

    Malachi 2:10

    • בְּרָאָ֑נוּberaanuverb · simple (qal), qatal (perfect) · 3rd person masculine singular + pronoun suffix · 1st person masculine or feminine pluraltagged: did he create us

The letters

Where it leads

Studies that open this word1

How the numbers are counted

Every count on this page comes from STEP Bible's tagged Hebrew and Greek text, the same text the ledger prints. A use is counted once each time the tagging marks a word with this key.

Spellings are counted as the Greek text spells them, with the sentence's own punctuation taken off the word first, so a form that ends a clause is not counted as a second spelling.

The words it stands beside are the nouns, verbs and adjectives immediately before or after it, counted in every verse where the word stands. The article, the conjunctions and the prepositions are left out, because they stand beside every word.

The family is read from the lexicon by the stem the two words share, with the accents off, and a person or a place named on the stem is left out.

Hebrew and Greek text, word tagging and grammar: STEP Bible (www.STEPBible.org), Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0. Their grammar codes are written out in English here and shown as tagged beside each one.

Meaning and senses: STEP Bible TBESH gloss (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary key: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890, public domain). English verse text: Berean Standard Bible (public domain, 2023).

Revised 2026-09-05. Every cited work, the sources registry →