Zâraq (זָרַק, Strong's #2236), “to throw; sprinkle; strew; toss; scatter abundantly.” This word is found in both ancient and modern Hebrew and is used in ancient Akkadian in the sense of “to spray.” Used 35 times in the text of the Hebrew Old Testament, in 26 of those times it expresses the “throwing” or “sprinkling” of blood against the sacrificial altar or on the people. Thus, it appears very often in Leviticus (1:5, 11; 3:2, 8, 13 et al.).
Ezekiel’s version of “the New Covenant” includes the “sprinkling” of the water of purification (Ezek. 36:25). In the first use of zâraq in the Old Testament, it describes the “throwing” of handsful of dust into the air which would settle down on the Egyptians and cause boils (Exod. 9:8, 10). In his reform, Josiah ground up the Canaanite idol images and “scattered, strewed,” the dust over the graves of idolworshipers (2 Chron. 34:4). In Ezekiel’s vision of the departure of God’s glory from the temple, the man in linen takes burning coals and “scatters” them over Jerusalem (Ezek. 10:2).