StrongerBible

palat

פָּלַט

HebrewH6403“deliver, rescue, ...”

Appears 26 times · tap a cell to see the verses

2Sa 22:22Sa 22:44Job 21:10Job 23:7Psa 17:13Psa 18:2(3)Psa 18:43(44)Psa 18:48(49)Psa 22:4(5)Psa 22:8(9)Psa 31:1(2)Psa 37:40 (2×)Psa 40:17(18)Psa 43:1Psa 56:7(8)Psa 70:5(6)Psa 71:2Psa 71:4Psa 82:4Psa 91:14Psa 144:2Isa 5:29Ezk 7:16Mic 6:14 (2×)
Names & words formed with this
Word studyResearch-gradepah-LAHTverb

What palat means

to bring safely out of danger: to deliver, rescue, or come safely through.

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

One idea runs through every use of this word: being brought out of danger and into a safe place. It is not simply fleeing from harm. Its accent falls on arriving at safety, which is why the Bible reaches for it above all to describe God rescuing the person who trusts him. In the Psalms he is the one who does the delivering almost every time, and the word settles into a favorite title for him: my deliverer.

Because the picture is arrival at safety rather than mere flight, the word bends easily to related situations. A lion carries its prey off to a safe spot where no one can take it back. A person prays to be brought through a trial and come out free. In one striking case a cow safely brings forth her calf without losing it, keeping the old, physical picture of something being brought safely out.

These are shades of a single idea, not separate words. What holds them together is the movement from peril to safety, and the sense that someone, usually God, is the one who accomplishes it. English has to rotate among several words to catch it: deliver, rescue, save, escape, even bring forth.

Nuances

1ato deliver or rescue someone, bringing them out of danger into safety; in the Psalms almost always God rescuing the one who trusts him.
2Sa 22:22Sa 22:44Psa 17:13Psa 18:2(3)Psa 18:43(44)Psa 18:48(49)Psa 31:1(2)Psa 40:17(18)Psa 70:5(6)Psa 71:2Psa 71:4Psa 144:2
1bto carry off to safety, to secure what one has seized or holds, rather than rescuing a victim.
Isa 5:29Mic 6:14 (2×)
1cto escape, to get safely away from danger; said of the one in peril coming through alive.
Job 23:7Psa 56:7(8)Ezk 7:16
1dto bring forth young safely, said of an animal that calves without losing its young.
Job 21:10

What scholars say about palat

The standard lexica (BDB; HALOT) and theological dictionaries (Hasel in TDOT; Ruprecht in TLOT; Hubbard in NIDOTTE) agree that the verb means "deliver, bring to safety." It is overwhelmingly Piel (roughly 24 of about 27 verbal forms), concentrated in the Psalter with God as the usual subject, and two Hiphil forms are attested (Isa 5:29; Mic 6:14). The Qal is disputed: Ezek 7:16 is the sole plausible candidate and is most likely a fossilized denominative built from the noun for a fugitive, while the Job 23:7 form is pointed as Piel. The live debate is whether the root is genuinely distinct from its near-twin מלט. Ruprecht (TLOT) treats them as interchangeable synonyms; Peter J. Williams (ZAW 2002), endorsed by Aitken and Davies of the SAHD project, argues on distributional grounds that פלט is goal-oriented ("arrival at safety," taking the preposition min only about 12% of the time, nominalizing profusely, and supplying a dense cluster of theophoric names), while מלט is source-oriented ("escape from," taking min about 69% of the time). Hasel (TDOT) takes a mediating position, distinguishing the concrete moment of extraction from the summary act of salvation. Etymologically the root is pan-Semitic (Arabic falata, Syriac and Jewish Aramaic plṭ, Ethiopic falaṭa "separate"), pointing to a Proto-Semitic sense "slip out, be extracted"; Job 21:10 (a cow calving) preserves that concrete physical background. The proposed link to Akkadian balāṭu "to live" is rejected on phonological grounds, its true West Semitic cognate being חיה (Marcus).

Where scholars disagree about palat

Whether this verb is genuinely distinct in meaning from its close Hebrew twin (another verb for escaping), or is simply a byform saying the same thing.

  • majorityThey differ in direction. This verb accents being brought out to safety, with God as the usual rescuer and a rich family of derived nouns and personal names, while its twin accents slipping away from danger. The difference shows in which prepositions each takes and in how each is used.; Peter J. Williams, "The Difference between the Roots mlṭ and plṭ," Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 114 (2002): 438-442; James K. Aitken and Graham I. Davies, Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (SAHD)
  • minorityThey are effectively interchangeable synonyms for escape and deliverance, with no meaningful difference between them.; E. Ruprecht, "פלט," in Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament (TLOT) 2:986-990
In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs), s.v. פלטlexicon
  • HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner), s.v. פלטlexicon
  • Gerhard F. Hasel, "פלט," in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (TDOT) 11:551-567dictionary
  • E. Ruprecht, "פלט," in Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament (TLOT) 2:986-990dictionary
  • Robert L. Hubbard Jr., "פלט," in New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis (NIDOTTE) 3:621-626dictionary
  • Peter J. Williams, "The Difference between the Roots mlṭ and plṭ," Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 114 (2002): 438-442article
  • John F. A. Sawyer, Semantics in Biblical Research (SCM Press, 1972)monograph
  • Hans-Joachim Kraus, Psalms: A Continental Commentary (1988-1989)commentary
  • David Marcus, "The Verb 'to Live' in Ugaritic," Journal of Semitic Studies 17 (1972)article

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

All attested forms of פָּלַט

piel participle m s construct

מְפַלְטִ, מְפַלְּטִ

2Sa 22:2, Psa 18:2, Psa 40:17, Psa 70:5, Psa 144:2, Psa 18:48

piel imperative 2ms

פַּלְּטֵ, פַּלְּטָ

Psa 31:1, Psa 71:4, Psa 17:13

piel imperfect 2ms

תְּפַלְּטֵ, תְּפַלֵּט

Psa 18:43, Psa 43:1, Mic 6:14

piel consecutive-imperfect 2ms

וַתְּפַלְּטֵ

2Sa 22:44, Psa 22:4

piel imperfect 3ms

יְפַלְּטֵ

Psa 22:8, Psa 37:40

hiphil conjunctive-imperfect 3ms

וְיַפְלִיט

Isa 5:29

hiphil imperfect 2ms

תַפְלִיט

Mic 6:14

piel cohortative 1cs

אֲפַלְּטָה

Job 23:7

piel conjunctive-imperfect 1cs

וַאֲפַלְּטֵ

Psa 91:14

piel conjunctive-imperfect 2ms

וּתְפַלְּטֵ

Psa 71:2

piel consecutive-imperfect 3ms

וַיְפַלְּטֵ

Psa 37:40

piel imperative 2mp

פַּלְּטוּ

Psa 82:4

piel imperfect 3fs

תְּפַלֵּט

Job 21:10

piel infinitive-construct construct

פַּלֶּט

Psa 56:7

qal consecutive-perfect 3cp

וּפָלְטוּ

Ezk 7:16