By Water & Blood

Lemma

בָּרָא

bara

To create. The Hebrew verb of Genesis 1:1, distinct from ordinary making.

Forms

  • בָּרָא bara Qal perfect. Genesis 1:1, God created the heavens and the earth.
  • וַיִּבְרָא vayivra Qal waw-consecutive. Genesis 1:21 and 1:27, and he created.
  • בּוֹרֵא bore Qal participle. The Creator, as in Isaiah 40:28.
  • עָשָׂה asah To do or make. The ordinary Hebrew verb for making, working, and carrying a deed through.
  • יָצַר yatsar To form or fashion, as a potter shapes clay.
  • κτίζω ktizō To create. The New Testament’s usual verb for God’s creating.
  • ποιέω poieō To do or make. The ordinary Greek verb for making and doing.

Passages

  • Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
  • Genesis 1:21 God created the large sea creatures.
  • Genesis 1:27 God created man in his own image; he created him; he created them.

בָּרָא is the Hebrew verb to create. Brown, Driver, and Briggs give it as shape, fashion, or create, and they note that the Qal is used of God’s creating. It is not the ordinary verb for making. That verb is עָשָׂה.

Genesis 1:1 opens with this word: God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:21 and Genesis 1:27 use it again in the creation week. Other days in that chapter use עָשָׂה for what God made.

The Greek Old Testament often renders בָּרָא with ποιέω—Genesis 1:1 is ἐποίησεν. The New Testament’s usual create verb is κτίζω.

In this Bible, “created,” “create,” “Creator,” and the matching forms link here only in the verses where the Hebrew is this verb.

Strong’s

Strong’s dictionaries compiled by Open Scriptures, used under CC-BY-SA 4.0.

בָּרָא H1254

bârâʼ · baw-raw'

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

a primitive root;

KJV glosses: choose, create (creator), cut down, dispatch, do, make (fat).

Brown-Driver-Briggs

Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906). Public-domain digital text.

בָּרָא H1254

Biblical Hebrew

I. בָּרָא53 verb shape, create (compare Arabic probably loan-word, form, fashion by cutting, shape out, pare a reed for writing, a stick for an arrow, but also , create; Phoenician הברא CISi. 347 incisor, a trade involving cutting; Assyrian barû, make, create, COTGloss & Hpt KAT2 Gloss 1 but dubious; Sabean ברא found, build, DHMZMG 1883, 413, synonym בנה; BaZA. 1888, 58, compare Assyrian banû, create, beget, with change of liquid; Aramaic בְּרָא, , create) — Qal Perfect Gen 1:1 + 19 t.; Imperfect יִבְרָא Gen 1:21; Gen 1:27; Num 16:30 Infinitive בְּראֹ Gen 5:1 Imperative בְּרָא Ps 51:12 Participle בּוֺרֵא Isa 42:5 + 10 t.; suffix בֹּרַאֲךָ Isa 43:1 בּוֺרְאֶיךָ Eccl 12:1 — shape, fashion, create, always of divine activity, with accusative of thing, seldom except in P and Isa2.

1. object heaven and earth Gen 1:1; Gen 2:3 (P) Isa 45:18 (twice in verse); mankind Gen 1:27 (3 t. in verse); Gen 5:1; Gen 5:2 (P) Gen 6:7 (J) Deut 4:32; Ps 89:48; Isa 45:12 the host of heaven Isa 40:26 heavens Isa 42:5 ends of the earth Isa 40:28 north and south Ps 89:13 wind Amos 4:13 the תנינים Gen 1:21 (P).

2. the individual man Mal 2:10 (|| father) Eccl 12:1 the smith and the waster Isa 54:16 (twice in verse); Israel as a nation Isa 43:15 Jacob Isa 43:1 the seed of Israel Isa 43:7.

3. new conditions and circumstances: righteousness and salvation Isa 45:8 darkness and evil Isa 45:7 fruit of the lips Isa 57:19 a new thing חֲדָשָׁה (a woman encompassing a man) Jer 31:22 בְּרִיאָה (swallowing up the Korahites) Num 16:30 (J); cloud and flame over Zion Isa 4:5.

4. of transformations: a clean heart Ps 51:12 (|| חִדֵּשׁ); new heaven and earth Isa 65:17 (in place of old); transformation of nature Isa 41:20 with double accusative בורא ירושׁלם גילה transform Jerusalem into rejoicing Isa 65:18. Niph`al Perfect 2 feminine singular נִבְרֵאתְ Ezek 21:35 3 plural נִבְרְאוּ Exod 34:10 + 2 t.; Imperfect יִבָּרֵא֑וּן Ps 104:30 Infinitive suffix הִבָּרַאֲךָ Ezek 28:13 הִבָּֽרְאָךְ Ezek 28:15 הִבָּֽרְאָם Gen 2:4; Gen 5:2 Participle נִבְרָא Ps 102:19 — Pass.

1. be created: heaven and earth Gen 2:4 (P); creatures Ps 104:30 mankind Gen 5:2 (P); heavens Ps 148:5.

2. with reference to birth: במקום אשׁר נבראת in the place where thou wast created (i.e. native land) Ezek 21:35 יום הבראך day when thou wast created (king of Tyre) Ezek 28:13; Ezek 28:15 (compare היום ילדתיך Ps 2:7); עַם נִבְרָא Ps 102:19 (|| עַם נוֺלָד Ps 22:32).

3. of something new, astonishing: miracles Exod 34:10 (J); new things, חדשׁות Isa 48:6. Pi`el Perfect בֵּרֵאתָ Josh 17:15 בֵּרֵאתוֺ Josh 17:18 Infinitive absolute בָּרֵא Ezek 21:24 (twice in verse); Ezek 23:47 —

1. cut down: a forest Josh 17:15; Josh 17:18 (J); וּבָרֵא אוֺתְהֶן בְּחַרְבוֺתָם Ezek 23:47.

2. cut out: יָד hand, as an index Ezek 21:24 (twice in verse).

בָּרָא H1254

Biblical Hebrew

II. [בָּרָא] verb be fat (Arabic be free of a thing, sound, healthy; see מרא) — Hiph`il Infinitive לְהַבְרִיאֲכֶם 1Sam 2:29 to make yourselves fat.