Barren

Barren - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

For a woman to be barren was accounted a severe punishment among the Jews (Gen. 16:2; 30:1-23; 1 Sam. 1:6, 27; Isa. 47:9; 49:21; Luke 1:25). Instances of barrenness are noticed (Gen. 11:30; 25:21; 29:31; Judg. 13:2, 3; Luke 1:7, 36).

Barren - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

BAR'REN, a. [from the same root as bare.]

1. Not producing young, or offspring; applied to animals.

2. Not producing plants; unfruitful; steril; not fertile; or producing little; unproductive; applied to the earth.

3. Not producing the usual fruit; applied to tree,_c.

4. Not copious; scanty; as a scheme barren of hints.

5. Not containing useful or entertaining ideas; as a barren treatise.

6. Unmeaning; uninventive; dull; as barren spectators.

7. Unproductive; not inventive; as a barren mind.

BAR'REN, n. In the States west of the Allegheny, a word used to denote a tract of land, rising a few feet above the level of a plain, and producing trees and grass. The soil of these barrens is not barren, as the name imports, but often very fertile. It is usually alluvial, to a depth sometimes of several feet.

2. Any unproductive tract of land; as the pine barrens of South Carolina.

Barrenness - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

BAR'RENNESS, adv. The quality of not producing its kind; want of the power of conception; applied to animals.

2. Unfruitfulness; sterility, infertility. The quality of not producing at all, or in small quantities; as the barrenness of soil.

3. Want of invention; want of the power of producing any thing new; applied to the mind.

4. Want of matter; scantiness; as the barrenness of a cause.

5. Defect of emotion, sensibility or fervency; as the barrenness of devotion.

Dry - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

DRY, a. [See the Verb.]

1. Destitute of moisture; free from water or wetness; arid; not moist; as dry land; dry clothes.

2. Not rainy; free from rain or mist; as dry weather; a dry March or April.

3. Not juicy; free from juice, sap or aqueous matter; not green; as dry wood; dry stubble; dry hay; dry leaves.

4. Without tears; as dry eyes; dry mourning.

5. Not giving milk; as, the cow is dry.

6. Thirsty; craving drink.

7. Barren; jejune; plain; unembellished; destitute of pathos, or of that which amuses and interests; as a dry style; a dry subject; a dry discussion.

8. Severe; sarcastic; wiping; as a dry remark or repartee; a dry run.

9. Severe; wiping; as a dry blow; a dry basting. See the verb, which signifies properly to wipe, rub, scour.

10. Dry goods, in commerce, cloths, stuffs, silks, laces, ribbons, _c., in distinction from groceries.

DRY, v.t. [G., to dry, to wipe; Gr., L. See Dry. The primary sense is to wipe, rub, scour.]

1. To free from water, or from moisture of any kind, and by any means; originally by wiping, as to dry the eyes; to exsiccate.

2. To deprive of moisture by evaporation or exhalation; as, the sun dries a cloth; wind dries the earth.

3. To deprive of moisture by exposure to the sun or open air. We dry cloth in the sun.

4. To deprive of natural juice, sap or greenness; as, to dry hay or plants.

5. To scorch or parch with thirst; with up.

Their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. Isa 5.

6. To deprive of water by draining; to drain; to exhaust; as, to dry a meadow.

To dry up, to deprive wholly of water.

DRY, v.i.

1. To grow dry; to lose moisture; to become free from moisture or juice. The road dries fast in a clear windy day. Hay will dry sufficiently in two days.

2. To evaporate wholly; to be exhaled; sometimes with up; as, the stream dries or dries up.

bar'-en, (bar'-en-nes tsiyah; melehah; shakhol; `aqar; steiros; argos):

(1) Of land that bears no crop, either

(a) because it is naturally poor and sterile: tsiyah "dry" (Joe 2:20), melechah, "salt" (Job 39:6 the King James Version), shakhol, "miscarrying" (2Ki 2:19,21), or

(b) because it is, under God's curse, turned into a melechah or salt desert, for the wickedness of the people that dwell therein (Ps 107:34 the King James Version; compare Ge 3:17,18).

(2) Of females that bear no issue: `aqar: Sarah (Ge 11:30); Rebekah (Ge 25:21); Rachel (Ge 29:31); Manoah's wife (Jud 13:2,3); Hannah (1Sa 2:5); steiros: Elisabeth (Lu 1:7,36).

In Israel and among oriental peoples generally barrenness was a woman's and a family's greatest misfortune. The highest sanctions of religion and patriotism blessed the fruitful woman, because children were necessary for the perpetuation of the tribe and its religion. It is significant that the mothers of the Hebrew race, Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel, were by nature sterile, and therefore God's special intervention shows His particular favor to Israel. Fruitfulness was God's special blessing to His people (Ex 23:26; De 7:14; Ps 113:9). A complete family is an emblem of beauty (So 4:2; 6:6). Metaphorically, Israel, in her days of adversity, when her children were exiled, was barren, but in her restoration she shall rejoice in many children (Isa 54:1; Ga 4:27). The utter despair and terror of the destruction of Jerusalem could go no farther than that the barren should be called blessed (Lu 23:29).

(3) Argos is translated in the King James Version "barren," but in the Revised Version (British and American) more accurately "idle" (2Pe 1:8).

T. Rees

Definition

To be “barren” means to not be fertile or fruitful.

• Soil or land that is barren is not able to produce any plants.
• A woman who is barren is one who is physically unable to conceive or bear a child.

Translation Suggestions

• When “barren” is used to refer to land, it could be translated as “not fertile” or “unfruitful” or “without plants.”
• When it is referring to a barren woman, it could be translated as “childless” or “not able to bear children” or “unable to conceive a child.”

Bible References

• 1 Samuel 2:5
• Galatians 4:27
• Genesis 11:30
• Job 3:7

Word Data

• Strong’s: H4420, H6115, H6135, H6723, H7921, G06920, G47230