To break apart, disperse , etc.
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through theConnect page. Screenshots are helpful.
The Hebrew verb paras describes spreading or stretching something out and, in some settings, scattering or breaking something apart. Hands are spread in prayer, wings extend over the mercy seat, a letter is laid open before the Lord, and a net is spread as a trap.
Reader summary
Full entry for פָּרַשׂ (H6566) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Hebrew verb paras describes spreading or stretching something out and, in some settings, scattering or breaking something apart. Hands are spread in prayer, wings extend over the mercy seat, a letter is laid open before the Lord, and a net is spread as a trap.
The BSB source-word alignment has 67 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include spread (6), spread out (5), He spread (3), I will spread (3), they are to spread (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Exodus 9:29. Its strongest book concentrations include Ezekiel (7), Isaiah (7), Numbers (6), 1 Kings (5).
The Hebrew verb paras describes spreading or stretching something out and, in some settings, scattering or breaking something apart. Hands are spread in prayer, wings extend over the mercy seat, a letter is laid open before the Lord, and a net is spread as a trap. Prophetic texts also use the verb for troops scattered in defeat and for leaders who tear apart the people they should protect.
These actions share extension or separation, but they do not carry one moral value. A prayer posture does not guarantee righteous prayer, an open document does not replace truthful action, and a spread net can conceal harm beneath flattering speech. Micah's graphic accusation exposes predatory rulers; it is not imagery for humiliating or threatening people. Ezekiel's judgment announcement does not authorize readers to disperse communities or punish opponents.
Responsible teaching identifies what is spread, who acts, why the action occurs, and how the passage evaluates it. It encourages honest prayer and protective openness while rejecting manipulation, violent reenactment, and claims that forced scattering proves divine judgment.
Paras can describe extending hands, wings, cloth, a document, or a net, and it can describe people scattered or bodies violently broken apart. Object, agency, genre, and narrative evaluation determine whether the spreading serves worship, protection, disclosure, deception, judgment, or abuse.
Moses said to him, “When I have left the city, I will spread out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s.
Moses promises to spread out his hands to the Lord after leaving the city, and the hail will cease.
And the cherubim are to have wings that spread upward, overshadowing the mercy seat. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the mercy seat.
The cherubim are to spread their wings upward and overshadow the mercy seat while facing one another.
So Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers, read it, and went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.
Hezekiah reads the threatening letter and spreads it before the Lord in the temple.
A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.
The proverb says that flattering a neighbor spreads a net for that neighbor's feet.
All his choice troops will fall by the sword, and those who survive will be scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken.’
Ezekiel announces that surviving troops will be scattered to every wind after covenant treason and defeat.
You eat the flesh of my people after stripping off their skin and breaking their bones. You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot, like meat in a cauldron.”
Micah uses graphic cooking imagery to accuse leaders who violently exploit the people entrusted to them.
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. Breaking apart or dispersing with forceful physical separation, often implying violent or complete scattering.
Breaking apart or dispersing with forceful physical separation, often implying violent or complete scattering.
to break apart, disperse, etc. BDB: spread out Usage: break, chop in pieces, lay open, scatter, spread (abroad, forth, selves, out), stretch (forth, out).
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.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 67 lexical occurrence verses.
פָּרַשׂ is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Paras holds together actions that look similar spatially but differ sharply in purpose. Moses spreads his hands to the Lord during the plague narrative, yet the gesture is not a technique that controls weather or compels God. The cherubim's spread wings belong to the commanded design of the mercy seat and should not become a pattern for protective charms. Hezekiah spreads an enemy letter before the Lord, bringing a real threat into prayer instead of pretending it does not exist.
Proverbs reverses the image: flattering speech spreads a hidden net. Warm words can therefore serve manipulation when they seek access, compliance, money, secrecy, or dependence. Ezekiel's scattered survivors stand within a covenant judgment oracle, not a general explanation for every displaced community. Micah's language of broken bodies is deliberately shocking because rulers have treated people as material for their own appetite.
The prophet condemns predatory leadership rather than providing language for threats. Faithful application joins transparent prayer with practical protection, documents coercive communications, tests praise for hidden demands, and centers the safety and testimony of people harmed by leaders. The verb itself does not decide whether spreading shelters, reveals, traps, scatters, or destroys; the full sentence and passage must do that work.
Prov.29.5
Paras is a Hebrew verb whose concrete spreading sense extends to hands, wings, coverings, documents, nets, and sails. In other contexts, the same root can portray scattering or forceful breaking apart, so object and stem must guide the English rendering.
New Testament authors use several Greek verbs for stretching out hands, opening matters, spreading reports, scattering people, and gathering communities. These canonical themes can be compared, but they do not make those Greek verbs lexical equivalents of paras or transfer each passage's authority unchanged.