H905 — בַּד (bad)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H905
Original: בַּד
Transliteration: bad
Pronunciation: bad
Part of Speech: Masculine noun
Root: Properly, "separation" — by implication, a part of the body, branch of a tree, bar for carrying; with prepositional prefix, used adverbially: apart, only, besides
Occurrences: 178 unique verses (203 tokens) across 25 books
First Occurrence: Gen 2:18 — "And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone (bad); I will make him an help meet for him."
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

From root sense of separation; by implication, a part of the body, branch of a tree, bar for carrying; figuratively, chief of a city; especially (with prepositional prefix) as an adverb, apart, only, besides: — alone, apart, bar, besides, branch, by self, of each alike, except, only, part, staff, strength.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
beside / Beside	41	23.0%
alone	32	18.0%
only	30	16.9%
staves (the staves / his staves / for the staves / staves thereof / of the staves)	30	16.9%
by themselves	9	5.1%
apart	3	1.7%
by himself	3	1.7%
branches / his branches / of her branches	3	1.7%
strength / his strength / the strength	3	1.7%
bars	1	0.6%
Other (except, a like, of each, etc.)	23	12.9%

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Exodus	35	2.9
Numbers	22	1.7
1 Kings	15	1.8
Genesis	12	0.8
Deuteronomy	9	0.9
Isaiah	9	0.7
Job	9	0.8
Judges	8	1.3
2 Samuel	8	1.2
2 Chronicles	8	1.0
Psalms	7	0.3
2 Kings	5	0.7
Ezekiel	4	0.3
Daniel	3	0.8
Esther	3	1.8
Zechariah	3	1.4
Joshua	3	0.5
1 Samuel	3	0.4
Proverbs	2	0.2
Ezra	2	0.7
Nehemiah	2	0.5
Leviticus	2	0.2
1 Chronicles	2	0.2
Ecclesiastes	1	0.5
Hosea	1	0.5

Exodus dominates (35 occurrences, 2.9/100v), driven by the tabernacle "staves" usage. Numbers is second (22 occurrences) combining both "staves" and the sacrificial "beside" formula. The word spans all major genres — narrative, law, poetry, prophecy.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Separation / Aloneness — "by oneself"¶

The root sense of physical or social isolation, translated "alone," "by himself," "by themselves." - Gen 2:18 — "It is not good that the man should be alone (bad)" - Gen 32:24 — "And Jacob was left alone (bad); and there wrestled a man with him" - Dan 10:7 — "And I Daniel alone (bad) saw the vision" - Isa 63:3 — "I have trodden the winepress alone (bad); and of the people there was none with me"

2. Exclusivity — "only"¶

Emphasizes uniqueness or restriction to one thing or person. - Exo 22:20 — "He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only (bad), he shall be utterly destroyed" - 1 Sam 7:4 — "The children of Israel... served the LORD only (bad)" - Psalm 51:4 — "Against thee, thee only (bad), have I sinned" - Psalm 72:18 — "Blessed be the LORD God... who only (bad) doeth wondrous things" - Isa 2:11 — "The LORD alone (bad) shall be exalted in that day"

3. Addition / "Apart from" — millibad (מִלְּבַד)¶

With prepositional prefix min + le, forms the compound "apart from, besides, in addition to." This is the dominant sacrificial-calendar usage. - Lev 9:17 — "burnt it upon the altar, beside (millibad) the burnt offering of the morning" - Lev 23:38 — "Beside (millibad) the sabbaths of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings" - Num 28:23 — "Ye shall offer these beside (millibad) the burnt offering in the morning" - Num 29:6 — "Beside (millibad) the burnt offering of the month, and his meat offering, and the daily burnt offering"

4. Carrying Poles / Staves — Physical "Part"¶

From the sense of a separated piece or limb, referring to the poles used to carry tabernacle furniture. - Exo 25:13 — "And thou shalt make staves (bad) of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold" - Exo 25:15 — "The staves (bad) shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it" - Num 4:6 — "shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staves (bad) thereof" - 1 Ki 8:8 — "And they drew out the staves (bad), that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place"

5. Branches / Limbs — Plant Extension¶

The "separated part" sense applied to tree branches. - Eze 17:6 — "it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches (bad) turned toward him" - Eze 19:14 — "fire is gone out of a rod of her branches (bad), which hath devoured her fruit" - Hos 11:6 — "the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume his branches (bad)"

6. Mourning Separation — "apart" (Zechariah)¶

Each family mourning in its own separated group. - Zec 12:12 — "the land shall mourn, every family apart (bad); the family of the house of David apart (bad), and their wives apart (bad)" - Zec 12:13 — "the family of the house of Levi apart (bad)... the family of Shimei apart (bad)"

7. Strength / Bars¶

A secondary concrete sense — structural members, strength of skin/body. - Job 17:16 — "They shall go down to the bars (bad) of the pit" - Job 18:13 — "It shall devour the strength (bad) of his skin" - Deu 3:5 — "All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars (bad)"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
עַל (ʻal)	H5921	48x	Prepositional phrases: "beside X upon Y"
כֹּל (kol)	H3605	45x	"beside all your vows," totality formulas
עָשָׂה (ʻasah)	H6213	33x	"do/offer X beside Y" in sacrificial instructions
עֹלָה (ʻolah)	H5930	16x	"beside the burnt offering" — sacrificial formula
מִנְחָה (minchah)	H4503	14x	"beside the meat offering" — sacrificial formula
זָהָב (zahab)	H2091	13x	"staves overlaid with gold" — tabernacle construction

Word Family / Cognates¶

H909 בָּדַד (badad) — verb: to divide, separate (reflexively, to be alone) — 4 verses
H910 בָּדָד (badad) — adverb/adjective: separate, alone, desolate — 6 verses (Lam 1:1 "How doth the city sit solitary")
H906 בַּד (bad) — homonym: linen (masculine noun, 19v) — from root sense "divided/separated fibres"; distinct word with separate meaning

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
רַק (raq)	H7535	"only" (61v)	Restrictive particle "merely/only" — emphasizes limitation; bad emphasizes separation/exclusivity
אַךְ (ʼak)	H389	"only" (33v)	Asseverative particle "surely/indeed" with restrictive force; bad is nominal "separation"
אֶחָד (ʼechad)	H259	"alone" (4v)	Numeral "one" — emphasizes unity/singularity; bad emphasizes isolation/apart-ness
אֵצֶל (ʼetsel)	H681	"beside" (9v)	Spatial "at the side of" (proximity); bad in millibad means "apart from / in addition to"
עַל (ʻal)	H5921	"beside" (15v)	General preposition "upon/over/beside"; millibad is specifically "apart from" in enumerations
יָחִיד (yachiyd)	H3173	—	"only, solitary" — emphasizes being the sole/unique one; bad emphasizes the state of separation

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Co-occurrences	PMI Score	Notes
μόνος (monos) G3441	72x	28.47	Primary — renders "alone/only" senses
πλήν (plen) G4133	31x	15.47	Renders "beside/except" senses
χωρίς (choris) G5565	11x	17.32	Renders "apart from" sense
μόνον (monon) G3440	9x	14.22	Adverbial form — "only/merely"
ἐκτός (ektos) G1622	7x	13.40	"Outside of, except"

The LXX translators split bad's semantic range across multiple Greek words: monos for the "alone/only" sense, plen/ektos for the "besides/except" sense, and choris for the "apart from" sense.