to spread out: to open something wide or stretch it flat across a space.
At its core this is the simple act of opening something out so that it covers more space than it did: a pair of hands, a bird's wings, a cloth, a net. One picture holds every use together, which is why a single Hebrew word does the work of several English ones.
What is being spread is what colors the meaning:
- Spread the open hands upward and you are praying or pleading.
- Spread wings and you are flying, or sheltering whatever is underneath.
- Spread a cloth and you are covering, hiding, or laying claim.
- Spread a net and you are setting a trap.
- Spread a scroll or a letter and you are laying it open to be read.
The word itself picks no tone, so the same gesture can be tender, as when a garment is spread over a woman to claim her in marriage, or deadly, as when a net is spread over a victim. A close relative of this verb, נָטָה, means to stretch out or extend in one direction, while this one is about opening something out to its full width.
Because the action is so vivid, the poets and prophets stretch it well past cloth and feathers. Light spreads around God, dawn spreads over the mountains, a fool spreads his folly for everyone to see, and God spreads a whole people out across the earth like the four winds. The senses below sort the occurrences by what is spread and to what end.
Nuances
Whether the verb in Micah 3:3, where the rulers treat the people like meat for a cooking pot, is this word meaning to spread out or the near-identical verb meaning to break something into pieces.
- contestedThe verb is this one, so the picture is flesh spread out ready for the pot.; HALOT, s.v. פרשׂ; David J. A. Clines, ed., The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (DCH), s.v. פרשׂ
- contestedThe verb here is the similar one meaning to break in pieces, so the rulers chop the people up for the cauldron.; BDB, s.v. פרשׂ
Whether the verb in Lamentations 4:4, where no one gives bread to the starving children, is this word meaning to spread out or the near-identical verb meaning to break bread.
- contestedThe verb is this one, so bread is spread out or held out to the children and nobody does it.; HALOT, s.v. פרשׂ
- contestedThe verb here is the similar one meaning to break bread for sharing, the wording used elsewhere for distributing food to the hungry.; BDB, s.v. פרשׂ