Lexical Summary
palat: To deliver, to rescue, to escape
Original Word:פָלַט
Part of Speech:Verb
Transliteration:palat
Pronunciation:pah-LAHT
Phonetic Spelling:(paw-lat')
KJV: calve, carry away safe, deliver, (cause to) escape
NASB:deliver, deliverer, delivered, delivers, rescue, preserve, calves
Word Origin:[a primitive root]
1. to slip out, i.e. escape
2. causatively, to deliver
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
calve, carry away safe, deliver, cause to escape
A primitive root; to slip out, i.e. Escape; causatively, to deliver -- calve, carry away safe, deliver, (cause to) escape.
NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Origina prim. root
Definitionto escape
NASB Translationcalves (1), carries it off (1), deliver (5), delivered (4), deliverer (5), delivers (3), escape (1), preserve (2), rescue (3).
Brown-Driver-Briggs
[] (Late Hebrew
id.; Phoenician in proper name; Arabic
IV
escape, Vulgar Arabic
; Old Aramaic Pa`el
rescue, Syriac
); —
Perfect3plural consecutiveEzekiel 7:16and (if) escapers of themescape).
Imperfect3masculine singular suffix ; 2 masculine singularMicah 6:14, etc.;Imperative masculine singularPsalm 17:13, etc.;Participle suffixPsalm 18:3 +; —
bring into securityMicah 6:14; especially of ,deliver, with accusative of person,Psalm 22:5;Psalm 22:9;Psalm 31:2;Psalm 37:40;Psalm 71:2 (+ ),Psalm 82:4;Psalm 91:14; +from2 Samuel 22:44 =Psalm 18:44;Psalm 18:49 ( ""2 Samuel 22:49),2 Samuel 17:13; 2Sam 37:40; 2Sam 43:1; 2Sam 71:4; participle with suffix,my deliverer2 Samuel 22:2 =Psalm 18:3;Psalm 40:18;Psalm 70:6;Psalm 144:2.
cause to escape, cast forth, of cow calvingJob 21:10 (compare []
, alsovomit out, and so
).
be delivered, withJob 23:7, but dubious; Bu
('perhaps'); Du read as object (but elsewhere subject of ).
bring into security; Imperfect3masculine singularIsaiah 5:29 of Assyria, under figure of lion, carrying off prey (opposed to ); 2 masculine singularMicah 6:14 (compare
).
Topical Lexicon
OverviewThe root פָלַט (palat) gathers around it the idea of being made spaciously safe—rescued from threat, extricated from distress, and set in a place of freedom. Whether applied to livestock spared from disease (Job 21:10) or to the soul ransomed from death (Psalm 22:4), the verb consistently presents the LORD as the decisive agent of escape. Every usage presumes both danger and divine intervention; no context allows room for self-salvation.
Historical Narrative
2 Samuel 22, David’s thanksgiving psalm embedded in the historical books, introduces the root twice (22:2, 44). The king testifies, “The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer” (22:2). Forty-two verses later he adds, “You have delivered me from the strife of my people” (22:44). The term therefore brackets the song, framing all intervening victories as expressions of the same covenant deliverance inaugurated at David’s anointing. The Chronicler will later reuse the Psalm with only minor alterations, reinforcing the root’s attachment to Israel’s royal hope.
Davidic Psalms: From Personal Peril to Corporate Assurance
The verb appears ten additional times in the superscribed Psalms of David (Psalms 17; 18; 22; 31; 40; 70; 144). Each text moves from personal plea to public witness, demonstrating how individual faith under pressure matures into communal liturgy. Typical isPsalm 70:5: “You are my helper and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay.” Here urgency is met with the confession that rescue belongs to God alone, a theme echoed inPsalm 144:2, where the Deliverer is also “my loving devotion … and my shield.”
Psalm 22 links past deliverance to future Messianic hope. Verse 4 recalls the patriarchs: “In You our fathers trusted; they trusted and You delivered them.” The sufferer therefore prays within a historical continuum that will climax in the cross, where ultimate deliverance is accomplished.
Wisdom Literature: Deliverance and the Righteous Sufferer
Job 23:7 longs for a legal acquittal: “There the upright can reason with Him, and I would be delivered forever from my Judge.” The yearning anticipates the gospel declaration that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). In contrast,Job 21:10 uses the verb negatively—no one rescues the wicked man’s cow from calving disaster—highlighting the ironic prosperity of the godless and intensifying Job’s protest.
Psalm 37:40 sets wisdom’s conclusion: “The LORD will help and deliver them … because they take refuge in Him.” Deliverance is thus the divinely guaranteed outcome of righteous trust, even when deferred.
Prophetic Usage: Judgment When No Deliverer Comes
Isaiah 5:29 portrays invading armies that “carry it away with no one to rescue it.”Ezekiel 7:16 andMicah 6:14 twice threaten that sinners will not be delivered. Here פָלַט functions rhetorically; what covenant faith might claim is deliberately withheld. The absence of deliverance exposes the futility of false security and calls the remnant to repentance.
Covenant and Kingship
Repeatedly the verb stands in parallel with “save,” “help,” and “redeem,” yet it retains a nuance of widening space. The delivered person is not merely snatched from peril but brought into liberty. David testifies, “He delivers me from my enemies … You rescue me from the violent man” (Psalm 18:48). The move from turmoil to “broad place” (Psalm 18:19) anticipates the kingdom’s peace under David’s greater Son.
Messianic Fulfillment
Psalm 22, cited above, and the broader Davidic pattern locate ultimate deliverance in the Messiah. The resurrection of Jesus Christ vindicates the righteous sufferer and supplies the definitive escape from sin, death, and wrath. New Testament writers employ ῥύομαι (“deliver”) in explicit continuity (Colossians 1:13;1 Thessalonians 1:10), echoing the Hebrew verb’s saving trajectory.
Pastoral and Ministry Implications
1. Assurance in Prayer: Believers may invoke the same covenant Deliverer, anchoring petitions in the character revealed from David to Christ.
2. Proclamation: Gospel preaching should present salvation not as self-improvement but as divine rescue—from guilt, from bondage, and from final judgment.
3. Discipleship: The spaciousness inherent in פָלַט urges churches to disciple converts into the freedom for which they were liberated (Galatians 5:1).
4. Social Concern:Psalm 82:4 commands, “Rescue the weak and needy; save them from the hand of the wicked.” Ministries of justice mirror God’s own delivering activity.
Related Terms
While יָשַׁע emphasizes salvation broadly and נָצַל stresses snatching away, פָלַט accents the transition into open safety. Its association with fortresses, rocks, and high places in the Psalms underscores stability after escape.
Summary
פָלַט unfurls a theology of deliverance that spans the Old Testament and finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Whether celebrated by a shepherd-king, cried by a suffering patriarch, or withheld in prophetic judgment, the word insists that true safety is the gracious act of the LORD alone.
Forms and Transliterations
וְיַפְלִ֖יט וַֽיְפַ֫לְּטֵ֥ם וַֽתְּפַלְּטֵ֔נִי וַֽתְּפַלְּטֵֽמוֹ׃ וַאֲפַלְּטֵ֑הוּ וַאֲפַלְּטָ֥ה וּֽמְפַלְטִ֫י וּֽתְפַלְּטֵ֑נִי וּמְפַ֫לְטִ֥י וּמְפַלְטִ֣י וּמְפַלְטִי־ וּפָֽלְטוּ֙ ואפלטה ואפלטהו ויפלטם ויפליט ומפלטי ומפלטי־ ופלטו ותפלטמו׃ ותפלטני יְפַלְּטֵ֑הוּ יְפַלְּטֵ֣ם יפלטהו יפלטם מְפַלְּטִ֗י מפלטי פַּ֭לְּטֵנִי פַּלְּטָ֥ה פַּלְּטוּ־ פַלְּטֵֽנִי׃ פלטה פלטו־ פלטני פלטני׃ תְּפַלְּטֵנִי֮ תְּפַלֵּ֖ט תְּפַלֵּ֥ט תְפַלְּטֵֽנִי׃ תַפְלִ֔יט תפלט תפלטני תפלטני׃ תפליט falleTeni mə·p̄al·lə·ṭî mefalleTi məp̄alləṭî pal·lə·ṭāh pal·lə·ṭê·nî p̄al·lə·ṭê·nî pal·lə·ṭū- palleTah palləṭāh Palleteni palləṭênî p̄alləṭênî palletu palləṭū- tafLit ṯap̄·lîṭ ṯap̄lîṭ tə·p̄al·lə·ṭê·nî ṯə·p̄al·lə·ṭê·nî tə·p̄al·lêṭ tefalLet tefalleteNi təp̄allêṭ təp̄alləṭênî ṯəp̄alləṭênî ū·mə·p̄al·ṭî ū·mə·p̄al·ṭî- ū·p̄ā·lə·ṭū ū·ṯə·p̄al·lə·ṭê·nî ufalTu umefalti ūməp̄alṭî ūməp̄alṭî- ūp̄āləṭū utefalleTeni ūṯəp̄alləṭênî vaafalleTah vaafalleTehu vattefalletemo vattefalleTeni vayFalleTem veyafLit wa’ăp̄alləṭāh wa’ăp̄alləṭêhū wa·’ă·p̄al·lə·ṭāh wa·’ă·p̄al·lə·ṭê·hū wat·tə·p̄al·lə·ṭê·mōw wat·tə·p̄al·lə·ṭê·nî wattəp̄alləṭêmōw wattəp̄alləṭênî way·p̄al·lə·ṭêm wayp̄alləṭêm wə·yap̄·lîṭ wəyap̄lîṭ yə·p̄al·lə·ṭê·hū yə·p̄al·lə·ṭêm yefalleTehu yefalleTem yəp̄alləṭêhū yəp̄alləṭêm
Links
Interlinear Greek •
Interlinear Hebrew •
Strong's Numbers •
Englishman's Greek Concordance •
Englishman's Hebrew Concordance •
Parallel Texts
