to purify
ba.rar describes being cleansed or refined, selected as choice, and prepared through processes such as winnowing or sharpening.
The most evident usage concerns cleansing or refinement: people, speech, and a “lip” are presented as pure, and Daniel describes a future process of being made spotless and refined. Other occurrences describe persons or animals as chosen or choice, while several clauses place the term in contexts of winnowing, preparing an arrow, or sharpening arrows.
Senses in use
-
Cleansed or refined condition · dominant
In Daniel 11:35 the infinitive occurs in the stated result of the wise stumbling, where the APB renders the sequence “refined, purified, and made white.” Daniel 12:10 uses an imperfect plural for many who will undergo that process; Isaiah 52:11 addresses those bearing the LORD’s vessels with an imperative, and Ezekiel 20:38 states that rebels will be removed from among the people.
-
Chosen or choice persons and provisions · common
The passive plural participles in 1 Chronicles 7:40 and 1 Chronicles 9:22 describe groups identified in the verse as “chosen,” while 1 Chronicles 16:41 likewise names persons designated for giving thanks. In Nehemiah 5:18, the feminine plural passive participle occurs in the daily provisions, which the APB calls “choice sheep.”
-
Preparing through winnowing or sharpening · occasional
Isaiah 49:2 calls the speaker a “purified arrow,” and Jeremiah 51:11 commands hearers to “Sharpen the arrows.” Jeremiah 4:11 explicitly contrasts the wind described there with activity “for winnowing and not for cleansing,” while Ecclesiastes 3:18 places the infinitive in God’s testing of humankind.
In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB presents the term with wording such as “refined,” “purified,” “pure,” “chosen,” “choice,” and “Sharpen,” depending on the verse’s clause. These renderings show the verse contexts rather than fixed one-to-one equivalents.