ba.qa describes splitting or opening materials and natural features, breaching defenses, and tearing bodies open.

The verb most often describes the splitting or opening of tangible things and natural features, including wood, waters, rocks, ground, and mountains. It also occurs for forcing an entry through a camp or city, for violently tearing open bodies, and for bursting forth or breaking open in images of fountains, light, and containers.

1. Split or divide physical things and terrain · dominant

   The term marks the cutting, division, or opening of material and landscape: in Genesis 22:3 the APB renders Abraham's preparation as splitting wood, while Exodus 14:16 places the imperative over the sea so Israel may pass through it. In Judges 15:19 the hollow place is opened and water comes out, and Zechariah 14:4 describes the mountain being split into two.

   Genesis 22:3Exodus 14:16Exodus 14:21Judges 15:19Isaiah 48:21Zechariah 14:4
2. Breach or break through an occupied place · common

   In military settings, the verb concerns gaining an opening or passage through defenses. In 2 Samuel 23:16 the three men break through the Philistine camp to draw water, while 2 Kings 25:4 and Jeremiah 52:7 describe the city as breached before the soldiers flee.

   2 Samuel 23:161 Chronicles 11:182 Kings 3:262 Kings 25:4Isaiah 7:6Jeremiah 52:7
3. Tear open bodies in violence · occasional

   Several clauses use the verb for destructive tearing of living bodies. In 2 Kings 8:12 the APB renders the predicted attack on pregnant women as being ripped open; Amos 1:13 gives the same action as the reason for judgment, and 2 Kings 2:24 places the action in the bears' attack on the youths.

   2 Kings 2:242 Kings 8:122 Kings 15:16Amos 1:13Hosea 13:8
4. Burst open or break forth · occasional

   The verb can portray an opening that releases what is within or signals rupture. Genesis 7:11 describes the fountains of the deep as bursting forth; Isaiah 35:6 has waters breaking forth in the wilderness; Job 32:19 compares inner pressure to wineskins ready to split open. Isaiah 58:8 applies the same opening image to light breaking forth like dawn.

   Genesis 7:11Isaiah 35:6Isaiah 58:8Job 32:19Proverbs 3:20Numbers 16:31

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB varies its wording among “split,” “divide,” “broke through,” “breached,” “ripped open,” and “break forth,” according to the verse's clause. These renderings indicate the scenes' overall presentation rather than a fixed English equivalent.