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רָחַק

to be far

‘to be far’ is one of 3 main senses fuller range ↓

H7368 Strong's Hebrew
râchaq Transliteration
/raw-khak'/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 58 appearances

Compare with another word →

About this entry

At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.

The Hebrew word רחק centers on the idea of “to be far.” Where the King James Version says “far,” newer translations reach for “be far” (unfoldingWord Literal Text); the renderings breakdown has the detail. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 56 verses — moderately common. First canonically at Genesis 21:16, it enters the text early. Its meaning spans more than one sense — see its full sense range. Dig into 56-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
far
Modern gloss
to be far
Strong's 1890 agrees
Strong's 1890 and current BDB scholarship align on this entry's primary sense — a good signal that the gloss above is unambiguous and stable. Download share card

About this word

Strong's H7368 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.

These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →

56
distinct verses
The word appears in 56 distinct verses.
15 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 15 of 39 Old Testament books.
Genesis 21:16
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Genesis 21:16.
Micah 7:11
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Micah 7:11.
#658
by frequency
Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 658 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 56 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 7 · 13%
  • Historical 3 · 5%
  • Wisdom 27 · 48%
  • Prophets 19 · 34%

By traditional corpus

Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 56 distinct verses.

  • Writings (Ketuvim) 28 verses · 50%
  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 21 verses · 38%
  • Torah (Pentateuch) 7 verses · 13%

How translations render this word

Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).

  • King James Version: Far 10×, Be not far 4×, Is far 3×
  • American Standard Version: Far 9×, Me 3×, Be not far 2×
  • Berean Standard Bible: Far 10×, Far away 3×, Are far 2×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: Be far 7×, Do 5×, Is far 4×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H7368 across 66 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Far” 10×
  • “Be not far” 4×
  • “Is far” 3×
  • “Be too far” 2×
  • “Far away” 2×
  • “Far off” 2×
  • “Have removed” 2×

Plus 41 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.

American Standard Version Public Domain

Renders H7368 across 66 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Far” 9×
  • “Me” 3×
  • “Be not far” 2×
  • “Be not far from me” 2×
  • “Far away” 2×
  • “Is far from me” 2×

Plus 46 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.

Berean Standard Bible Public Domain

Renders H7368 across 57 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Far” 10×
  • “Far away” 3×
  • “Are far” 2×
  • “I stay far” 2×
  • “Is far” 2×
  • “You have removed” 2×

Plus 36 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.

unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Renders H7368 across 77 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Be far” 7×
  • “Do” 5×
  • “Is far” 4×
  • “Far” 3×
  • “And” 2×
  • “Be far away” 2×
  • “Far away” 2×
  • “Is too far” 2×
  • “May” 2×
  • “Put far away” 2×
  • “They are far away” 2×
  • “You” 2×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 40 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.


Senses in the full BDB

Hebrew verbs can shift meaning by stem (binyan): Qal is the basic action, Niphal is often passive or reflexive, Piel often intensifies or makes it factitive, and Hiphil is typically causative. The senses below are grouped under the stem BDB assigns to each.

What do BDB’s symbols mean?

BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:

Symbol Meaning
𝔊 the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX)
𝔙 the Vulgate (the Latin translation)
𝔖 the Syriac version (the Peshitta)
𝔗 the Targum (the Aramaic translation)
ψ the Psalms
√ root (the underlying root or stem)
‖ parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel)
† the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited

The 5 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.

Qal

  • Pf. 3 ms. ר׳ Is 59:9; La 1:16, etc.; Impf. 3 ms. יִרְחַק Dt 12:21 +, etc.; Imv. fs. רַחֲקִי Is 54:14, mpl. רַחֲקוּ Ez 11:15 רָֽחֲקוּ Ra Hi Sm Co Toy Krae; Inf. cstr. רְחֹק ψ 103:12 Ec 3:5, לְרָֽחֳקָה Ez 8:6;—be far, distant: c. מִן pers., of place Dt 12:21; 14:24, of pers., = neglect, abandon, Pr 19:7; Jb 30:10; in ψψ, of י׳, ψ 22:12, 20 (מִן pers. om), 35:22; 38:22; 71:12; of utter absence, or non-existence La 1:16, cf. Is 49:19 (abs.), subj. justice Is 59:9 (opp. הִשִּׂיג), cf. v 11 (‖ אַיִן), subj. blessing ψ 109:17; subj. עֲצַת רְשָׁעִים Jb 21:16; 22:18; c. מֵעַל pers. (י׳), of Isr. (fig.) Je 2:5, cf. Ez 44:10; = far from (land of) י׳ 11:15 (v. supr.; Krae ins. אֶרֶץ); c. מֵעַל loc. Ez 8:6 (of י׳), מִן loc. (E. from W.) ψ 103:12; c. מִן rei (fig.): תּוֹרָֽתְךָ 119:150 (opp. קרב); מִיֶּשַׁע Jb 5:4, מִעשֶׁק Is 54:14, cf. Pr 22:5; = wholly abstain from Ex 23:7 (E), so (מן inf.) Ec 3:5; abs. of י׳’s righteousness, with ref. to time Is 46:13 (‖ אחר; opp. קרב).—יִרְחַק־חֹק Mi 7:11 boundary shall become distant, i.e. territory be enlarged (? crpt., cf. We Now); ירחק חֶבֶל הַכֶּסֶף Kt Ec 12:6 be removed? Qr יֵרָתֵק be joined? 𝔊 ἀνατραπῇ, 𝔙 rumpatur, cf. 𝔖, read prob. יִנָּתֵק Pfannk Thes Ew De Siegf BuhlLex. e.g. Isaiah 59:9

Piel

  • Pf. 3 ms. רִחַק Is 6:12, of י׳, send far away, acc. pers.; of people, לִבּוֹ ר׳ 29:13, c. מִן of י׳; 2 ms. רִחַקְתָּ 26:15 thou hast far extended (c. acc.) all the ends (boundaries) of the land; Impf. 3 mpl. יְרַחֲקוּ אֶת־זְנוּתָם Ez 43:9. e.g. Isaiah 6:12

Hiphil

  • Pf. 3 ms. הִרִחִיק Jb 19:13 ψ 103:12, 1 s. sf. הִרְחַקְתִּים Ez 11:16, etc.; Impf. 3 ms. sf. יַרְהִיקֶנָּה Pr 22:15, 2 ms. תַּרְהִיק Jb 22:23, etc.; Imv. ms. הַרְהֵק Pr 4:24 + 2 times, הַרְחַ֑ק Jb 13:21, sf. הַרְחִיקֵהוּ 11:14; Inf. abs. הַרְחֵק Gn 21:16 +, cstr. הַרְחִיק Je 27:10, sf. הַרְחִיקָם Jo 4:6;— e.g. Job 19:13
  • 1. dir. caus. make, or exhibit, distance, be gone far, subj. pers.: Gn 44:4 (J), c. מִן loc. Jos 8:4 (JE), Ju 18:22; sq. inf. cstr. הַרְחֵק לֹא תַר׳ לָלֶכֶת Ex 8:24 (J), cf. ψ 55:8; Inf. abs. as adv. = at a distance Gn 21:16 (E), c. מִן loc. Ex 33:7 (E), Jos 3:16 (JE; הַר׳ מְאֹד מִן, Qr; > Kt ב for מן). e.g. Genesis 44:4
  • 2. indir. caus. remove, put far away, c. acc. pers. + מֵעַל of land Je 27:10, cf. Jo 4:6, + מֵעַל pers. Jb 19:13 and (acc. הַצְּפוֹנִי) Jo 2:20, + מִן pers. ψ 88:9, 19; + בַּגּוֹיִם Ez 11:16; c. acc. כַּף + מֵעַל pers. Jb 13:21, c. acc. דֶּרֶךְ + id. Pr 5:8; c. acc. of sin + מִן pers. 4:24; Jb 11:14 (מִן pers. om.); Pr 22:15; 30:8 ψ 103:12; + מִן loc. Jb 22:23. e.g. Jeremiah 27:10

Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.


Word origin

vb. be, or become, far, distant (NH = BH; Assyrian especially adj. rûḳu, far; cf. Arabic رَحِيقٌ choice wine (i.e. from a distance) Frä 158; Ethiopic ርሕቀ: be far, Sab. רחק CISiv, nos. 95, 98; Aramaic רְחֵיק, רְחַק, and (often in der. spec. and deriv.) ܪܚܶܩ );—

— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 2151


Jastrow Dictionary

A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.

רָחַק

  • (b. h.) to be distant, far, removed. Y’lamd. to Num. X, 29, quot. in Ar. (ref. to Ps. LXXIII, 27) מי שרוֹחֵק הק"בה וכ׳ (ed. Koh. שׁמִתְרַחֵק) he who keeps away from the Lord, so as not to repent. Sifré Num. 131 כרְחוֹק מזרח וכ׳ as far as the east is removed from the west; a. e. e.g. Psalms 73:27
    • to remove; to alienate; to reject, expel; to loathe. B. Kam. 24ᵃ top, a. e. ר׳ נגיחותיו if the ox did his gorings in intervals (of three days), opp. קירב. Ib. רִיחֲקָה ראיותיה, v. רְאִיָּה. Yalk. Ps. 809 (ref. to Ps. l. c.) זה … שׁרִחֲקוּ את הקץ this alludes to Balaam and his associates, who put far off the end (the day of judgment, Num. XXIV, 17), opp. קרבו. Ber. 60ᵇ ורַחֲקֵנִי מאדם רע וכ׳ keep me far from a bad man and a bad associate. Eduy. V, 7 מעשיך יקרבוך ומעשיך יְרַחֲקוּךָ thy own doings will bring thee near (win thee friends), and thy own doings will alienate thee. Ib. VIII, 7 לרַחֵק, v. קָרֵב; a. fr.—Part. pass. מְרוּחָק; pl. מְרוּחָקִים, מְרוּחָקִין. Ib. המר׳ בזרוע, v. קָרֵב. Ber. 63ᵇ שלא היה מר׳ וכ׳ which was only twelve miles off. e.g. Numbers 24:17
    • same. Sifré Num. 94 מַרְחִיקִים, v. קָרֵב. B. Bath. II, 5 מַרְחִיקִין את הסולם וכ׳ (neighbors) must keep a ladder removed from the (neighbor’s) dove-cote four cubits. Ib. 4 אלא אם כן ה׳ ממנו וכ׳ unless he places (the wall) at a distance of four cubits. Ib. 18ᵇ על המזיק להַרְחִיק את עצמו it is the duty of him who causes the damage to remove himself; (oth. opin.) על הניזק להרחיק וכ׳ he who is injured must remove himself. Ber. I, 1 כדי להרחיק וכ׳ in order to keep men away (prevent them) from sin. Snh. 103ᵇ שהִרְחִיקָה וכ׳, v. לְגִימָה. Ib. מַרְחֶקֶת וכ׳ estranges those who are near (related) &c.; a. fr.—2) to keep aloof, stay away. Ab. I, 7 הַרְחֵק משכן רע keep aloof from a bad neighbor; a. e.—[Y. Ber. I, 2ᵈ bot. והרחיק על פתחו וכ׳, read: והִרְתִּיק, v. רָתַק.]
    • to remove one’s self; to become a stranger. Yeb. 109ᵃ לעולם ידבק … ויִתְרַחֵק וכ׳ man should always cling to three things, and keep aloof from three things. Snh. III, 4 קרוב ונ׳, v. קָרוֹב. Ber. 34ᵇ (ref. to Is. LVII, 19) שהיה קרוב … ונ׳ וכ׳ who came near committing a sin, and withdrew himself from it. Y’lamd. l. c., v. supra; a. e. e.g. Isaiah 57:19

רִחֵק

  • Targ. Prov. XIX, 7. Targ. Ps. CIII, 12. Ib. LIII, 2. Targ. Job XXI, 16; a. fr.
    • 1. to remove; to reject, loathe. Targ. Ps. CIII, 12. Targ. Ex. XXXIII, 7. Targ. Is. VI, 12. Targ. Job XXXIII, 20 (Ms. Pa.); a. fr.
    • 2. to be removed. Gitt. 58ᵃ כמה מַרְחִיקְנָא וכ׳ how far am I (in my studies) from that place (the passage quoted)?
    • to remove, keep off; to loathe, abominate; to make abominable. Targ. Job XI, 14. Targ. Am. VI, 3 מר׳ יום (ed. Lag. מיום, corr. acc.; h. text מנדים). Targ. Jer. II, 37 (h. text מאס). Targ. Deut. VII, 26 (h. text תעב). Targ. Job IX, 31; a. fr.—Part. pass. מְרָחַק. Targ. Mal. I, 7 (h. text מגאל).—Sabb. 128ᵇ טמאה לא מְרַחֲקָא וולדא ואי מרחקא וכ׳ an unclean animal (after giving birth) does not keep its young off, and if it does, it does not allow them to come near again (stimulation of the maternal instinct does not avail, v. רָחַם). Snh. 29ᵃ משום דמְרָחֲקָא דעתיה (an enemy cannot be witness,) because his mind is estranged (hostile), opp. מקרבא; Yalk. Num. 788; a. e.—V. מְרָחַק, מְרַחַקְתָּא.

A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.


Forms in the corpus

The 51 distinct written forms H7368 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.

Form Parsing Example Uses
הַרְחֵ֥ק Verb, Hiphil, Infinitive Absolute Exodus 8:28 2
תִּרְחָ֑ק Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Exodus 23:7 2
אַרְחִ֣יק Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Joel 2:20 2
הַרְחֵק֙ Verb, Hiphil, Infinitive Absolute Exodus 33:7 2
רָ֣חֲקָה Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular Job 21:16 2
תִּרְחַ֣ק Verb, Qal, Jussive, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Psalms 22:11 2
תִּרְחַ֥ק Verb, Qal, Jussive, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Psalms 35:22 2
הִֽרְחִ֥יק Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Psalms 103:12 1
הִרְחִ֑יק Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 19:13 1
הִרְחִ֖יקוּ Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural Judges 18:22 1
הִרְחִיקוּ֒ Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural Genesis 44:4 1
הִרְחַ֣קְתָּ Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Psalms 88:18 1
הִרְחַ֥קְתָּ Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Psalms 88:8 1
הִרְחַקְתִּי/ם֙ Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Ezekiel 11:16 1
הַרְחִ֤יק Verb, Hiphil, Infinitive Construct Jeremiah 27:10 1
הַרְחִיקֵ֑/הוּ Verb, Hiphil, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 11:14 1
הַרְחִיקָ֖/ם Verb, Hiphil, Infinitive Construct Joel 3:6 1
הַרְחֵ֣ק Verb, Hiphil, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Proverbs 5:8 1
הַרְחֵ֨ק Verb, Hiphil, Infinitive Absolute Joshua 3:16 1
הַרְחֵ֬ק Verb, Hiphil, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Proverbs 30:8 1
הַרְחַ֑ק Verb, Hiphil, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 13:21 1
וְ/רִחַ֥ק Verb, Piel, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Isaiah 6:12 1
וְ/רָחֲק֖וּ Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural Isaiah 49:19 1
וַ/תִּרְחַ֥ק Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular Psalms 109:17 1
יְרַחֲק֧וּ Verb, Piel, Jussive, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural Ezekiel 43:9 1
יִרְחֲק֣וּ Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural Job 5:4 1
יִרְחַ֤ק Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Deuteronomy 14:24 1
יִרְחַ֥ק Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Proverbs 22:5 1
יִרְחַ֨ק Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Deuteronomy 12:21 1
יִרְחַק Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Micah 7:11 1
יַרְחִיקֶ֥/נָּה Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Proverbs 22:15 1
ירחק Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Ecclesiastes 12:6 1
כִּ/רְחֹ֣ק Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct Psalms 103:12 1
לְ/רָֽחֳקָה֙ Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct Ezekiel 8:6 1
לִ/רְחֹ֥ק Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct Ecclesiastes 3:5 1
רִחַ֖קְתָּ Verb, Piel, Perfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Isaiah 26:15 1
רִחַ֣ק Verb, Piel, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Isaiah 29:13 1
רַֽחֲקוּ֙ Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural Ezekiel 11:15 1
רַחֲקִ֤י Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Feminine, Singular Isaiah 54:14 1
רָ֣חֲקוּ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural Job 30:10 1
רָֽחֲקוּ֙ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural Ezekiel 44:10 1
רָחֲק֖וּ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural Jeremiah 2:5 1
רָחֲק֣וּ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural Proverbs 19:7 1
רָחֲקָ֥ה Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular Isaiah 59:11 1
רָחַ֤ק Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Isaiah 59:9 1
רָחַ֥ק Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Lamentations 1:16 1
רָחָֽקוּ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural Psalms 119:150 1
תִרְחָ֔ק Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular Isaiah 46:13 1
תַרְחִ֖יקוּ Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural Exodus 8:28 1
תַּרְחִ֥יק Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 22:23 1
תַּרְחִ֥יקוּ Verb, Hiphil, Jussive, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural Joshua 8:4 1

Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H7368, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.

Derived from this word

Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.


Septuagint verse parallels

This word appears in 49 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 56 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.

Read these verses in the Septuagint

This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.

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