What’s in a Word?

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because

בעבור · בגלל · בשביל

Bottom line

Biglal is the backward-looking "because": a reason that already exists and justifies the act, so render it on account of or because of. Baavur is the forward-looking one: the reason does not yet exist and is the intended outcome, so render it in order that or so that. Bishvil is post-Biblical, usually equal to biglal, and is the everyday word in modern speech. The trap is that English "because" covers both directions, and a translator who writes "because" for baavur reverses the causality.

Distinctions

biglal (בגלל)

The cause that is already on the ground before the action is taken. Rabbi Wolf Heidenheim, Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg and the Malbim all read the pair this way. English hides the difference: "I will visit my parents because I love them" is biglal, a factor that exists already and calls for the visit.

baavur (בעבור)

The cause that lies ahead: not what is true now, but what the act is meant to bring about. "I will visit my parents because I want to build a better relationship with them" is baavur, the anticipated result standing as the reason.

This is why Shemos 9:16 says baavur and not biglal or bishvil. Before the plague of hail Moshe warns Pharaoh that he truly deserves to be killed, but that Hashem said He had let him endure baavur zos, to show him His strength and so that His Name be told throughout the earth. Bishvil is out of the running to begin with, never appearing in Tanach. As for biglal, Pharaoh had no standing merit, nothing already in hand, to justify sparing him; the whole reason was what would come of it afterward. (The Midrash, Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer chapters 42 and 43, follows that outcome: Pharaoh survived makkas bechoros though he was a firstborn, and survived Krias Yam Suf though the rest of his army drowned, and somehow ended up a castaway who came in time to Ninveh, where he, or perhaps his descendants or his reincarnation, rose to prominence and roused its sinful people to heed Yonah's warning and do teshuvah.)

bishvil (בשביל)

Not in Tanach at all; it enters with Chazal, appearing close to fifty times in the Mishnah. Literally bi-shvil, "on the path," which may itself picture the road running from a cause to its effect. It usually does the work of biglal, though in at least one case (Bava Metzia 5:10) it carries the sense of baavur. Neither biglal nor baavur appears in the Mishnah in its own voice; baavur shows up once only, inside a pasuk the Mishnah quotes. Modern Hebrew made bishvil the catch-all.

Rendering guidance

  • Shemos 9:16: "for this purpose have I let you stand," or "in order to show you My strength." Not "because of this," which would say Pharaoh had earned it.
  • Biglal in a pasuk of consequence (a punishment or a reward for what was done): "on account of," which keeps the eye on the completed cause.
  • Trap: English "because" absorbs baavur and biglal alike, and the loss is not stylistic but logical, since the two point in opposite directions in time. Reserve "because" for biglal and give baavur a purpose clause.
  • Trap: "for the sake of" reads as either one. It is safe for bishvil and risky for the Biblical pair.
  • In a Mishnaic text, bishvil is ordinarily "because"; check Bava Metzia 5:10 before assuming it never carries purpose.

Sources

Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Just Because," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 1 Shevat 5777 (2017-01-28), https://articles.ohr.edu/articles/just-because; raw text in sources/whats-in-a-word/raw/7110-just-because.md. Primary loci: Shemos 9:16; Mishnah Bava Metzia 5:10; Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer, chapters 42 and 43. The two parent-visiting sentences are the article's own illustration. The Rendering guidance above is this guide's own; everything in the Distinctions traces to the column, which cites Rabbi Wolf Heidenheim, Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg and the Malbim together for the baavur/biglal distinction and gives no other authority for it.