# H1319 - basar **Strong's:** [H1319](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h1319/) · BLB lookup **Pronunciation:** baw-sar' **Part of speech:** verb (Piel "to bring news"; Hitpael "to receive news") **OT occurrences:** ~24 (verb); cognate noun *besorah* (H1309) ~6 **Greek equivalent (LXX):** *euangelizō* / *euangelizomai* (G2097); the cognate noun *euangelion* (G2098) corresponds to Hebrew *besorah* **Note on disambiguation:** The verb H1319 *basar* "to bring news" is a different lexeme from the noun [H1320 *basar* "flesh"](/codex/h1320-basar/), same consonantal spelling (בָּשַׂר), different roots, different semantic worlds. Context disambiguates: when the word governs an object of news or appears with the *mevasser* (herald) participial form, it is H1319; when it refers to physical flesh or kinship, it is H1320. ## Semantic range The Hebrew *basar* (H1319) names the act of bringing news, usually but not exclusively *good* news: 1. **To announce, proclaim, bring tidings**, the basic act of carrying word from one party to another; the news may be good (the dominant register) or bad ([1 Sam 4:17](/codex/1-samuel-4-17/), the news of Israel's defeat) 2. **To bring *good* news, glad tidings**, the dominant theological-prophetic register; the Servant Songs of Isaiah pull *basar* almost exclusively in this direction 3. **To evangelize** (developed register), the LXX consistently translates *basar* with the *euangel-* stem, making H1319 the OT root of the entire NT gospel vocabulary; the *mevasser* (the participle, "one who brings good news," "herald") becomes the OT proto-figure of the apostolic gospel-messenger The semantic load runs from neutral "bring news" toward *redemptive* announcement in the prophetic corpus. By the time of [Isaiah 40](/codex/isaiah-40/)-66 (the Book of Consolation and the Servant Songs), *basar* has become a near-technical term for the announcement of YHWH's salvific intervention, His kingship, His coming, His deliverance of His people. ## Theological force ### The *mevasser* (herald) figure The participial form *mevasser*, *the one who brings good news*, becomes a major theological figure in Isaiah. The herald runs ahead of the conquering king to announce victory; in Isaiah's prophetic re-deployment, the herald announces YHWH's victorious return to reign: - **[Isa 40:9](/codex/isaiah-40-9/)**: *"O thou that tellest good tidings (mevasseret) to Zion, get thee up on a high mountain; O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength"*, the herald commanded to publish YHWH's coming - **[Isa 52:7](/codex/isaiah-52-7/)**: *"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings (mevasser), that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good (mevasser tov), that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!"*, the most theologically loaded *mevasser* verse; the content of the good news is *God reigns* - **[Isa 61:1](/codex/isaiah-61-1/)**: *"The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me; because Jehovah hath anointed me to preach good tidings (le-vasser) unto the meek"*, the Servant's own anointing for *basar*-ministry; Jesus's self-application at [Luke 4:18](/codex/luke-4-18/) The Isaianic *mevasser* is the prophetic prototype of the NT *euangelistēs* (evangelist). The figure runs from [Isaiah 40](/codex/isaiah-40/) (the herald of YHWH's return) through [Isaiah 52](/codex/isaiah-52/) (the herald of YHWH's reign) to [Isaiah 61](/codex/isaiah-61/) (the Servant himself bringing good news), and from there into the NT, Jesus self-applies [Isa 61:1](/codex/isaiah-61-1/) at Nazareth ([Luke 4:18](/codex/luke-4-18/)); Paul cites [Isa 52:7](/codex/isaiah-52-7/) in [Rom 10:15](/codex/romans-10-15/) to ground the necessity of gospel-preaching; Peter echoes [Isa 40](/codex/isaiah-40/) throughout 1 Peter. ### The content of the *besorah* What does *basar* announce? In the OT register, the *good news* is multivalent: - **YHWH reigns**, [Isa 52:7](/codex/isaiah-52-7/)'s *"thy God reigneth"*; the kingship-announcement - **YHWH delivers**, [Isa 40](/codex/isaiah-40/) / 52's exile-return frame; the deliverance-announcement - **YHWH's righteousness and salvation**, [Ps 40:9-10](/codex/psalms-40-9-10/)'s righteousness, [Ps 96:2](/codex/psalms-96-2/)'s salvation - **YHWH's covenant restoration**, [Hos 2](/codex/hosea-2/) / [Isa 54](/codex/isaiah-54/)-55's marriage-restoration frame The NT *euangelion* inherits the entire load and concentrates it Christologically: the good news that *God reigns* becomes the good news that *Jesus is Lord* and that the kingdom has come in Him. The trajectory from *basar* to *euangelizō* is not a substitution but a fulfillment, the herald's content is finally identified with the Servant who *is* the news. ### The herald's military background Beneath the prophetic-soteriological register is a military background: *basar* originally names the runner who carries news of battle from the front to the king or city. The classic instance is **[2 Samuel 18:19-31](/codex/2-samuel-18-19-31/)**, where Ahimaaz and the Cushite race to bring David news of Absalom's defeat; the verb *basar* recurs throughout the chapter. The runner's news may be welcome or unwelcome; the verb tracks the *act of announcement*, not the *valence of the news*. **[1 Samuel 4:17](/codex/1-samuel-4-17/)** uses *basar* for the news of Israel's defeat at Aphek, the rare *bad-news* deployment. **[2 Samuel 4:10](/codex/2-samuel-4-10/)** has David recall the Amalekite who *basar*-ed Saul's death. The Isaianic prophets pick up the military-herald figure and re-deploy it: YHWH is the conquering king; the herald announces His victory; the announcement *creates* the celebration it reports. By the time of [Isaiah 52:7](/codex/isaiah-52-7/), the herald's news is no longer ambiguous, *basar* in the Servant-Songs frame is always *good* news, always YHWH's redemptive triumph. ### The Lukan Christological convergence Jesus's reading of [Isa 61:1](/codex/isaiah-61-1/) at the Nazareth synagogue ([Luke 4:16-21](/codex/luke-4-16-21/)) is the single most theologically dense deployment of *basar* in the NT. Jesus identifies Himself with the Isaianic *mevasser*: *"the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings (euangelisasthai) to the poor."* The self-application makes three claims simultaneously: 1. Jesus is the anointed Servant of [Isaiah 61](/codex/isaiah-61/) 2. Jesus is the *mevasser*-figure of the Isaianic tradition 3. The content of His good news fulfills the OT trajectory, *God reigns*, *deliverance has come*, the *Jubilee year of YHWH's favor* is here The Lukan-Isaianic convergence is the single most important OT-NT lexical bridge in the gospel vocabulary. To understand the NT *euangel-* word family, the reader must trace it back through the LXX rendering of *basar* to the Isaianic *mevasser*. ### Pauline deployment Paul's *euangelion*-theology is shot through with *basar*-resonances: - **[Rom 10:15](/codex/romans-10-15/)** quotes [Isa 52:7](/codex/isaiah-52-7/) directly to ground gospel-preaching: *"how beautiful are the feet of them that bring good tidings of good things"* - **[Rom 1:1-4](/codex/romans-1-1-4/)**'s *euangelion* of God concerning His Son draws on the OT pattern of God's announced redemption - **[1 Cor 15:1-4](/codex/1-corinthians-15-1-4/)**'s *euangelion*-summary mirrors the OT pattern: announcement of what God has done The Pauline gospel is not a new vocabulary; it is the OT *basar* vocabulary brought to Christological fulfillment. ## Apologetic / epistemological significance *Basar* anchors: 1. **The OT continuity of the gospel**, the NT *euangelion* is not a novelty but the fulfillment of an OT prophetic trajectory running from [Isa 40](/codex/isaiah-40/) through 52 to 61 2. **Christological self-identification**, Jesus's Nazareth-sermon self-application of [Isa 61:1](/codex/isaiah-61-1/) ([Luke 4:18](/codex/luke-4-18/)) is a *mevasser*-claim, identifying Him with the Isaianic prophetic figure 3. **The missional structure of Christianity**, *basar* is by nature a *sent* word; the herald runs and announces; the gospel must be preached. Paul's logic in [Rom 10:14-15](/codex/romans-10-14-15/) depends on this structure. 4. **The kingdom-content of the gospel**, [Isa 52:7](/codex/isaiah-52-7/)'s *"thy God reigneth"* identifies the substantive content of the *besorah* as God's reign, against the reduction of the gospel to private-salvation transaction 5. **Anti-mythicism**, the *basar* / *euangelion* vocabulary is a historical-announcement vocabulary, not a mythological-archetype vocabulary; the gospel is news of events, not the unfolding of timeless symbol 6. **Beautiful feet apologetics**, the herald's feet are *beautiful* because of what they carry; pastoral motivation for evangelism rooted in the worth of the news ## Notable verses ### Isaianic *mevasser* / Servant deployment - **[Isaiah 40.9](/codex/isaiah-40-9/)**, *"O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion"*; the herald of YHWH's return - **[Isaiah 52.7](/codex/isaiah-52-7/)**, *"how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings"*; the climactic kingship-announcement - **[Isaiah 61.1](/codex/isaiah-61-1/)**, the Servant's anointing *le-vasser*; quoted by Jesus at [Luke 4:18](/codex/luke-4-18/) ### Psalmic deployment - **[Psalms 40.9-10](/codex/psalms-40-9-10/)**, *"I have proclaimed (bisarti) glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation"* - **[Psalms 68.11](/codex/psalms-68-11/)**, *"the Lord giveth the word: The women that publish the tidings are a great host"* - **[Psalms 96.2](/codex/psalms-96-2/)**, *"proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day"* (parallel in [1 Chr 16:23](/codex/1-chronicles-16-23/)) ### Prophetic deployment - **[Nahum 1.15](/codex/nahum-1-15/)**, *"behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings"* (parallel structure to [Isa 52:7](/codex/isaiah-52-7/)) ### Military-historical deployment - **[1 Samuel 4.17](/codex/1-samuel-4-17/)**, the messenger *basar*-s the news of Israel's defeat at Aphek (rare bad-news use) - **[2 Samuel 4.10](/codex/2-samuel-4-10/)**, David recalls the Amalekite who *basar*-ed Saul's death - **[2 Samuel 18.19-31](/codex/2-samuel-18-19-31/)**, Ahimaaz and the Cushite race with the news of Absalom's defeat ### NT fulfillment - **[Luke 4.18](/codex/luke-4-18/)**, Jesus's Nazareth self-application of [Isa 61:1](/codex/isaiah-61-1/) - [Rom 10:15](/codex/romans-10-15/), Paul's deployment of [Isa 52:7](/codex/isaiah-52-7/) to ground gospel-preaching ## Patristic / scholarly note Patristic engagement: **Origen** (*Commentary on Isaiah* fragments) reads [Isa 52:7](/codex/isaiah-52-7/)'s beautiful-feet as the apostolic *euangelistai*. **Cyril of Alexandria** (*Commentary on Isaiah* ad 52:7) anchors the OT-NT continuity of the gospel vocabulary. **John Chrysostom** (*Homilies on Romans* 18) on [Rom 10:15](/codex/romans-10-15/) traces the apostolic preaching back through [Isa 52:7](/codex/isaiah-52-7/) to the Isaianic *mevasser*. Modern scholarly engagement: - John N. Oswalt (*The Book of [Isaiah 40](/codex/isaiah-40/)-66*, NICOT, 1998), definitive treatment of the *mevasser* figure across [Isa 40](/codex/isaiah-40/)-61 - N. T. Wright (*The New Testament and the People of God*, 1992; *Jesus and the Victory of God*, 1996), the kingship-content of the *basar* / *euangelion* trajectory, against reductive private-salvation readings - G. K. Beale & D. A. Carson, eds. (*Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament*, 2007), extensive treatment of [Isa 52:7](/codex/isaiah-52-7/) / 61:1 deployment in Luke, Romans, Ephesians - Peter Stuhlmacher (*Das paulinische Evangelium*, 1968), the *euangelion*-vocabulary's OT roots - Roy F. Melugin (*The Formation of [Isaiah 40](/codex/isaiah-40/)-55*, 1976), the herald-figure in Deutero-Isaiah ## See also - *G2097 - euangelizo*, the LXX rendering and NT successor verb - *G2098 - euangelion*, the cognate noun, NT *gospel* - [H1320 - basar](/codex/h1320-basar/), the homographic noun *flesh* (distinct lexeme) - [H3467 - yasha](/codex/h3467-yasha/), *to save, deliver*; the salvation that the *basar*-announcement reports - [H4899 - mashiach](/codex/h4899-mashiach/), *anointed one*; the figure who is the *content* of the eschatological *besorah* - [Isaiah 40.9](/codex/isaiah-40-9/); [Isaiah 52.7](/codex/isaiah-52-7/); [Isaiah 61.1](/codex/isaiah-61-1/), the three principal *mevasser* texts - [Luke 4.18](/codex/luke-4-18/), Jesus's Christological self-application - [Gospel](/codex/g2098-euangelion/), the NT-doctrinal frame - [Evangelism](/codex/evangelism/), the practice rooted in the *mevasser* model - [Kingdom of God](/codex/g932-basileia/), the substantive content of the *besorah* - Servant Songs ([Isa 42](/codex/isaiah-42/), 49, 50, 52-53), the broader Isaianic frame ## Notes _Lexical workspace for basar (H1319, "to bring good news")._