H1293 — בְּרָכָה (berakah)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H1293
Original: בְּרָכָה
Transliteration: Bᵉrâkâh
Pronunciation: ber-aw-kaw'
Part of Speech: Feminine noun
Root: בָּרַךְ (barak) H1288 — to kneel, to bless
Occurrences: 64 unique verses (70 tokens) across 18 books
First Occurrence: Gen 12:2 — "And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From H1288; benediction; by implication prosperity: — blessing, liberal, pool, present.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
blessing (all forms)	53	83%
present	3	5%
blessed	2	3%
blessings (standalone)	2	3%
liberal	1	2%
the pools	1	2%
Other	2	3%

Note: "blessing" forms include a/the/my/thy/with/into/of/by + blessing(s).

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Malachi	2	3.6
Joel	1	1.4
Deuteronomy	12	1.3
Proverbs	8	0.9
Genesis	12	0.8
Zechariah	1	0.5
Nehemiah	2	0.5
Psalms	9	0.4
Joshua	2	0.3
2 Kings	2	0.3
Isaiah	4	0.3
Judges	1	0.2
Ezekiel	2	0.2
1 Samuel	2	0.2
Exodus	1	0.1
Leviticus	1	0.1
2 Samuel	1	0.1
Job	1	0.1

Concentrated in Genesis (patriarchal promises) and Deuteronomy (covenant blessing/curse formulae). Proverbs wisdom application is notably dense. Absent from major prophetic books except Isaiah and Ezekiel.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Covenant Blessing — God's Promised Favor¶

Gen 12:2 — "thou shalt be a blessing" — Abrahamic covenant
Gen 28:4 — "give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed"
Deu 28:8 — "The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses"
Psa 133:3 — "there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore"

2. Blessing vs. Curse — Covenant Choice Formula¶

Deu 11:26 — "I set before you this day a blessing and a curse"
Deu 30:19 — "I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing"
Deu 23:5 — "the LORD thy God turned the curse into a blessing for thee"
Neh 13:2 — "our God turned the curse into a blessing"

3. Patriarchal/Parental Blessing — Transmitted Favor¶

Gen 27:35 — "Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing"
Gen 27:36 — "he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing"
Gen 27:38 — "Hast thou but one blessing, my father?"
Gen 49:25–26 — "bless thee with blessings of heaven above... blessings of thy father have prevailed"

4. Material Gift / Present¶

Gen 33:11 — "Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee" (Jacob's gift to Esau)
1 Sam 25:27 — "this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord" (Abigail's provisions)
2 Ki 5:15 — "take a blessing of thy servant" (Naaman's gift to Elisha)
Jdg 1:15 — "Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land"

5. Praise / Doxology¶

Neh 9:5 — "Stand up and bless the LORD... which is exalted above all blessing and praise"
Psa 3:8 — "thy blessing is upon thy people"
Psa 129:8 — "The blessing of the LORD be upon you"

6. Inherent Good / Beneficial Quality¶

Isa 65:8 — "as the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it"
Eze 34:26 — "I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing"
Isa 19:24 — "Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land"
Joel 2:14 — "leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering"

7. Prosperity / Abundance¶

Pro 10:22 — "The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich"
Pro 11:25 — "The liberal soul shall be made fat" (berakah = "liberal")
Pro 28:20 — "A faithful man shall abound with blessings"
Mal 3:10 — "I will... pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
יְהֹוָה (YHWH)	H3068	22x (34%)	"the blessing of the LORD" — divine source
נָתַן (nathan)	H5414	15x (23%)	"give/set before you a blessing" — bestowed
בָּרַךְ (barak)	H1288	11x (17%)	cognate verb "blessed... blessing"
קְלָלָה (qelalah)	H7045	10x (16%)	antithetic pair "blessing and curse"
אֶרֶץ (erets)	H776	8x (12%)	blessing upon the land
אָב (ab)	H1	6x (9%)	paternal blessing transmission
יִשְׂרָאֵל (Yisrael)	H3478	6x (9%)	Israel as recipient of national blessing
מַיִם (mayim)	H4325	6x (9%)	blessing and water imagery
שֵׁם (shem)	H8034	6x (9%)	"make thy name great... be a blessing"

Synonyms¶

תְּהִלָּה (tehillah) H8416 — praise, laudation (57v)

Antonyms¶

קְלָלָה (qelalah) H7045 — curse, vilification (33v) — the fixed antonym; co-occurs 10x

Word Family / Cognates¶

H1288 בָּרַךְ (barak) — root verb: to kneel, to bless (289v)
H1289 בְּרַךְ (berak) — Aramaic cognate: to bless, kneel (3v)

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
בָּרַךְ (barak)	H1288	"blessed"	H1288 is the verb (act of blessing); H1293 is the noun (the blessing itself)
מִנְחָה (minchah)	H4503	"present"	minchah = offering/tribute (ritual); berakah as "present" = goodwill gift
שַׁחַד (shachad)	H7810	"present"	shachad = bribe/donation with ulterior motive; berakah = generous gift

Semantic Domain¶

[002003002003] Bless — Other words: בָּרַךְ (H1288), בְּרַךְ (A1289), רָצֹון (H7522)

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occurrences	PMI Score	Notes
εὐλογία (eulogia) G2129	56x	33.55	Primary — overwhelmingly dominant
εὐλογέω (eulogeo) G2127	15x	12.15	Verb form used where LXX shifts noun → verb
κατάρα (katara) G2671	11x	17.11	Antonym "curse" in same verses, not a translation of berakah