ba.ar describes a person lacking understanding, whether self-confessed or contrasted with knowledge and discipline.

The attested adjective describes deficient understanding: it is set against loving discipline and knowledge in Proverbs 12:1, confessed alongside having no understanding in Proverbs 30:2, and linked with not knowing in Psalm 73:22. Its specific contribution is less clear from the unaligned translation in Psalm 49:11 and Psalm 92:7.

1. Lacking understanding or discernment · dominant

   The masculine singular absolute adjective occurs where Proverbs 12:1 contrasts loving discipline and knowledge with hating argument; the APB renders the latter person as “stupid.” In Proverbs 30:2 the speaker says he has no understanding, and in Psalm 73:22 says he did not know and was like an animal; the APB renders these clauses “stupid” and “brutish.” The same adjective also occurs in Psalm 49:11 and Psalm 92:7, though the translation does not make its particular contribution identifiable there.

   Proverbs 12:1Proverbs 30:2Psalm 49:11Psalm 73:22Psalm 92:7

In the Anselm Project Bible: Where the clause is clear, the APB varies between “stupid” in Proverbs 12:1 and Proverbs 30:2 and “brutish” in Psalm 73:22. Psalm 49:11 and Psalm 92:7 do not isolate a corresponding English rendering.