בָּרָד

hail

Definition

The Hebrew word בָּרָד refers to hail, a meteorological phenomenon of frozen precipitation. In the Bible, it most prominently appears as a destructive force in the plagues of Egypt (Exodus 9:18-26), where it is described as a severe storm of hail and fire. It is also used in poetic and prophetic contexts to symbolize divine judgment and warfare, such as in Joshua 10:11, where God hurls hailstones from heaven against Israel's enemies, and in Ezekiel 13:11, where it is part of a metaphor for God's wrath. The word consistently denotes a powerful, often divinely-sent, destructive agent.

Biblical Usage

בָּרָד is used 26 times in the Old Testament, primarily in narrative and prophetic books. Its most famous usage is in the Exodus plague narrative, where it is a direct instrument of God's judgment on Egypt (Exodus 9:18-26). It also appears in historical narrative as a miraculous weapon for Israel (Joshua 10:11). In the prophets, it is a common metaphor for God's destructive judgment (Isaiah 28:2, Ezekiel 13:11, 13:13, Haggai 2:17). The Psalms also reference it as a demonstration of God's sovereign power over nature (Psalm 78:47-48, Psalm 105:32).

Etymology

The noun בָּרָד (bārād) is derived from the verbal root בָּרַד (bārad, H1258), which means 'to hail.' This root is not widely attested in other Semitic languages, making its primary association firmly within Hebrew. The development is straightforward, moving from the action (to hail) to the concrete result (hailstones).

Semantic Range

בָּרָד is a theologically significant word as it is a primary symbol of God's sovereign judgment and power. In the Exodus narrative, it demonstrates God's supremacy over the Egyptian gods associated with weather and agriculture. Its use in the conquest (Joshua 10:11) and the prophets shows it as a weapon in Yahweh's divine arsenal, underscoring His role as a warrior and judge. Understanding this Hebrew term enriches reading by highlighting a consistent biblical motif: creation itself, including weather, is an instrument of God's will, both for deliverance of His people and for executing justice.

In the ancient Near East, hail was a catastrophic event for an agrarian society, capable of utterly destroying crops, trees, livestock, and even people caught in the open. The biblical descriptions of hail, especially when mixed with fire (Exodus 9:24), would have been understood as a supernatural intensification of a known natural disaster. This amplified its perception as a direct, terrifying act of a deity, far beyond the modern view of hail as merely damaging weather.

קֶרַח (qerach, H7140) — 'ice' or 'frost'; a more general term for frozen water, not specifically falling precipitation. אֵשׁ (ʾēsh, H784) — 'fire'; often paired with בָּרָד (as in Exodus 9:24) to describe the miraculous plague.

Word Details

Scripture References