H1644 — גָּרַשׁ (gârash)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H1644
Original: גָּרַשׁ
Transliteration: gârash
Pronunciation: gaw-rash
Part of Speech: Verb (primitive root)
Occurrences: 45 unique verses (60 tokens) across 21 books
First Occurrence: Gen 3:24 — "So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims..."
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primitive root; to drive out from a possession; especially to expatriate or divorce:—cast up (out), divorced (woman), drive away (forth, out), expel, surely put away, trouble, thrust out.

Verb Stem Distribution¶

Stem	Count	Typical Meaning
Piel	35	drive out, expel (intensive/causative — the dominant usage)
Qal	7	drive out (simple stem, incl. passive participle "divorced woman")
Niphal	3	be driven off, be tossed (of sea)
Pual	2	be driven out (passive of Piel — of those "thrust out" of Egypt)

Tallied from hebrew_parser.py --lemma גרשׁ. Piel dominates (~78% of verbal forms) — the characteristic stem of גרשׁ, expressing forceful expulsion. The Qal passive participle form (גְּרוּשָׁה, "divorced woman") is frozen in legal language (Lev 21:7, 14; 22:13; Num 30:9; Ezek 44:22).

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation Cluster	Approx. Count	Notes
drive out / drive away / drave out	~18	dominant — especially of nations before Israel
cast out / cast up	~8	forceful expulsion; includes Isa 57:20 ("waters cast up mire")
thrust out	~6	violent ejection (Exo 12:39; Jdg 9:41; 11:2; 1 Ki 2:27; Deu 33:27)
divorced / put away (woman)	~5	legal/marital — Qal passive participle (Lev 21:7, 14; 22:13; Num 30:9; Ezek 44:22)
driven out / were driven forth	~3	Pual/Niphal passives
expel, trouble, drove (him) away	~5	misc., incl. Psa 34:1 ("drove him away"), Isa 57:20 ("troubled sea")

From search_strongs.py --lookup H1644.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Jonah	1	2.1
Zephaniah	1	1.9
Micah	1	1.0
Exodus	11	0.9
Judges	5	0.8
Amos	1	0.7
Hosea	1	0.5
Joshua	2	0.3
Leviticus	3	0.3
Genesis	3	0.2
Numbers	3	0.2
Ezekiel	2	0.2
Proverbs	1	0.1
Deuteronomy	1	0.1
1 Kings	1	0.1
1 Samuel	1	0.1
1 Chronicles	1	0.1
2 Chronicles	1	0.1
Job	1	0.1
Psalms	3	0.1
Isaiah	1	0.1

Patterns: Heaviest concentration in Exodus (11x) — the conquest-preparation discourse where YHWH promises to drive out the Canaanite nations. Judges sustains the theme (5x) as Israel fails to complete the expulsion. Pentateuch + historical books account for 31 of 45 verses (~69%); prophetic/poetic usage is sparse but potent (Isa 57:20; Amos 8:8; Jon 2:4; Mic 2:9). Entirely absent from the NT (Hebrew only).

Semantic Categories¶

1. God Driving Out the Nations (conquest theology)¶

By far the most concentrated usage — YHWH expelling Canaanite peoples before Israel. - Exo 23:28 — "I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite" - Exo 23:29–30 — "I will not drive them out from before thee in one year... By little and little I will drive them out" - Exo 33:2 — "I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite..." - Jos 24:12, 18 — "the LORD drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites"

2. Failed / Incomplete Expulsion¶

The flipside of category 1 — divine refusal or human inability to drive out. - Jdg 2:3 — "I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns" - Jdg 6:9 — "I... drave them out from before you, and gave you their land" - Num 22:6, 11 — Balak's hope: "peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out"

3. Expulsion of Individuals¶

Personal driving-away — from household, role, or presence. - Gen 3:24 — "So he drove out the man" (first occurrence — Eden) - Gen 4:14 — Cain: "thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth" - Gen 21:10 — Sarah to Abraham: "Cast out this bondwoman and her son" - 1 Ki 2:27 — "Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest"

4. Divorce / Putting Away a Wife (legal)¶

The Qal passive participle גְּרוּשָׁה becomes a technical term for a divorced woman. - Lev 21:7 — "neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband" - Lev 21:14 — "A widow, or a divorced woman... these shall he not take" (priestly marriage law) - Num 30:9 — "every vow of a widow, and of her that is divorced" - Ezek 44:22 — "Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away"

5. Thrust Out from Egypt (Exodus-specific idiom)¶

A cluster around the departure from Egypt — Pharaoh forcibly expelling Israel. - Exo 6:1 — "with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land" - Exo 11:1 — "when he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether" - Exo 12:39 — "they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry"

6. Expulsion by Peers or Enemies¶

Human-on-human driving out, often of the weak or unwanted. - Exo 2:17 — "the shepherds came and drove them away" (Reuel's daughters at the well) - Jdg 9:41 — "Zebul thrust out Gaal and his brethren" - Jdg 11:2, 7 — "they thrust out Jephthah... did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father's house?" - Mic 2:9 — "The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses"

7. Metaphorical / Figurative¶

Extended uses — disturbed sea, being cut off from God's sight. - Isa 57:20 — "the wicked are like the troubled sea... whose waters cast up mire and dirt" - Amos 8:8 — "it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and... be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt" (same verb as Isa 57:20's "cast up") - Jon 2:4 — "I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple" - 1 Sam 26:19 — "they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the LORD"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
פָּנִים (panim)	H6440	17x (38%)	"drive out from before thee/you" — the dominant idiom (מִפָּנֶיךָ)
לֹא (lo')	H3808	15x (33%)	negation — "I will not drive them out" / "did not drive out"
אֶרֶץ (erets)	H776	11x (24%)	driving out from/into "the land" (the promised territory)
אָמַר (amar)	H559	9x (20%)	speech framing — divine declaration of expulsion
בַּיִת (bayith)	H1004	7x (16%)	being thrust out of a "house" (home, priesthood, pleasant houses)
יְהֹוָה (YHWH)	H3068	7x (16%)	YHWH as the subject driving out
מִצְרַיִם (Mitsrayim)	H4714	6x (13%)	Egypt — either expelled from it or driving out from it
עַם (am)	H5971	6x (13%)	"the people/peoples" being driven out (Canaanites)
אִשָּׁה (ishshah)	H802	5x (11%)	"woman" — divorce contexts
שָׁלַח (shalach)	H7971	5x (11%)	paired with "send (out)" — paralleled or contrasted expulsion verbs
אַלְמָנָה (almanah)	H490	4x (9%)	"widow" — appears beside "divorced woman" in priestly law
אֱמֹרִי (Emori)	H567	4x (9%)	Amorite — the archetypal nation to be driven out
גּוֹי (goy)	H1471	4x (9%)	"nation(s)" to be dispossessed

The signature construction is גרשׁ + מִפְּנֵי ("drive out from before the face of"): the one driven is placed before the driver's face and then removed from that frontal field.

Word Family / Cognates¶

גֶּרֶשׁ (geresh) — cognate noun: "produce, yield" (Deu 33:14) — what the earth "puts forth"
מִגְרָשׁ (migrash) — "common/suburb/pasture land" — the open ground around a city where animals are "driven out" (frequent in Josh 21, Num 35)
גֵּר (ger) — "sojourner/stranger" (H1616) — semantically adjacent: one who has been driven/displaced from his own land

Synonyms¶

No discrete synonym list was returned by search_relationships.py for H1644.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for H1644.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
יָרַשׁ (yarash)	H3423	"cast out," "drive out," "dispossess"	yarash emphasizes taking possession (the positive result — occupying what the dispossessed left); gârash emphasizes forcibly removing (the action of expulsion itself). They are complementary: YHWH drives out (גרשׁ) so Israel may inherit (ירשׁ).
שָׁלַח (shalach)	H7971	"send out," "put away," "cast out"	shalach = send away with authorization (covers both divorce and commissioning); gârash = forcefully expel against the will of the expelled.
שָׁלַךְ (shalak)	H7993	"cast out," "throw down"	shalak = throw/hurl (of objects and bodies); gârash = drive/eject (usually of persons from a place).
נָדַח (nadach)	H5080	"drive away," "banish"	nadach often implies straying/going astray; gârash is active expulsion by an agent.
יָצָא (yatsa')	H3318	"go out," "bring out" (causative)	yatsa' is the general verb of going/coming out; gârash is specifically forcible removal.

KJV overlap: "cast out" is shared with G1544 (ekballo) in the NT. LXX overlap: גרשׁ, שׁלח, נדח, and ירשׁ all route through ἐκβάλλω — expect conflation in LXX-dependent readings.

Semantic Domains¶

UBS / Relationship Domains¶

[002001001063] Unsteady — search_relationships.py groups gârash with destabilizing or tossing motion, alongside forms such as A1519 גוח, H1607 געשׁ, H1804 דלח, H1949 הום, and H2111 זוע.
[002002001012] Move — the same tool places gârash in a broader movement field with verbs such as H55 אבך, H82 אבר, A236/H235 אזל, H622 אסף, and H661 אפף.
[002002001005] Dwell — the relationship data also links gârash to the habitation/displacement field, with neighbors such as H166/H167/H168/H169 אהל, H1481 גור, and A1753 דור.

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occ	PMI	Notes
ἐκβάλλω (ekballō)	G1544	35	7.90	Primary — dominates by a wide margin; the standard LXX rendering
χήρα (chēra)	G5503	4	5.22	"widow" — picks up the divorced-woman contexts where גְּרוּשָׁה appears alongside אַלְמָנָה
πρόσωπον (prosōpon)	G4383	12	2.64	"face" — renders the collocated פָּנִים in "drive out from before"
Αἴγυπτος (Aigyptos)	G125	7	2.76	"Egypt" — context co-occurrence, not direct equivalence
δύναμαι (dynamai)	G1410	4	3.22	"be able" — renders modal framing of expulsion
ἐξαποστέλλω (exapostellō)	G1821	4	3.18	"send away/forth" — occasional equivalent in divorce-adjacent contexts
κληρονομέω (klēronomeō)	G2816	3	3.50	"inherit" — context tie to dispossession/inheritance
προστίθημι (prostithēmi)	G4369	3	2.69	"add" — contextual co-occurrence

The dominant bridge is גרשׁ → ἐκβάλλω, strong enough (co-occ 35) to warrant a cross-testament trace. Through this bridge, OT expulsion of nations and divorce of wives connects semantically to NT exorcism language ("cast out demons") and ecclesial discipline.