6520. perazon
Lexical Summary
perazon: Villages, unwalled towns

Original Word: פְרָזוֹן
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: prazown
Pronunciation: peh-rah-ZONE
Phonetic Spelling: (per-aw-zone')
KJV: village
NASB: peasantry
Word Origin: [from the same as H6518 (פָּרָז - throngs)]

1. magistracy, i.e. leadership
2. (concretely) chieftains

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
village

From the same as paraz; magistracy, i.e. Leadership (also concretely, chieftains) -- village.

see HEBREW paraz

NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Origin
from the same as perazah
Definition
perhaps rural population
NASB Translation
peasantry (2).

Brown-Driver-Briggs
מְּרָזוֺן noun [masculine] dubious; ׳פ Judges 5:7; suffix מִּרְזוֺנוֺ Judges 5:11 (LagBN 119), possibly collective rural population, rustics, Bachm Bu (the latter as Genitive object after צִדְקֹת righteous actsto the peasants; > ᵐ5 Thes Be leaders and leadership (compare [מֶּרֶז]; text very uncertain; on Judges 5:7 see [ מְּרָזָה] above

Topical Lexicon
Meaning and Nuance

פְרָזוֹן portrays a settled but unwalled population—people living in open country, hamlets, and scattered farmsteads as opposed to fortified cities. It evokes both the vulnerability and the simplicity of rural life in ancient Israel.

Occurrences and Context

1. Judges 5:7 – “Life in the villages ceased; it ended in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, arose a mother in Israel.”
2. Judges 5:11 – “the voice of singers at the watering places. There they recount the righteous acts of the LORD, the righteous acts toward His villagers in Israel. Then the people of the LORD went down to the gates.”

Both uses lie within the Song of Deborah, a prophetic hymn celebrating Israel’s deliverance from Canaanite oppression.

Historical Setting: Period of the Judges

The tribal confederation had no standing army and few walled strongholds. When foreign powers dominated the land, the first casualties were the unwalled settlements. Traders avoided the highways, villagers abandoned homesteads, and the agricultural economy collapsed (Judges 5:6-7). Deborah’s leadership reversed that decline, restoring security so that open-country life once again flourished.

Civic and Military Implications

The term underscores how national disobedience to the covenant invited insecurity at the very grassroots. When the LORD raised Barak and the northern tribes to battle (Judges 4:6-10), His victory meant more than a military triumph; it reopened the wells, roads, and marketplaces of ordinary people. The safety of פְרָזוֹן became a barometer of spiritual health and social stability.

Socio-Economic Life of Rural Israel

Open villages formed the backbone of Israel’s agrarian society—fields, vineyards, and threshing floors that kept the tribes supplied. Their abandonment signaled economic breakdown; their restoration marked covenant blessing (compare Deuteronomy 28:1-8, 28:30-33). Watering places, mentioned with the term, served as community hubs where news, justice, and worship intertwined.

Theological Insights: Covenant and Community

By highlighting God’s “righteous acts toward His villagers” (Judges 5:11), the song links divine deliverance to everyday life. The LORD’s covenant faithfulness reached the smallest settlement, proving that no pocket of His people lay outside His care. In Scripture, the flourishing of unwalled villages anticipates the shalom described by the prophets, when “everyone will sit under his vine and under his fig tree” (Micah 4:4).

Ministry Applications

• God values ordinary places and people; ministry should not neglect rural congregations or marginalized communities.
• Spiritual decline often first appears in neglected “fringe” areas; attentive shepherding guards the vulnerable.
• Testimony—“there they recount the righteous acts of the LORD” (Judges 5:11)—belongs in public spaces where life happens, not only within fortified gatherings.

Reflection in Redemptive History

The vulnerability of פְרָזוֹן foreshadows humanity’s need for a greater Deliverer. Just as Deborah’s victory restored village life, so the triumph of Christ secures abundant life for His people (John 10:10), inviting them to dwell in safety and proclaim His works “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

Forms and Transliterations
פְרָז֛וֹן פִּרְזֹנ֖וֹ פרזון פרזנו feraZon p̄ə·rā·zō·wn p̄ərāzōwn pir·zō·nōw pirzoNo pirzōnōw
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Interlinear GreekInterlinear HebrewStrong's NumbersEnglishman's Greek ConcordanceEnglishman's Hebrew ConcordanceParallel Texts
Englishman's Concordance
Judges 5:7
HEB: חָדְל֧וּ פְרָז֛וֹן בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל חָדֵ֑לּוּ
NAS: The peasantry ceased, they ceased
KJV: [The inhabitants of] the villages ceased,
INT: ceased the peasantry Israel ceased

Judges 5:11
HEB: יְהוָ֔ה צִדְקֹ֥ת פִּרְזֹנ֖וֹ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל אָ֛ז
NAS: The righteous deeds for His peasantry in Israel.
KJV: [even] the righteous acts [toward the inhabitants] of his villages in Israel:
INT: of the LORD deeds his peasantry Israel Then

2 Occurrences

Strong's Hebrew 6520
2 Occurrences


p̄ə·rā·zō·wn — 1 Occ.
pir·zō·nōw — 1 Occ.

6519
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