to pour out a flowing substance, such as oil, water, or blood, onto or into something
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
This is the everyday core of the word: to make a liquid run from one place to another by tipping or pouring it. The Bible uses it for ordinary acts like pouring water for someone to wash with or ladling broth from a pot, but most of its appearances are in worship, where pouring is a careful, deliberate act.
The most loaded use is anointing. To pour oil on a person's head, or on a stone marker, set that person or place apart for God. Jacob pours oil on the stone at Bethel, Moses pours it on Aaron, and Samuel pours it on Saul to make him king. The same verb pours oil over a grain offering and pours blood at the base of the altar, so the act of pouring carries weight in both blessing and sacrifice.
A few uses stretch the image. Grace is said to be poured onto a king's lips, and God promises to pour water on dry ground and his Spirit on a people, picturing an outpouring that is generous and life-giving rather than measured.
Nuances
1ato pour anointing oil on a person, place, or offering, setting it apart for God
1dto pour out figuratively, as grace, water on dry ground, or the Spirit
Job 22:16*Psa 45:2(3)Isa 44:3 (2×)
2
to cast metal: to pour molten metal into a mold to form an object
TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled
When the substance poured is melted metal rather than a liquid like oil or water, the same verb names the craft of casting. The metalworker melts gold, silver, or bronze and pours it into prepared molds, and what hardens there is a finished fitting: a ring, a base, a stand, or a great basin.
Nearly all of these appearances describe building the tabernacle and later the temple. The rings and sockets of the tabernacle frames, and the huge bronze basin Solomon's craftsmen made on the plain of the Jordan, are all spoken of as being poured. English keeps a separate word for this, calling it casting or founding, because the result is solid metalwork rather than a spill of liquid, even though the underlying motion is the same act of pouring.
to set down firmly, or to be firm, hard, and immovable
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong
Pouring leaves a result: poured metal cools into something solid, and the language follows that image into the idea of firmness. In its passive forms the word describes things that are set hard, fixed, and not to be shaken. Job speaks of dust caked into a solid mass, and of a creature whose flesh and heart are as firm and unmoving as stone.
A related handful of uses simply mean to set something down solidly in place: the captured plunder is laid out before the LORD, and the Levites set the ark of God firmly down. From the same root comes the sense of being steadfast and unafraid, standing firm rather than flinching.
the original word is the same verb used for pouring liquid, so casting metal is pictured as simply pouring a different, molten substanceExo 25:121Ki 7:46
Both
both describe forming an object by pouring molten metal into a mold to hardenExo 37:32Ch 4:3
Only cast
the English cast is a specialized metalworking term that hides the everyday pouring image underneath it
“anoint”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“firm”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
How yatsaq differs from similar Hebrew words
שָׁפַךְthe more general and forceful word for pouring or spilling out a liquid, often blood, water, or wrath in large quantity, where this word tends to mean a careful, directed pour
The standard word for shedding blood, whether murder or violence that brings bloodguilt on the land.Gen 9:6Num 35:33Ezk 22:3
Used for God pouring out his wrath and fury, the dominant prophetic image of judgment let loose.Ezk 7:8Psa 79:6Zep 3:8
Describes pouring out the inner life, the soul or heart, in grief and prayer before God.1Sa 1:15Psa 42:4Lam 2:19
נָסַךְto pour out specifically as a drink offering or libation poured to a deity, a narrower ritual act, while this word covers pouring of many kinds including anointing and metal casting
Pours liquid in ordinary, physical settings: water from a jar, oil onto an offering, broth for guests. It is the everyday verb for tipping a container so its contents run out.2Ki 4:4Lev 2:11Ki 18:33
Pours oil over a person or thing to set it apart, the act that consecrates a priest or marks out a king.Lev 8:121Sa 10:1Gen 28:18
Casts metal by pouring it molten into a mold, the standard term for forging the bronze fittings and rings of the tabernacle and temple.Exo 25:121Ki 7:241Ki 7:46
Stretches by image to something poured solid and then held firm, like a sky cast hard as metal or a heart set like stone.Job 37:18Job 41:24
Both
Both name pouring out at a sacred pillar in a single scene: Jacob pours out a drink offering and then pours oil over the stone, the two verbs side by side for two poured acts of worship.Gen 35:14
Both can describe forming a god from molten metal, the casting of an image by pouring it into shape.1Ki 7:46Isa 44:10
The dedicated verb for the drink offering: wine or water poured out to God (or, in condemned worship, to false gods) as an act of devotion. This worship sense, not bare spilling, is its center.Num 28:7Jer 7:18Hos 9:4
Casts an idol, naming the molten image itself by the pouring that made it, so the verb carries the scornful sense of a god a craftsman manufactured.Isa 40:19Isa 44:10
Installs by divine appointment, as God says he has set his king on Zion, a poured-out setting in place that is wholly figurative.Psa 2:6Pro 8:23
מָשַׁחto anoint by smearing or applying oil, naming the consecrating act itself, where this word names the physical pouring of the oil that the anointing often begins with
Names the plain physical act of pouring a liquid, with no built-in ceremonial meaning: water poured for washing, broth poured out, oil added to a grain offering.2Ki 4:4Lev 2:1
Stretches beyond liquids to the casting of molten metal, where the metal is poured into molds to form bases, rings, and fittings.Exo 25:121Ki 7:24
Both
Meet at the anointing of a king or priest, where one word reports the oil being poured out and the other names the act of consecration it accomplishes.1Sa 10:1Exo 29:7
Carries the meaning of setting a person apart for an office by applying oil, marking out kings and prophets for their role.1Sa 16:131Ki 19:16
Consecrates objects, not just people, dedicating the tabernacle and its furnishings as holy.Exo 40:9Exo 30:26
yatsaq in the other biblical languages
ἐπιχέωGreek“to pour on/over”the Greek verb for pouring on or over, used in the New Testament for pouring oil and wine on wounds, the nearest counterpart to the pouring sense of this word
Carries solemn ceremonial weight: pouring anointing oil over a king or priest to set him apart for office.1Sa 10:1Lev 8:12
Used for the precise ritual handling of offerings and blood at the altar, pouring oil onto a grain gift or blood at the altar base.Lev 2:1Lev 9:9
Reaches well beyond liquids to the craftsman's work of casting metal, pouring molten bronze into molds to make the temple furnishings.Exo 25:121Ki 7:24
Both
Both describe pouring a liquid down onto or over a surface, and in both it is oil that is poured, onto a head in the one and onto wounds in the other.Lev 8:12Luk 10:34
Names a single, practical act of pouring liquid onto an injury, the Samaritan tending the wounded traveler with oil and wine. It is everyday care, not a ceremony.Luk 10:34
What scholars say about yatsaq
The standard lexica (BDB, HALOT, DCH) treat יצק as a single root meaning to pour, pour out, from which the metallurgical sense (to cast, found) develops as pouring molten metal, and the Hophal/passive-participle sense (be poured, cast, firm, hard) develops from the solidified result. BDB and HALOT group the senses under one entry rather than positing separate homonyms, noting the Hophal participle מוּצָק for cast/molten work and the figurative use for firmness (Job 11:15; 37:18). The anointing uses are well attested in the consecration of priests, kings, and cultic objects; the casting uses cluster in the tabernacle and temple construction accounts. The figurative outpouring of the Spirit in Isaiah 44:3 is widely cited as an extension of the literal liquid sense.