to scatter
puts describes people or things being driven apart, dispersed across places, or spread outward from a former gathering.
The verb most often describes peoples being dispersed from their land or gathering and spread among nations, lands, or the wider earth. It also marks troops, followers, or residents breaking apart, and in a smaller set of clauses extends to arrows, light, wind, anger, mountains, or other forces spread outward.
Senses in use
-
Dispersing peoples among lands and nations · dominant
This use concerns a people no longer together in one place but scattered among wider regions. In Deuteronomy 4:27 the APB renders the clause “The LORD will scatter you among the peoples,” while Ezekiel 36:19 places the dispersal “among the nations” and “throughout the lands”; the passive forms in Ezekiel 11:17 and Ezekiel 28:25 describe people as those who were scattered before being gathered.
-
Breaking up an assembled group · common
The term can describe people separating from a leader, a city, or one another rather than remaining as a gathered body. In 1 Samuel 11:11 the APB renders survivors as “scattered so that no two of them remained together”; in 2 Samuel 20:22, after the trumpet is blown, “the people dispersed from the city, each man to his tents.”
-
Spreading forces or objects outward · occasional
Several clauses apply the verb beyond human groups to something sent or spread abroad. In Job 37:11 the APB renders the clause “he scatters his light,” and Job 40:11 directs the hearer to “Scatter the fury of your anger”; Isaiah 41:16 likewise depicts an object scattered and carried by wind.
In the Anselm Project Bible: Across these verses, the APB commonly uses “scattered” and “dispersed,” and sometimes describes the result as troops who “deserted” or people who went “each man to his tents.” These are verse-level renderings rather than fixed word-for-word equivalents.