H1247 — בַּר (bar)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H1247
Original: בַּר
Transliteration: bar
Pronunciation: bar
Part of Speech: Masculine noun (Aramaic)
Language: Aramaic (note: filed under H-prefix per project convention despite Aramaic)
Root: Aramaic counterpart to Hebrew H1121 בֵּן (ben); see also H1248 (Hebrew poetic loan "bar")
Occurrences: 9 tokens in 7 unique verses (Ezra and Daniel only)
Books: 2 (Ezra, Daniel)
First Occurrence: Ezra 5:1 — "Zechariah the son (bar) of Iddo"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

(Aramaic) corresponding to [H1121 בֵּן]; a son, grandson, etc. — "old, son."

Aramaic noun used exactly as Hebrew ben: literal offspring, descendant, membership in a class ("son of X" = one characterized by X), or age designation ("son of N years" = N years old). Construct form dominant; appears in phrases bar + PN (patronymic) and bar + noun (classifying idiom).

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
the son	3	42.9%
the Son	1	14.3%
like the Son	1	14.3%
his son	1	14.3%
about (age)	1	14.3%
old (age)	1	14.3%

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Ezra	3	1.1
Daniel	4	1.1

Word is confined to the two Aramaic sections of the OT (Ezra 4:8–6:18 and Dan 2:4b–7:28). Densities are nearly identical, but the Daniel uses carry far greater theological weight (Dan 3:25; 7:13).

Semantic Categories¶

1. Literal Son / Patronymic ("son of X")¶

Ezra 5:1 — "Zechariah the son (bar) of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews"
Ezra 5:2 — "Zerubbabel the son (bar) of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son (bar) of Jozadak"
Ezra 6:14 — "Zechariah the son (bar) of Iddo"
Dan 5:22 — "And thou his son (bar), O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart"

Standard Aramaic genealogical formula, direct parallel to Hebrew ben.

2. Age Designation ("son of N years" = N years old)¶

Dan 5:31 — "Darius the Median took the kingdom, [being] about threescore and two years old (bar shenin shittin wetharteyn)"

Idiomatic use: bar + number + "years" = the person is that many years old. Matches Hebrew idiom (ben shanim).

3. Member of a Class / Qualitative "Son of" (idiom)¶

Dan 3:25 — "the form of the fourth is like the Son (bar) of God" — Aramaic bar-elahin; KJV capitalizes "Son" but the syntax is the classifying idiom ("one belonging to the category of deity / a divine being"). Nebuchadnezzar is describing divine likeness as he perceives it.
Dan 7:13 — "[one] like the Son (bar) of man came with the clouds of heaven" — Aramaic kebar enash; the classifying idiom ("one belonging to the category of human / humanlike figure"), sharpened by the preposition ke- ("like"). The figure appears human in form while arriving on clouds of heaven — an attribute the OT elsewhere reserves to deity (Ps 104:3; Isa 19:1).

This third category is where the word does its heaviest theological lifting. Bar enash / bar elahin both function as class-membership idioms ("a human one," "a divine one"), not genealogical.

Dan 7:13 — kebar enash Close Reading¶

Text: כְּבַר אֱנָשׁ — ke-bar enash

כְּ (ke-) — preposition "like / as"
בַּר (bar) — construct "son of" (H1247)
אֱנָשׁ (enash) — "mankind, human" (H606, Aramaic counterpart to Hebrew enosh H582)

Literal: "like a son of man" — i.e., "like a human figure" / "like one of humankind."

Grammatical force of ke-: The ke- of comparison does not deny humanity; it marks visionary mode ("I saw what looked like…"), standard apocalyptic idiom (cf. Ezek 1:26 Hebrew ke-demuth ke-mareh adam; Dan 10:16 kidemuth beney adam). The figure has human form, but the vision genre requires the ke- marker.

Construct bar enash: In Biblical Aramaic, bar + collective/abstract noun = member of that class. Bar enash is idiomatic for "a human being" (cf. Ps 146:3 Hebrew ben-adam). Collocation with Hebrew ben-adam (Ezek's 93x address) and Aramaic bar enash (Dan 7:13 only) is direct.

What makes Dan 7:13 unique is not bar enash itself — the phrase would be an ordinary way to say "a human" — but the context: - arrives "with the clouds of heaven" (Aram. im-ananey shemayya) — cloud-coming elsewhere belongs to YHWH (Ps 104:3; Isa 19:1; Deut 33:26) - is "brought near before" (Haphel of qrb, H7127 root) the Ancient of Days - receives "dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him" (Dan 7:14) — pelach (serve), used elsewhere in Daniel for worship of God (Dan 3:12, 17, 18; 6:16, 20; 7:27) - his kingdom is "everlasting" and "shall not be destroyed" (Dan 7:14)

The word bar itself is mundane; the referent is not.

NT uptake: Jesus' self-designation "the Son of Man" (ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, always articular in the Gospels) draws directly on Dan 7:13. Mark 14:62 quotes Dan 7:13 + Ps 110:1 at the Sanhedrin trial; Matt 26:64; Rev 1:7, 13; 14:14 quote/allude. LXX of Dan 7:13 renders kebar enash as ὡς υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου / ὡς υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου (with manuscript variation on accusative vs nominative and on preposition).

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
אֱלָהּ (elah)	H426	4x (57%)	"God of X" / "Son of God" (Dan 3:25 bar-elahin)
דִּי (di)	H1768	4x (57%)	relative/genitive particle — "son of" constructs
נְבִיא (nebi)	H5029	3x (43%)	prophet clusters in Ezra patronymics
בְּנָא (bena)	H1124	2x (29%)	verb "build" — Ezra rebuilding context
חֲזָא (chaza)	H2370	2x (29%)	"to see" — visionary contexts (Dan 7:13)
יְרוּשָׁלֵם (Yerushalem)	H3390	2x (29%)	Ezra temple rebuilding
אֱנָשׁ (enash)	H606	1x (14%)	bar enash — Dan 7:13 only

The single co-occurrence with H606 (enash) is the defining datum: bar enash as a fixed Aramaic idiom exists in the Hebrew Bible in exactly one verse — Dan 7:13.

Word Family / Cognates¶

H1121 בֵּן (ben) — Hebrew counterpart; the normal word for "son" in Hebrew OT (~4,900 tokens). Bar is the exact Aramaic equivalent.
H1248 בַּר (bar) — Hebrew poetic/borrowed form (4x: Ps 2:12; Prov 31:2 ×3). Same spelling, Hebrew usage; likely an Aramaic loan into Hebrew poetry.
H606 אֱנָשׁ (enash) — Aramaic "man, mankind"; pairs with bar in Dan 7:13.
H1123 בֵּן (ben) — Aramaic ben, rare variant form.

Synonyms¶

No synonym entries were returned by search_relationships.py for this Aramaic kinship term.

Antonyms¶

No antonym entries were returned by search_relationships.py for this Aramaic kinship term.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
בֵּן (ben)	H1121	"son" (~2,978 KJV)	Hebrew; covers the entire OT Hebrew corpus
בַּר (bar)	H1248	"son" (4x)	Hebrew, but only 4 poetic tokens; Ps 2:12 famous textual crux
υἱός (huios)	G5207	"son" (NT)	Greek NT equivalent; translates both ben and bar in LXX
בֵּן (Aram.)	H1123	"son"	Rare Aramaic variant

The Dan 7:13 bar enash → NT ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου bridge is the single most theologically loaded lexical trajectory for H1247.

UBS Semantic Domains¶

No semantic-domain data was returned by search_relationships.py for this Aramaic kinship term.

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occ	PMI	Notes
προφήτης (prophētēs)	G4396	3x	5.23	Ezra contexts (prophets Haggai, Zechariah "son of Iddo")
υἱός (huios)	G5207	5x	2.28	Primary semantic equivalent — "son"
θεός (theos)	G2316	4x	2.28	Dan 3:25 bar elahin → "Son of God"

LXX Daniel (both OG and Theodotion) renders Dan 7:13 kebar enash with ὡς/ὡσεὶ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου — providing the direct lexical bridge to the NT Son of Man title.

Notes on Usage Patterns¶

Confined to Biblical Aramaic sections (Ezra 4:8–6:18; Dan 2:4b–7:28). Does not appear in Hebrew portions.
Ezra uses are exclusively patronymic ("X son of Y"); theologically neutral.
Daniel uses span four distinct idioms: patronymic (5:22), age (5:31), bar-elahin "son of deity" (3:25), bar enash "son of man" (7:13).
Dan 7:13 is the only OT occurrence of the exact phrase bar enash and is the lexical anchor for all NT "Son of Man" language.