StrongerBible

palas

פָּלַס

HebrewH6424“make level, ponder, ...”

Appears 6 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Psa 58:2(3)Psa 78:50Pro 4:26Pro 5:6Pro 5:21Isa 26:7
Root family
Word studyResearch-gradepah-LAHSverb

What palas means

to bring something to true level, as a balance beam or a builder's level does: to grade a path smooth, or to weigh a thing out and size it up

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyContested

Picture a straight bar that has to come to rest perfectly horizontal before the work counts as finished: the beam of a merchant's scale, or a builder's level. Hebrew had a noun for that instrument (פֶּלֶס), and this verb is what a person does with one. Its core idea is bringing something to true level.

What that comes to in practice depends on what the verb is acting on. The object chooses the sense:

  • With a road or a track, the work is grading: take out the dips and clear the way.
  • With something handed over, the work is trade: deal it out by weight on the beam.
  • With a person's steps under God's eye, the work is appraisal: take the measure of a life.

English keeps those three jobs in separate vocabularies, which is why translators have never settled on one word here. The oldest Greek and Latin translators did not try. They chose a different verb for nearly every verse, saying "make straight" in one place, "scrutinize" in another, "build a road" in a third. Modern versions do much the same. The unity a Hebrew reader felt lives in the picture, not in any single rendering.

The word belongs to elevated poetry and teaching. Four of its six appearances are in Proverbs, and none are in narrative, which suits a book whose governing image is life as a road that either has been prepared or has not. The verb names both halves of that image: what a wise person does about his own path, and what God does about everyone's.

Nuances

1ato grade a path level and smooth, clearing the way ahead
TranslatabilityApproximate
Psa 78:50Pro 4:26Pro 5:6Isa 26:7
Pro 5:6

Proverbs 5:6: who the subject is (the son or the wayward woman) and whether תְּפַלֵּס means "make level, mark out," "ponder," or "travel upon."

  • majorityThe woman is the subject and the verb means marking out or leveling (Waltke: "lest she should make level the path of life"; Clifford: "she does not survey the path"), the reading behind most modern versions. It requires taking פֶּן as an effective negation, a grammatically strained move.; B. K. Waltke, The Book of Proverbs: Chapters 1-15 (NICOT), on 5:6; R. J. Clifford, Proverbs (OTL), on 5:6
  • minorityThe son is the subject and the verb means pondering or weighing up: "lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life." This keeps פֶּן in its ordinary sense.; Rashi, Commentary on Proverbs, on 5:6; Ibn Ezra, Commentary on Proverbs, on 5:6
  • minorityThe verb denotes movement along a leveled path: "she does not tread the way of life." This is how the Septuagint (ἐπέρχεται) and the Vulgate resolved the line.; A. S. Peake (ed.), Peake's Commentary on the Bible, on Proverbs 5:6
1bto weigh a thing out and deal it out by measure
TranslatabilityApproximate
Psa 58:2(3)
1cto weigh up a person's course of life, taking its measure
Pro 5:21
Pro 5:21

Proverbs 5:21: whether מְפַלֵּס with YHWH as subject means "examines, weighs" a person's tracks or keeps the sense "makes level, ordains" them.

  • majority"Examines, weighs, watches": with human conduct as the object the verb shifts to appraisal, as the ancient versions took it (Septuagint σκοπεύει, Vulgate considerat) and as most modern versions render it.; B. K. Waltke, The Book of Proverbs: Chapters 1-15 (NICOT), on 5:21; R. J. Clifford, Proverbs (OTL), on 5:21; BDB, s.v. פלס
  • minority"Makes level": the verb keeps one sense across the book, and God smooths or ordains human paths, supported by the parallel claim of Proverbs 16:9 that the LORD directs a person's steps.; M. V. Fox, Proverbs 1-9 (AYB 18A), on 5:21

What scholars say about palas

Every major lexicon treats פלס as ONE root rather than two homonyms. BDB (814) lists a single Piel verb with the two sub-senses "weigh out" and "make level, smooth," and calls it denominative from the noun פֶּלֶס "balance, scale"; HALOT keeps the same unified lemma with fuller comparative material; DCH (VI) is more expansive and admits non-biblical attestations. TDOT and TLOT carry no dedicated article, treating פֶּלֶס only in passing under מאזנים. Jenni (Das hebräische Piel, 1968) supplies the rationale: a Piel formed from a concrete noun means bringing something into the state the noun denotes, so a Piel of פֶּלֶס naturally covers both weighing on a balance and rendering a surface as level as a balance beam. Klein (A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language) reverses the derivation, treating "to level, to smooth" as the biblical base and tagging the verb's "balance" sense as post-biblical. Cognate support is thinner than often advertised: Akkadian palasu means "to look at, inspect" (CAD P 47-56), and Tawil's attempt (An Akkadian Lexical Companion for Biblical Hebrew, 2009) to leverage it for the KJV's "ponder" at Proverbs 4:26 and 5:6 is generally judged weak; palasu with shin, "pierce, bore," corresponds to Hebrew פלש; Arabic falasa "become bankrupt" is unrelated. The useful comparanda are Northwest Semitic: Phoenician פלס Piel "make level (?)" in proper names (cited by BDB), Jewish Aramaic פלס covering "level, straighten, weigh, ponder," and Jastrow (1142) on פולסא, a metal disc used as an uncoined weight. On individual verses the modern consensus reads Proverbs 4:26, Psalm 78:50 (English) and Isaiah 26:7 as road leveling (Toy ICC 1899; Fox AYB; Waltke NICOT; Clifford OTL; Longman; Murphy WBC; Plöger BKAT), with LXX ὀρθὰς τροχιὰς ποίει at Proverbs 4:26 (quoted at Hebrews 12:13) and ὡδοποίησεν at Psalm 78:50 decisive for antiquity. Proverbs 5:21 divides Fox, who holds the leveling sense throughout by appeal to Proverbs 16:9, from the majority who follow LXX σκοπεύει and Vulgate considerat toward "examine, weigh." Proverbs 5:6 remains a crux of both subject and sense, with פן read as an effective negation by most modern versions and LXX ἐπέρχεται reading movement upon a path. Psalm 58:2 (English; Hebrew 58:3) is the sole verse where context requires "weigh out": Alter notes the psalm's Hebrew is badly damaged, and BDB tentatively follows Baethgen, Kautzsch and Wellhausen in emending toward a feminine plural agreeing with "your hands," while Hossfeld and Zenger (Hermeneia), Kraus, Tate (WBC) and Goldingay retain the judicial weighing metaphor; LXX συμπλέκουσιν ("weave, contrive") leaves no trace of weighing. The distribution is notable: four of the eight tokens of the root stand in Proverbs and all are poetic or didactic, with none in narrative, which suggests an elevated wisdom term. Job 37:16 מפלשי־עב belongs to פלש with sin, not to פלס, and parallels מפרשי־עב at Job 36:29 ("spreadings of the clouds").

Where scholars disagree about palas

Whether the verb carries one uniform sense across all six occurrences or shifts sense according to its object.

  • majorityContextual polysemy: the verb means "make level" where a path is the object and "weigh out, examine" where goods or human conduct are, so the same word is rendered two ways even within one chapter of Proverbs. The ancient versions (Septuagint, Vulgate, Peshitta) already translated it this way.; B. K. Waltke, The Book of Proverbs: Chapters 1-15 (NICOT); R. J. Clifford, Proverbs (OTL); BDB, s.v. פלס, 814
  • minorityOne sense throughout, "make level": even in Proverbs 5:21 God levels or ordains human paths rather than examining them, and consistency should be preserved across the book.; M. V. Fox, Proverbs 1-9 (Anchor Yale Bible 18A)
  • minorityOne sense throughout, "weigh, ponder, examine priorities": the verb is built on the noun for a balance and means weighing in every occurrence, with the road image left implicit.; Rashi, Commentary on Proverbs; and on Bavli Moed Qatan 9a; Ibn Ezra, Commentary on Proverbs

Which pole of the root is original: is the verb formed from the noun for a balance (so weighing is basic), or is leveling the base sense from which the noun was coined as an instrument name?

  • majorityThe verb is formed from the noun פֶּלֶס "balance, scale," so the weighing sense is basic and the leveling sense is an extension of it.; BDB, s.v. פלס, 814; HALOT, s.v. פלס
  • minority"To level, to smooth" is the base sense in Biblical Hebrew, and the verb's "to balance, weigh" sense is a post-biblical development, which implies the noun was coined as the name of the thing that levels.; E. Klein, A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language, s.v. פלס
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, s.v. פלס, 814lexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. פלסlexicon
  • DCH (D. J. A. Clines, ed.), vol. VI, s.v. פלסlexicon
  • E. Klein, A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language, s.v. פלסlexicon
  • E. Jenni, Das hebräische Piʿel (1968)monograph
  • M. V. Fox, Proverbs 1-9 (Anchor Yale Bible 18A, 2000)commentary
  • B. K. Waltke, The Book of Proverbs: Chapters 1-15 (NICOT, 2004)commentary
  • R. J. Clifford, Proverbs (OTL, 1999)commentary
  • C. H. Toy, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Proverbs (ICC, 1899)commentary
  • F.-L. Hossfeld and E. Zenger, Psalms 2 (Hermeneia, 2005), on Psalm 58commentary
  • M. E. Tate, Psalms 51-100 (WBC 20)commentary
  • R. Alter, The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary (2007), on Psalm 58commentary
  • J. Blenkinsopp, Isaiah 1-39 (Anchor Yale Bible 19, 2000)commentary
  • J. N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 1-39 (NICOT)commentary
  • H. Tawil, An Akkadian Lexical Companion for Biblical Hebrew (2009)monograph
  • The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago (CAD), P, 47-62lexicon
  • M. Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, 1142lexicon

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

All attested forms of פָּלַס

piel imperfect 2ms

תְּפַלֵּס

Pro 5:6, Isa 26:7

piel imperative 2ms

פַּלֵּס

Pro 4:26

piel imperfect 2mp

תְּפַלֵּסוּ

Psa 58:2

piel imperfect 3ms

יְפַלֵּס

Psa 78:50

piel participle m s absolute

מְפַלֵּס

Pro 5:21