H1865 — דְּרוֹר (dᵉrôwr)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H1865
Original: דְּרוֹר
Transliteration: dᵉrôwr
Pronunciation: der-ore'
Part of Speech: Masculine noun
Root: From an unused root meaning "to move rapidly" — hence freedom, spontaneity of outflow
Occurrences: 9 tokens across 7 unique OT verses, in 5 books
First Occurrence: Exo 30:23 — "Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From an unused root (meaning to move rapidly); freedom; hence, spontaneity of outflow, and so clear — liberty, pure.

The lexicon definition captures two semantic poles: (1) freedom/liberty in the social-legal sense, and (2) "pure" as in free-flowing, applied to myrrh in Exo 30:23. Both senses derive from the root idea of unimpeded movement.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
liberty	5	71.4%
a liberty	1	14.3%
pure	1	14.3%

Note: Jer 34:17 contains two tokens of H1865 ("in proclaiming liberty... I proclaim a liberty"), accounting for 9 total tokens across 7 verses. The "of liberty" and "the" entries in the raw distribution are artifacts of phrase parsing — the underlying sense is "liberty" throughout except in Exo 30:23 ("pure").

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Jeremiah	3	0.22
Exodus	1	0.08
Leviticus	1	0.12
Isaiah	1	0.08
Ezekiel	1	0.08

Concentrated in prophetic literature (5 of 7 verses). Jeremiah 34 alone accounts for 3 verses (4 tokens) — all in the context of Zedekiah's broken covenant to release Hebrew slaves. Absent from Deuteronomy (which uses H8059 shᵉmiṭṭâh for the sabbatical-year release) and all historical/wisdom/poetic books.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Jubilee Liberation — Institutional Release of Persons and Property¶

The foundational use: proclaimed release in the fiftieth year restoring persons to families and land to original owners. - Lev 25:10 — "And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family." - Eze 46:17 — "But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty; after it shall return to the prince: but his inheritance shall be his sons' for them."

2. Slave Release — Covenant Obligation to Free Hebrew Bondservants¶

Jeremiah 34 applies deror to the specific act of releasing Hebrew slaves, framing failure to do so as covenant violation. - Jer 34:8 — "This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them" - Jer 34:15 — "And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name" - Jer 34:17 — "Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine"

Note: Jer 34:17 uses deror ironically — because Judah refused to proclaim liberty to slaves, God "proclaims a liberty" to sword, pestilence, and famine (i.e., releases destructive forces against them).

3. Messianic/Prophetic Liberation — Anointed Proclamation of Release¶

Isaiah applies deror to the work of the anointed one, extending the Jubilee concept beyond the economic-legal institution to spiritual and eschatological deliverance. - Isa 61:1 — "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound"

4. Free-Flowing / Pure (Physical Quality)¶

The sole non-liberty use: deror describes myrrh that flows freely without artificial extraction — "pure" in the sense of unadulterated, free-running. - Exo 30:23 — "Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
אִישׁ (ʼîysh)	H376	3× (43%)	"every man" — emphasizing individual scope of the release
יְהוָה (Yᵉhôvâh)	H3068	3× (43%)	"saith the LORD" — divine authority behind the proclamation
שׁוּב (shûwb)	H7725	3× (43%)	"return" — the consequence of deror: return to land/family
בְּרִית (bᵉrîyth)	H1285	2× (29%)	"covenant" — deror proclaimed within a covenant context
כָּרַת (kârath)	H3772	2× (29%)	"cut" a covenant — paired with the covenant-making formula
רֵעַ (rêaʻ)	H7453	2× (29%)	"neighbour" — the recipient of proclaimed liberty

The collocations reveal deror as a word embedded in covenant-and-return language: liberty is proclaimed by divine authority, within a covenant framework, resulting in return to original status.

Semantic Domain: Free / Release¶

From search_relationships.py (domain [002003002012] Free): - H1350 גָּאַל (gâʼal) — redeem, act as kinsman-redeemer (related release mechanism) - H1351 גָּאַל (gâʼal) — defile (homonym, different root) - H1353 גְּאֻלָּה (gᵉʼullâh) — redemption, right of redemption - H2666 חָפַשׁ (châphash) — set free, search - H2668 חֻפְשָׁה (chuphshâh) — freedom (from slavery) - H2670 חָפְשִׁי (chophshîy) — free, freed (the freed person)

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
ἐλευθερία (eleutheria)	G1657	"liberty" (8 NT verses)	Greek noun for freedom/liberty in general; deror is specifically Jubilee/institutional release
ἄφεσις (aphesis)	G859	"liberty" (Luk 4:18)	LXX rendering of deror; NT broadens to forgiveness/remission of sins
חָפְשִׁי (chophshîy)	H2670	"free" / "liberty" (Exo 21:2, 5, 26, 27; Deut 15:12-13, 18)	Chophshîy = the freed person's status after release; deror = the institutional proclamation of that release
שְׁמִטָּה (shᵉmiṭṭâh)	H8059	debt release / remission (Deut 15:1-3)	Shᵉmiṭṭâh = sabbatical-year debt release (every 7 years); deror = Jubilee release of persons and property (every 50 years)

Key distinction: deror is the most formal, institutional word for release in the OT — it is always proclaimed (qârâʼ H7121, 6 of 7 liberty-sense occurrences), never merely enacted. It is the Jubilee word par excellence.

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occ	PMI	Notes
ἄφεσις (aphesis) G859	6	8.96	Primary rendering — liberty/release → forgiveness/remission in NT
ἕκαστος (hékastos) G1538	3	5.38	"each one" — translating the distributive "every man" in deror contexts
καλέω (kaléō) G2564	3	4.73	"to call" — rendering the proclamation verb qârâʼ in deror clauses

The primary LXX bridge is G859 ἄφεσις (aphesis), with a very high PMI of 8.96. This is significant: the LXX translators consistently chose aphesis — a word meaning "release, sending away" — for deror. When the NT applies aphesis to forgiveness of sins (17 NT verses), it carries the Jubilee release theology embedded in deror. Luke 4:18 (Jesus reading Isa 61:1) is the explicit bridge point where deror → aphesis → the gospel proclamation of release.