בָּרֹד bārōd – speckled
Semantic Fields:
Colours
Author(s):
John E. Hartley
First published: 2026-05-20
Citation: John E. Hartley, בָּרֹד bārōd – speckled,
Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2026
Introduction
Grammatical type: adjective.
Occurrences: 4x HB (2/2/0); 0x Sir; 0x Qum; 0x Inscr. (Total: 4x).
- Torah: Gen 31:10, 12;
- Nebiim: Zech 6:3, 6.
A.1 In Neh 5:18 for MT בְּרֻרוֺת, ‘choice’, a Qal part. pass. (also 1 Chron 7:40; 9:22), a few mss read בְּרֻדּוֺת (BHS). Joüon, however, proposes reading בריות (Joüon 1931:87-88), a defective spelling of בריאות ‘fat’, with support from Syr. šammināṯā’ ‘fat’. It is better to follow the MT for its reading offers sufficient sense (Williamson 1985:234 n. 18b).
A.2 McHardy wishes to delete ברדים in Zech 6:3, speculating that it was a gloss introduced either under the influence of Gen 31:10, 12 or as an attempt to provide a true equine colour for the unknown אמצים (McHardy 1968:176). The textual tradition, however, loans no support to the deletion of ׁברדים in this text.
7. Conclusion
A.1 ברד denotes ‘speckles, spots, or patches’. In the extant examples it identifies animals, specifically sheep or horses having these patterns. Most likely the spots, specks, or patches are ‘white’ or ‘light’ in colour. ‘Piebald’ offers a sound English gloss for animals.
For this entry, see further John E. Hartley, The Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Colour Lexemes (2010), 152-156 (Printed publications).
Bibliography
For the abbreviations see the List of Abbreviations.
Joüon, P. "Notes philologiques sur le texte Hébreu d'Esras et de Néhémie," Biblica 12: 85-89.
McHardy, W. D. "The horses in Zechariah," in In Memoriam Paul Kahle (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 103), edited by M. Black and G. Fohrer, pp. 174-79. Berlin: Verlag Alfred Töpelmann.