6136. iqqar
Lexical Summary
iqqar: Root, main part, essence

Original Word: עִקַּר
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: `iqqar
Pronunciation: ik-KAR
Phonetic Spelling: (ik-kar')
KJV: stump
Word Origin: [(Aramaic) from H61 (אֲבָל - truly)32]

1. a stock

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
stump

(Aramaic) from aqar; a stock -- stump.

see HEBREW aqar

Brown-Driver-Briggs
עִקַּר ( < רָ֯ K§ 59 c))

noun [masculine] root, stock (√ עקר, see Biblical Hebrew, and, on meaning of √, SchwZMG lii (1898), 140); — construct שָׁרְשׁ֫וֺהִי ׳ע Daniel 4:12; Daniel 4:20; Daniel 4:23.

Topical Lexicon
Literary setting in Daniel

עִקַּר appears three times in Daniel 4, the Aramaic narrative that recounts Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a great tree cut down and banded, yet with “the stump and roots” left in the earth (Daniel 4:15; Daniel 4:23; Daniel 4:26). The imagery is central to the chapter’s structure: vision, interpretation, fulfillment, and restoration. By retaining the stump, the text preserves hope within judgment and frames the chapter’s overarching message that “the Most High is ruler over the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He wishes” (Daniel 4:17).

Imagery of the stump

1. Continuity after cutting. The stump embodies life that survives drastic pruning. Unlike a felled trunk that is uprooted, a stump keeps silent potential under the soil, ready for divinely appointed renewal.
2. Bound yet preserved. The bands of iron and bronze (Daniel 4:15) bind judgment and preservation together. God not only limits Nebuchadnezzar’s power; He also limits the devastation so that the king can be restored.
3. Humiliation turned to humility. Exposed to “the dew of heaven” and grazing with beasts (Daniel 4:23), the king is brought down to creaturely dependence. The stump therefore visualizes the path from pride to repentance.

Theological themes: Divine sovereignty and mercy

• Judgment is purposeful, not merely punitive. Nebuchadnezzar’s downfall is calibrated to lead him to confess, “Heaven rules” (Daniel 4:26).
• Mercy precedes repentance. The stump remains before the king repents, showing that God’s preserving grace is already at work.
• The remnant principle. Just as the stump guarantees future growth, God guards a remnant of His people (Isaiah 6:13; Ezra 9:8), ensuring the continuity of redemptive history.

Historical significance for Israel and the exiles

The Jews in Babylonian captivity could see themselves in the stump: cut down nationally yet preserved by covenant promises. Nebuchadnezzar’s personal account serves as a macro-image for empires. Mighty kingdoms rise and fall, but the God of Abraham sustains His purposes. The remnant motif would later comfort the post-exilic community rebuilding a seemingly insignificant temple (Haggai 2:3–9).

New Testament resonance

Luke 1:52 notes that God “has brought down rulers from their thrones but has exalted the humble,” echoing the Daniel narrative. Paul’s olive-tree metaphor (Romans 11:17–24) also rests on the hope that what is cut can live again. The stump thus anticipates resurrection realities: death-like loss followed by Spirit-given renewal (John 12:24).

Practical ministry applications

1. Pastoral counseling. Believers broken by sin or circumstance may be assured that God often leaves a “stump”—undetected reserves of grace—from which restoration will spring.
2. Leadership accountability. Christian leaders should heed Nebuchadnezzar’s example: unchecked pride invites God’s pruning, but repentance restores usefulness.
3. Intercession for nations. The dream motivates prayer for rulers to acknowledge God’s sovereignty, confident that He disciplines nations yet holds out mercy.
4. Church revitalization. Congregations in decline can find Scriptural warrant to labor expectantly, believing that divine pruning can precede fresh growth.

In sum, עִקַּר is more than a botanical term; it is a visual theology of judgment tempered by hope, fitting seamlessly into the Bible’s grand narrative of ruin and restoration.

Forms and Transliterations
עִקַּ֤ר עקר ‘iq·qar ‘iqqar ikKar
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Englishman's Concordance
Daniel 4:15
HEB: בְּרַ֨ם עִקַּ֤ר שָׁרְשׁ֙וֹהִי֙ בְּאַרְעָ֣א
NAS: leave the stump with its roots
KJV: leave the stump of his roots
INT: Yet the stump roots the ground

Daniel 4:23
HEB: וְחַבְּל֗וּהִי בְּרַ֨ם עִקַּ֤ר שָׁרְשׁ֙וֹהִי֙ בְּאַרְעָ֣א
NAS: leave the stump with its roots
KJV: leave the stump of the roots
INT: and destroy yet the stump roots the ground

Daniel 4:26
HEB: אֲמַ֗רוּ לְמִשְׁבַּ֞ק עִקַּ֤ר שָׁרְשׁ֙וֹהִי֙ דִּ֣י
NAS: to leave the stump with the roots
KJV: to leave the stump of the tree
INT: commanded to leave the stump the roots forasmuch

3 Occurrences

Strong's Hebrew 6136
3 Occurrences


‘iq·qar — 3 Occ.

6135
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