Properly, to pour out (transitive or intransitive); by implication, to melt or cast as metal ; by extension, to place firmly , to stiffen or grow hard
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The Hebrew verb yatsaq covers several related physical actions: pouring liquid, casting molten metal, setting something in place, or becoming firm and hard. Exodus and Kings use it for casting rings, bases, pillars, and furnishings made by skilled workers.
Reader summary
Full entry for יָצַק (H3332) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Hebrew verb yatsaq covers several related physical actions: pouring liquid, casting molten metal, setting something in place, or becoming firm and hard. Exodus and Kings use it for casting rings, bases, pillars, and furnishings made by skilled workers.
The BSB source-word alignment has 50 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include Cast (3), pour (3), and he cast (2), and pour (2), had them cast (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 28:18. Its strongest book concentrations include Exodus (8), Leviticus (8), 2 Kings (7), Job (7).
The Hebrew verb yatsaq covers several related physical actions: pouring liquid, casting molten metal, setting something in place, or becoming firm and hard. Exodus and Kings use it for casting rings, bases, pillars, and furnishings made by skilled workers. Torah passages use it for pouring oil or blood within specific offerings and cleansing rites. Narratives describe pouring water, stew, or oil, including the widow's jars in Elisha's ministry.
Genesis uses poured oil at a memorial pillar, while Isaiah can use pouring figuratively for water and God's Spirit. Job uses firmness and hardening imagery in poetic descriptions of creation and a creature. These uses cannot be collapsed. The verb does not make every pouring an anointing, every cast object an idol, every hard thing a hard heart, or every liquid a symbol of the Spirit.
Ritual actions belong to their covenant instructions, and narrative actions are not automatic techniques. Responsible teaching identifies substance, container, agent, object, result, and genre while rejecting oil magic, unsafe reenactment, prosperity promises, and claims that a physical action forces spiritual power.
Yatsaq describes pouring liquids, casting metal, setting objects firmly, and becoming hard across craft, offerings, anointing, household provision, memorial, creation poetry, and prophetic promise.
Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, two rings on one side and two on the other.
Gold rings are cast and attached to the ark as part of its detailed construction and transport design.
Then take the anointing oil and anoint him by pouring it on his head.
Anointing oil is poured on Aaron's head within the complete consecration procedure for priestly service.
So she left him, and after she had shut the door behind her and her sons, they kept bringing jars to her, and she kept pouring.
The widow pours oil into borrowed vessels while her sons bring them, participating in provision amid debt danger.
Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone that he had placed under his head, and he set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it,
Jacob sets up the stone from his sleep as a pillar and pours oil on top at Bethel.
For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.
The Lord promises to pour water on thirsty land and His Spirit on descendants within a restoration oracle.
When the dust hardens into a mass and the clods of earth stick together?
God questions Job about dust hardening into a mass and clods clinging together in creation's processes.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. From pouring liquid to casting metal to establishing something immovably firm—movement from flow to permanence.
From pouring liquid to casting metal to establishing something immovably firm—movement from flow to permanence.
properly, to pour out (transitive or intransitive); by implication, to melt or cast as metal; by extension, to place firmly, to stiffen or grow hard BDB: pour Usage: cast, cleave fast, be (as) firm, grow, be hard, lay out, molten, overflow, pour (out), run out, set down, stedfast.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
יָצַק is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Yatsaq keeps interpretation close to material action. Casting gold rings requires skill, heat, tools, and design; it is not a spiritual metaphor merely because the object serves the tabernacle. Pouring oil on Aaron belongs to a full covenant consecration and does not create a transferable technique by which modern leaders become unquestionable. The widow's oil multiplies amid debt vulnerability, household participation, and Elisha's instruction, but the story does not promise that a ritual pour or donation will generate wealth.
Jacob's memorial action marks a particular encounter, while Isaiah 44 explicitly makes pouring water and Spirit part of God's restoration promise. Job uses a related hardening sense in creation poetry. These contexts share a verb, not a single symbolic formula. Faithful teaching honors craft and embodied action, attends to vulnerable households, and receives the Spirit as God's gift.
It refuses commercialized anointing oil, unsafe imitation, manipulation of debtors, or claims that physical substances channel power. Each passage names the agent and result; readers must not manufacture either through a lexical association.
Isa.44.3
Yatsaq is a Hebrew verb whose range includes pouring a liquid, casting molten material, setting or laying firmly, and hardening. Transitivity, substance, object, and result select the intended sense, while figurative outpouring must be supplied by its prophetic context.
The New Testament speaks of anointing, pouring, the Holy Spirit, generosity, and crafted objects through Greek vocabulary. Canonical links should follow explicit themes and promises without treating every pour as sacramental or every Spirit text as a lexical continuation of yatsaq.