Lexical Summary
parah: cows, cow
Original Word:פָרָה
Part of Speech:Noun Feminine
Transliteration:parah
Pronunciation:pah-RAH
Phonetic Spelling:(paw-raw')
KJV: cow, heifer, kine
NASB:cows, cow
Word Origin:[feminine ofH6499 (פַּר פָּר - bull)]
1. a heifer
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
cow, heifer, kine
Feminine ofpar; a heifer -- cow, heifer, kine.
see HEBREWpar
NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Originfrom the same as
parDefinitiona heifer, cow
NASB Translationcow (2), cows (18).
Brown-Driver-Briggs
I.
26 ; — absolute
Isaiah 11:7 +; suffix
Job 21:10; plural
Genesis 32:16 +,
Genesis 41:26; construct
Amos 4:1; — as gift
Genesis 32:16; in Pharaoh's dream
Genesis 41:2;
Genesis 14:3 (twice in verse) + 8 t. 41; drawing cart
1 Samuel 6:7,12,14 + v7.10
cows giving suck,,milch cows; calving
Job 21:10, grazing
Isaiah 11:7;
red heiferNumbers 19:2 compare
Numbers 19:5.6.9.10; simile of stubbornness
Hosea 4:16;
Amos 4:1, figurative of luxurious woman.
Topical Lexicon
Overview of OccurrencesThe term פָּרָה appears roughly twenty-six times across the Old Testament and consistently denotes a young female bovine—usually one that has not yet known the yoke. Its settings range from patriarchal narratives (Genesis 32:15), legal statutes (Numbers 19;Deuteronomy 21), historical accounts (1 Samuel 6;1 Samuel 16:2), wisdom literature (Job 21:10), to prophetic and poetic imagery (Jeremiah 46:20;Hosea 4:16). The word thus moves easily between literal livestock management and richly layered theological symbolism.
Agricultural and Economic Context
In the ancient Near East, a heifer represented both present wealth and future productivity. Jacob’s gift to Esau—“thirty cows and ten bulls” (Genesis 32:15)—highlights the animal’s value in reconciliation diplomacy. Job likewise measures prosperity by noting that “their cow calves and does not miscarry” (Job 21:10), a snapshot of agricultural blessing that his accusers assume indicates divine favor. These passages remind readers that the covenant community’s daily life depended on healthy herds and therefore on the LORD who “makes grass grow for the livestock” (Psalm 104:14).
Covenantal and Sacrificial Functions
1.Genesis 15:9 records the first sacrificial mention: “Bring Me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old….” The divided carcasses signal a covenant ratified by God alone, foreshadowing unilateral grace.
2. When Samuel feared Saul, the LORD provided a cover story: “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD’” (1 Samuel 16:2). Here the animal facilitates the anointing of David, the royal ancestor of Messiah.
3. Twice in1 Samuel 6 (verses 7 and 10), Philistines employ “two milk cows that have never been yoked” to carry the ark back to Israel. The heifers, unaccustomed to a cart, dramatically testify that YHWH Himself directs their path, vindicating His glory among the nations.
The Heifer in the Purification Ritual (Numbers 19)
The ordinance of the red heifer stands unique in the Torah. A flawless animal, “without blemish or defect and that has never been under a yoke” (Numbers 19:2), is slaughtered outside the camp; its ashes mixed with water become a cleansing agent for those defiled by death (Numbers 19:9). The paradox—an offering that renders the pure impure and the impure pure—anticipates the substitutionary work of Christ, “who suffered outside the gate to sanctify the people by His own blood” (Hebrews 13:12). Early church writers saw in the red heifer’s ashes a type of the efficacious, once-for-all sacrifice of the Savior.
The Heifer in the Unsolved Murder Rite (Deuteronomy 21)
When a corpse is found in open country and the killer remains unknown, the nearest city’s elders must take “a heifer that has never been yoked” (21:3), break its neck in an uncultivated valley, and publicly wash their hands, declaring, “Our hands did not shed this blood” (21:6-7). The ritual underscores communal responsibility for innocent blood and prefigures the gospel truth that sin’s pollution demands vicarious atonement. The land is thereby protected from guilt (21:8-9), echoing the later cry, “Cleanse me… and I will be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:7).
Prophetic and Poetic Imagery
• Hosea depicts Israel as “a stubborn heifer” (Hosea 4:16) and “a trained heifer that loves to thresh” (Hosea 10:11), exposing the nation’s preference for easy reward over covenant obedience.
• Jeremiah ridicules pagan arrogance: “Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly from the north is coming” (Jeremiah 46:20); and again of Babylon’s swaggering soldiers, “you frolic like a heifer treading grain” (Jeremiah 50:11). Such metaphors harness the animal’s strength and fertility to portray national pride destined for judgment.
• Samson’s rebuke, “If you had not plowed with my heifer…” (Judges 14:18), turns the image to domestic betrayal, illustrating how sacred trust can be violated from within.
Theological Implications
1. Innocence and Immediacy: An unyoked heifer symbolizes untouched potential—befitting offerings that must be wholly given to God without prior human claim (Numbers 19;Deuteronomy 21).
2. Substitution and Cleansing: Both red-heifer ash and broken-neck heifer confer ceremonial purity on guilty or defiled people, directing faith toward a greater, once-for-all Substitute.
3. Warning and Comfort: Prophetic use alternately rebukes stubbornness (Hosea 4:16) and assures God’s sovereignty over nations (Jeremiah 46:20). The heifer becomes a living sermon: power uncontrolled courts disaster; power surrendered to God brings blessing.
Practical Ministry Application
• Preaching and Teaching: The red heifer offers a vivid Old Testament lens for explainingHebrews 9:13-14, where Christ’s blood “will cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve the living God.”
• Pastoral Care: Community accountability manifested inDeuteronomy 21 encourages modern congregations to guard against anonymous injustices and to pursue corporate repentance when sin becomes evident.
• Discipleship: Hosea’s contrast between the trained heifer’s willingness to thresh and its reluctance to plow challenges believers to embrace both the pleasurable and arduous aspects of serving Christ.
Conclusion
From covenant inauguration to prophetic admonition, the heifer motif threads through Scripture as a multifaceted witness: creation’s good gift, sacrificial substitute, moral mirror, and messianic shadow. Each occurrence calls God’s people to remember that the same Lord who owns “the cattle on a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10) also provides the perfect sacrifice that cleanses every conscience and reconciles a guilty world to Himself.
Forms and Transliterations
הַ֠פָּרוֹת הַ֨פָּר֔וֹת הַפָּר֔וֹת הַפָּר֖וֹת הַפָּר֗וֹת הַפָּר֛וֹת הַפָּר֜וֹת הַפָּרָ֔ה הַפָּרָ֖ה הַפָּרָֽה׃ הַפָּרָה֙ הַפָּרוֹת֙ הפרה הפרה׃ הפרות וּפָרָ֤ה ופרה כְּפָרָ֣ה כפרה פָּ֝רָת֗וֹ פָּר֔וֹת פָּר֣וֹת פָּר֤וֹת פָּרֹ֣ת פָרָ֨ה פָרוֹת֙ פרה פרות פרת פרתו faRah farOt hap·pā·rāh hap·pā·rō·wṯ happaRah happārāh happaRot happārōwṯ kə·p̄ā·rāh kefaRah kəp̄ārāh pā·rā·ṯōw p̄ā·rāh pā·rō·wṯ p̄ā·rō·wṯ pā·rōṯ p̄ārāh paraTo pārāṯōw paRot pārōṯ pārōwṯ p̄ārōwṯ ū·p̄ā·rāh ufaRah ūp̄ārāh
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