---
title: בֹּר — lye · The Tanakh dictionary
description: בֹּר (1253), a word of Biblical Hebrew, used 2 times: lye. BDB 1906: n.m. lye, potash. With 2 verses in Hebrew, word for word and JPS 1917.
---

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# בֹּר

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«בֹּר» in the Tanakh dictionary: **lye** — how often it is used, MACULA's glosses, its meanings in the printed dictionaries and why they were chosen, and 2 verses in layers.

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**Used:** 2 times · **Key:** 1253 · **BDB:** בֹּר

### Glosses

potash (2)

### Meaning (OSHB)

lye [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1489/1253/#m1)

### Meaning (BDB 1906)

n.m. lye, potash [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1489/1253/#m2)

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**The whole BDB entry:** n.m. lye, potash, alkali used in smelting metals Is 1:25; Jb 9:30 (see בֹּרִית. Is 1:25 read prob. כַּכֻּר as in a furnace (Is 48:10); there seems no evidence that ‘lye’ (i.e. water mixed with the burnt ashes of plants containing potash, used formerly for washing) was ever used in refining gold or silver: cf. J. NapierAnc. Workers in Metal (1856), 15, 20, 25 WAW in SmithDB ii, 368; Amer. Rev. Ed. (1871, vol. iii), 1939.

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Why these entries: BDB: headword, part of speech agrees, 2 of its verses cited, 1 words shared with the glosses, lists its Strong's number (17 candidates); OSHB: headword, part of speech agrees, 1 words shared with the BDB entry, 0 with the glosses (10 candidates)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every English meaning of «בֹּר» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/tanakh/1489/1253/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.

### In the verses

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[Job 9:30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/JOB.9.30/)

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אִם־הִתְרָחַ֥צְתִּי בְמֵי־שָׁ֑לֶג וַ֝הֲזִכּ֗וֹתִי בְּבֹ֣ר כַּפָּֽי׃

*Word for word:* if I.washed.myself in water of.snow and I.cleansed with potash palms my

*JPS 1917:* If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;

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[Isaiah 1:25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/ISA.1.25/)

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וְאָשִׁ֤יבָה יָדִי֙ עָלַ֔יִךְ וְאֶצְרֹ֥ף כַּבֹּ֖ר סִיגָ֑יִךְ וְאָסִ֖ירָה כָּל־בְּדִילָֽיִךְ׃

*Word for word:* and I.will.turn hand my on you and I.will.refine like (the) potash dross(es) your and I.will.remove all slag(s) your

*JPS 1917:* And I will turn My hand upon thee, and purge away thy dross as with lye, and will take away all thine alloy;

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