To dash in pieces, literally or figuratively (especially to disperse )
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H6327 is a Hebrew verb for scattering, dispersing, spreading abroad, driving apart, or breaking into pieces. Ezekiel 11:16 addresses people scattered among nations and says that the Lord has been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they live, acknowledging displacement without declaring God absent.
Reader summary
Full entry for פּוּץ (H6327) · Open the biblical lexicon
H6327 is a Hebrew verb for scattering, dispersing, spreading abroad, driving apart, or breaking into pieces. Ezekiel 11:16 addresses people scattered among nations and says that the Lord has been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they live, acknowledging displacement without declaring God absent.
The BSB source-word alignment has 67 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include and scatter (4), scattered (4), they were scattered (4), will scatter (4), I will disperse (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 10:18. Its strongest book concentrations include Ezekiel (19), Jeremiah (10), Genesis (5), Job (5).
H6327 is a Hebrew verb for scattering, dispersing, spreading abroad, driving apart, or breaking into pieces. Ezekiel 11:16 addresses people scattered among nations and says that the Lord has been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they live, acknowledging displacement without declaring God absent. Deuteronomy 30:3 promises compassion and gathering from the nations after covenant scattering.
First Kings 22:17 pictures Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd after the king's coming defeat. Other texts describe troops deserting, enemies routed, people searching widely, nations dispersed in judgment, and streams spread into public places. H6327 opens exile, diaspora, failed leadership, distributed presence, judgment, and gathering hope.
It corrects the assumption that geographical dispersion means spiritual abandonment and the opposite claim that every scattering is a divinely endorsed mission rather than sometimes the result of war, oppression, covenant failure, or leadership collapse.
H6327 describes movement outward and apart: people scatter, armies disperse, clans spread, enemies are routed, objects shatter, or resources flow abroad. Agent, cause, and result distinguish ordinary distribution, fearful flight, violent fragmentation, exile, and judged dispersion.
Therefore declare that this is what the Lord God says: ‘Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries to which they have gone.’
God addresses exiles scattered among countries and promises to be a sanctuary for them there for a time.
Then He will restore you from captivity and have compassion on you and gather you from all the nations to which the Lord your God has scattered you.
Moses promises that God will have compassion and gather His people from the nations where they were scattered.
So Micaiah declared: “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘These people have no master; let each one return home in peace.’”
Micaiah sees Israel scattered like sheep without a shepherd after the doomed royal campaign.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Violent scattering or breaking apart—whether physical destruction or metaphorical dispersal of people, cohesion, or purpose.
Violent scattering or breaking apart—whether physical destruction or metaphorical dispersal of people, cohesion, or purpose.
to dash in pieces, literally or figuratively (especially to disperse) BDB: scatterer Usage: break (dash, shake) in (to) pieces, cast (abroad), disperse (selves), drive, retire, scatter (abroad), spread abroad.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 68 lexical occurrence verses.
פּוּץ is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H6327 names what happens when a people no longer remain together, but it does not give every scattering the same theology. Troops may desert a failed leader, enemies may be routed, families may spread across regions, and covenant judgment may send people among nations. Ezekiel speaks to exiles whose physical center has been lost and whose neighbors in Jerusalem dismiss their claim to belonging.
God answers that He has been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone and promises gathering. Divine presence is not confined to the institution that displaced people can no longer access. Micaiah's scattered sheep also expose the cost of failed royal leadership: ordinary people bear the consequences when a ruler rejects truth. Churches serving diaspora communities should honor language, memory, grief, legal vulnerability, and transnational relationships rather than treating migration as a sermon illustration.
Gathering can involve hospitality, restored belonging, and accountable leadership, not forced sameness. H6327 permits lament over fragmentation while affirming that God can meet people abroad and form faithful life across distance.
Ezek.11.16
H6327 is a verb of outward dispersal and fragmentation. Depending on stem and object it can mean scatter, disperse, spread abroad, route, shatter, or drive apart, so voluntary movement and coerced breaking must be distinguished.
The New Testament describes scattered believers carrying witness, Jesus gathering God's children, and shepherdless people receiving compassion. Those themes can show redemptive fruit after displacement without declaring persecution or forced migration good in itself.