H1288 — בָּרַךְ (barak)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H1288
Original: בָּרַךְ
Transliteration: barak
Pronunciation: baw-rak'
Part of Speech: Verb (primitive root)
Root: Primitive root; related to H1290 berek "knee" and H1293 berakah "blessing"
Occurrences: 289 unique verses (382 tokens) across 24 books
First Occurrence: Gen 1:22 — "And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primitive root; to kneel; by implication to bless God (as an act of adoration), and (vice-versa) man (as a benefit); also (by euphemism) to curse (God or the king, as treason): — abundantly, altogether, at all, blaspheme, bless, congratulate, curse, greatly, indeed, kneel (down), praise, salute, still, thank.

Verb Stem Distribution¶

Stem	Count	%	Typical Meaning
Piel	233	69.6%	To bless — active bestowal of blessing (dominant stem)
Qal	73	21.8%	Passive participle baruk "blessed" — state of being blessed
Pual	13	3.9%	Be blessed (passive of Piel)
Hithpael	7	2.1%	Bless oneself, count oneself blessed
Niphal	3	0.9%	Be blessed (in/through someone — Gen 12:3, 18:18, 28:14)
Hiphil	1	0.3%	Cause to kneel (Gen 24:11 — camels kneeling)

The Piel stem dominates overwhelmingly (70%), carrying the primary "bless" meaning. The Qal participial form baruk ("blessed be...") accounts for virtually all Qal occurrences and functions as a formulaic declaration. The Niphal appears exclusively in patriarchal promise texts ("in you shall all nations be blessed"). The Hithpael carries a reflexive sense ("bless oneself") — used in patriarchal promises (Gen 22:18, 26:4) and Deut 29:19 (false self-assurance).

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
blessed / Blessed	86	29.8%
bless / Bless	21	7.3%
and blessed	17	5.9%
shall bless / bless thee	17	5.9%
to bless	8	2.8%
be blessed	7	2.4%
hath blessed	6	2.1%
he blessed	5	1.7%
may bless	5	1.7%
curse / cursed	4	1.4%
blaspheme	2	0.7%
kneel / kneeled down	2	0.7%
salute / saluted	4	1.4%
congratulate	1	0.3%
thanked	1	0.3%
praise / praised	2	0.7%
Other verb forms	101	34.9%

Over 90% of occurrences render as "bless/blessed." The euphemistic "curse/blaspheme" usage (Job 1:5, 11; 2:5, 9; 1 Ki 21:10, 13) constitutes only ~2% of total uses.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Psalms	68	2.8
Genesis	62	4.0
Deuteronomy	35	3.6
2 Samuel	13	1.9
1 Kings	12	1.5
Numbers	11	0.9
1 Chronicles	11	1.2
1 Samuel	10	1.2
2 Chronicles	9	1.1
Job	8	0.7
Joshua	7	1.1
Exodus	6	0.5
Isaiah	6	0.5
Proverbs	6	0.7
Judges	5	0.8
Ruth	5	—
Jeremiah	4	0.3
Nehemiah	3	0.7
2 Kings	2	0.3
Leviticus	2	0.2
Haggai	1	2.6
Zechariah	1	0.5
Ezra	1	0.4
Ezekiel	1	0.1

Genesis has the highest density (4.0 per 100 verses), reflecting the patriarchal blessing narratives. Deuteronomy ranks second (3.6), driven by covenant blessing formulae in chapters 7, 15, 28, and 33. Psalms has the highest raw count (68) as the premier book of worship and praise. The word spans Torah, historical, poetic, and prophetic literature but concentrates in covenant and worship contexts.

Semantic Categories¶

1. God Blessing Creatures and Humans (Creative/Covenantal Bestowal)¶

Gen 1:22 — "And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply"
Gen 1:28 — "And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth"
Gen 2:3 — "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it"
Gen 25:11 — "God blessed his son Isaac"
Deut 7:13 — "He will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee"

2. Patriarchal/Parental Blessing (Transmitted Authority)¶

Gen 27:27 — "He smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him"
Gen 27:33 — "I have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed"
Gen 48:15 — "And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk"
Gen 49:28 — "Their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing"
Deut 33:1 — "Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death"

3. Praising/Blessing God (Human Adoration Directed Upward)¶

Psalm 103:1 — "Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name"
Psalm 103:20-22 — "Bless the LORD, ye his angels... Bless ye the LORD, all ye his hosts... Bless the LORD, all his works"
Psalm 134:1-2 — "Bless ye the LORD, all ye servants of the LORD... Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD"
Psalm 145:1-2 — "I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless thee"
Neh 9:5 — "Stand up and bless the LORD your God for ever and ever"

4. Declarative Formula: "Blessed Be" (baruk)¶

Gen 14:19-20 — "Blessed be Abram of the most high God... And blessed be the most high God"
Gen 24:27 — "Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham"
1 Ki 1:48 — "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which hath given one to sit on my throne"
Psalm 28:6 — "Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications"
Ezra 7:27 — "Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers"

5. Covenant Blessing-Promise (Nations Blessed Through Abraham)¶

Gen 12:2-3 — "I will bless thee... and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed"
Gen 22:17-18 — "In blessing I will bless thee... in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed"
Gen 26:4 — "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed"
Gen 28:14 — "In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed"
Deut 28:3-6 — "Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field"

6. Priestly/Liturgical Blessing¶

Num 6:23-24 — "On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel... The LORD bless thee, and keep thee"
Lev 9:22-23 — "Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them"
Deut 10:8 — "The LORD separated the tribe of Levi... to bless in his name"
2 Chr 30:27 — "The priests the Levites arose and blessed the people"

7. Euphemistic "Curse" (Antiph rastic Usage)¶

Job 1:5 — "It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed [barak] God in their hearts"
Job 1:11 — "He will curse [barak] thee to thy face"
Job 2:9 — "Curse [barak] God, and die"
1 Ki 21:10, 13 — "Thou didst blaspheme [barak] God and the king"

8. Kneeling (Physical Posture)¶

Gen 24:11 — "He made his camels to kneel down [barak, Hiphil]"
Psalm 95:6 — "O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel [barak] before the LORD our maker"
2 Chr 6:13 — "Solomon... kneeled down upon his knees"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
יְהֹוָה (Yehovah)	H3068	142x (49%)	"Blessed be the LORD" / "the LORD blessed" / "bless the LORD"
אֱלֹהִים (elohim)	H430	74x (26%)	"God blessed them" / "blessed be God"
אֶרֶץ (erets)	H776	38x (13%)	"all families of the earth be blessed" / "bless thee in the land"
עַם (am)	H5971	37x (13%)	"blessed the people" / "bless thy people Israel"
נָתַן (nathan)	H5414	35x (12%)	"the LORD hath blessed... and given" — blessing paired with giving
שֵׁם (shem)	H8034	31x (11%)	"bless his name" / "bless in his name"
יוֹם (yowm)	H3117	29x (10%)	"blessed the seventh day" / "blessed them that day"
דָּוִד (David)	H1732	26x (9%)	David blessing people, people blessing David
אָב (ab)	H1	25x (9%)	Patriarchal blessing: "his father blessed him"

The YHWH collocation at 49% shows that nearly half of all barak occurrences involve the divine name — either God as the one who blesses or as the one blessed (praised). The earth/land (erets) collocation reflects the covenant-promise framework.

Word Family / Cognates¶

H1290 בֶּרֶךְ (berek) — knee (25 occurrences); etymological connection: kneeling posture in blessing/worship
H1293 בְּרָכָה (berakah) — blessing, benediction (64v); the nominal form — the blessing itself
H1294 בְּרָכָה (Berakah) — proper name, "Valley of Blessing" (2 Chr 20:26)
H1289 בְּרַךְ (berak) — Aramaic cognate: to bless, kneel (3v — Dan 2:19, 4:34, 6:10)

Synonyms¶

H3766 כָּרַע (kara) — to kneel, bow down (physical posture sense)

Antonyms¶

H779 אָרַר (arar) — to curse (direct covenant antonym; Deut 27-28 blessing-curse pair)
H7043 קָלַל (qalal) — to be light, trifling; curse (Gen 12:3 paired with barak)

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
אֶשֶׁר (esher)	H835	"blessed" (26v)	esher = happiness/blessedness of a state ("blessed is the man who..."); barak = active blessing bestowed by an agent
μακάριος (makarios)	G3107	"blessed" (42v)	Greek NT equivalent of esher — describes a state of blessedness, not the act of blessing
εὐλογέω (eulogeo)	G2127	"blessed" (17v)	Greek NT equivalent of barak — the act of speaking well of, blessing

Semantic Domains¶

Blessing — H1293 berakah, H1294 Berakah, H7522 ratson
Kneeling/Posture — H3766 kara, A263 chavah, H7812 shachah
Curse (antithetic) — H779 arar, H7043 qalal, H423 alah

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occurrences	PMI	Notes
εὐλογέω (eulogeo) G2127	230	6.15	Primary equivalent — overwhelming dominance
εὐλογητός (eulogetos) G2128	41	6.16	Adjectival "blessed" — for baruk formula
ἐνευλογέω (eneulogeo) G1757	6	6.07	"Be blessed in" — patriarchal promise texts
εὐλογία (eulogia) G2129	14	4.12	Noun "blessing" (some verbal overlap)
καταράομαι (kataraomai) G2672	11	4.20	For euphemistic "curse" passages

The LXX mapping is remarkably consistent: G2127 εὐλογέω captures 230 of the co-occurrences, making this one of the strongest Hebrew-to-Greek bridges in the OT. The εὐ- prefix ("good/well") plus λόγος ("word") = "to speak well of" closely mirrors the Hebrew sense of verbal blessing.