StrongerBible

paḥad

פַּחַד

HebrewH6343“dread, terror, ...”

Appears 49 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 31:42Gen 31:53Exo 15:16Deu 2:25Deu 11:25Deu 28:671Sa 11:71Ch 14:172Ch 14:14(13)2Ch 17:102Ch 19:72Ch 20:29Est 8:17Est 9:2Est 9:3Job 3:25Job 4:14Job 13:11Job 15:21Job 21:9Job 22:10Job 25:2Job 31:23Job 39:16Job 39:22Psa 14:5Psa 31:11(12)Psa 36:1(2)Psa 53:5(6) (2×)Psa 64:1(2)Psa 105:38Psa 119:120Pro 1:26Pro 1:27Pro 3:25Sng 3:8Isa 24:17
Root family
Word studyPAH-khadnoun

What paḥad means

dread: overwhelming fear that grips a person or sweeps over a people, and by extension the dreadful thing that causes it

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

This is one of the strongest fear words in the Hebrew Bible. It is not mild worry but the kind of terror that makes the body shake, the kind that strikes suddenly and overpowers. The same word names both sides of that experience: the fear felt on the inside, and the frightening thing on the outside that produces it.

Three shades grow out of that single core. Most often it is the raw emotion: panic in the night, terror that seizes a person and will not let go. From there it points outward to the dread that one party inspires in another, especially the dread God sends ahead of his people so that whole nations lose their nerve before a battle is even fought. And by a natural turn it can name the disaster itself, the looming calamity spoken of as the dread that is coming.

Alongside these stands a quieter use: the proper dread owed to God, an awe so deep it makes the flesh tremble, the reverence a wrongdoer lacks when there is no fear of God before his eyes.

Two verses in Genesis use the word as a title for God himself, the Dread of Isaac, and scholars have long debated exactly what that title claims (see the disputes note).

Nuances

1aterror felt within a person: panic that seizes the body and overwhelms the mind
Deu 28:67Job 3:25Job 4:14Job 13:11Job 15:21Job 22:10Job 39:16Job 39:22Psa 14:5Psa 31:11(12)Psa 53:5(6) (2×)Psa 64:1(2)
1ba specific dread one is afraid of, especially terror in the night
Psa 91:5Pro 3:25Sng 3:8
1cthe dread that God (or someone acting for him) inspires in others, often falling on whole nations so they cannot fight
Exo 15:16Deu 2:25Deu 11:251Sa 11:71Ch 14:172Ch 14:14(13)2Ch 17:102Ch 19:72Ch 20:29Est 8:17Est 9:2Est 9:3
1dthe dreadful thing itself: the looming disaster or calamity spoken of as the dread that comes
Job 21:9Job 31:23Pro 1:26Pro 1:27Pro 1:33Isa 24:17Isa 24:18Jer 48:43Jer 48:44Jer 49:5Lam 3:47
1ereverent dread of God: an awe so deep it makes the body tremble, the fear of God a wrongdoer lacks
Psa 36:1(2)Psa 119:120
1fthe Dread of Isaac: a title for God himself, the awesome One whom Isaac revered
Gen 31:42Gen 31:53

What scholars say about paḥad

The standard lexica (BDB, HALOT, DCH) treat פַּחַד as a single noun, dread or terror, derived from the verb פָּחַד. They distinguish the subjective emotion (intense, often sudden dread), the objective dread that one party projects on another (the recurrent פַּחַד יהוה inspiring panic in nations, e.g. 2 Chr 14:13, 17:10, 20:29), and a metonymic use in which the word denotes the dreaded object or calamity itself (Prov 1:26-27; Isa 24:17-18 with its assonant פַּחַד וָפַחַת וָפָח). The divine epithet פַּחַד יִצְחָק (Gen 31:42, 53) is much discussed: the traditional and majority view, defended in TDOT (H.-P. Mueller, s.v. פחד) and reflected in HALOT, reads it as the Awesome One / the (object of) fear of Isaac, an archaic divine title; W. F. Albright (From the Stone Age to Christianity) and others proposed Kinsman of Isaac on comparative grounds, a reading critiqued by D. R. Hillers and largely set aside in later treatments.

Where scholars disagree about paḥad

What the divine title "the Dread of Isaac" (paḥad yiṣḥaq, Genesis 31:42, 53) means.

  • majorityIt is an archaic divine title meaning the Awesome One, or the One whom Isaac fears and worships, taking the word in its ordinary sense of dread or awe.; H.-P. Mueller, "פחד paḥad," in TDOT; HALOT, s.v. פַּחַד
  • minorityIt means Kinsman of Isaac, a separate sense supported by comparative Semitic evidence, making the title denote God as the family's kinsman-protector.; W. F. Albright, From the Stone Age to Christianity

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. פַּחַדlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. פַּחַדlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. פַּחַדlexicon
  • H.-P. Mueller, "פחד paḥad," in TDOTtheological-dictionary
  • W. F. Albright, From the Stone Age to Christianitymonograph

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of פַּחַד

m s absolute

פַּחַד, פָּחַד

Exo 15:16, Job 3:25, Job 4:14, Job 22:10, Job 25:2, Job 31:23, Job 39:22, Psa 31:11

m s construct

פַּחַד

Gen 31:42, Gen 31:53, Deu 28:67, 1Sa 11:7, 2Ch 14:14, 2Ch 17:10, 2Ch 19:7, 2Ch 20:29

m s construct

פַּחְדְּכֶם

Deu 11:25, Pro 1:26, Pro 1:27

m s construct

פַּחְדְּךָ

Deu 2:25, Psa 119:120

m s construct

פַּחְדָּם

Est 9:2, Psa 105:38

m s construct

פַּחְדּוֹ

1Ch 14:17, Job 13:11

m p absolute

פְּחָדִים

Job 15:21