רפא
giants
BDB lists 2 entries for ‘giants’ fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Proper
- A name of a specific person, place, or people (e.g. Abraham, Zion, Israel).
- Gentilic
- A noun naming a member of a people, tribe, or region of origin (e.g. an Israelite, a Moabite).
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Every verse where H7497 appears in the Book of 1 Chronicles — 5 distinct verses. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
1 Chronicles
- 1 Chronicles 11:15 רְפָאִֽים n Proper Three of the thirty chief men went down to the rock to David, into the cave of Adullam; and the host of the Philistines were encamped in the valley of Rephaim.
- 1 Chronicles 14:9 רְפָאִֽים n Proper Now the Philistines had come and made a raid in the valley of Rephaim.
- 1 Chronicles 20:4 הָ/רְפָאִ֖ים ptcl def.art + n Proper It happened after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines: then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai, of the sons of the giant; and they were subdued.
- 1 Chronicles 20:6 לְ/הָ/רָפָֽא prep + ptcl def.art + n Gentilic ms There was again war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were twenty-four, six [on each hand], and six [on each foot]; and he also was born to the giant.
- 1 Chronicles 20:8 לְ/הָ/רָפָ֖א prep + ptcl def.art + n Gentilic ms These were born to the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.
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.
At its core, רפא (râphâʼ) means “giants.” Debuting at Genesis 14:5, it then recurs through the corpus. With 24 verses in 6 books, it is an uncommon word in the Hebrew Bible. The word gravitates to 2 Samuel (29%), then Joshua and 1 Chronicles. Dig into 24-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H7497 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 →
- 24
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 24 distinct verses.
- 6 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 6 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #1,282
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 1,282 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 24 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- 2 Samuel 7 verses 29%
- Joshua 5 verses 21%
- 1 Chronicles 5 verses 21%
By section of the Old Testament
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 24 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 13 verses · 54%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 6 verses · 25%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 5 verses · 21%
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).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 3 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: Giants 10×, Giant 7×, Rephaim 6×
- American Standard Version†: Rephaim 17×, Giant 6×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Rephaim 16×, Rapha 6×, Rephaites 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Raphaites 18×, Rapha 6×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H7497 across 25† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H7497 across 25† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 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 H7497 across 24† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H7497 across 25† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in BDB
The 2 senses BDB distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
- giants, Rephaim
- old tribe of giants
Word origin
II. n.m. Jb 26:5 pl. shades, ghosts (by most connected with above √, as sunken, powerless, ones, StaG. i. 420; Ph. רפאם);—Wisd. lit. and late, name of dead in Sheʾôl, c. art. הָר׳ Jb 26:5, elsewhere nearly = n.pr.: ר׳ Is 14:9 (in Sheʾôl), 26:14 (‖ מֵתִים), ψ 88:11 (‖ id.), Pr 2:18 (‖ מָוֶת), 9:18 (in עִמְקֵי שְׁאוֹל), קְחַל רְפָאִים 21:16; of righteous Isr. Is 26:19 earth shall cast forth ר׳ (‖ מֵתֶיךָ).
III. n.pr.gent. old race of giants (perhaps = I. ר׳, as extinct and powerless; v. especially WRS in Dr Dt 2:11; or as shadowy, vaguely known, SchwallyZAW xviii (1896), 127 ff. v. also Stal.c.);—ancient inhab. of Canaan [W. of Jordan?], Gn 15:20; Jos 17:15 (JE), cf. 1 Ch 20:4 (v. II. רָפָה supr.); hence עֵמֶק ר׳, plain S. of Jerus. 2 S 5:18, 22; 23:13; 1 Ch 11:15; 14:9; Is 17:5; Jos 15:8; 18:16 (P); ר׳ E. of Jordan Dt 2:11 (‖ עֲנָקִים; tall, cf. v 10), v 20 (‖ id.; tall; = Zamzummim); in Bashan, Gn 14:5, Og the last of them Dt 3:11 (of huge size), Jos 12:4; 13:12 (D); אֶרֶץ ר׳ Dt 2:20; 3:13. 𝔊 Ραφαειν[μ]; οἱ γίγαντες Gn 14:5 + 4 times; τῶν Τιτάνων 2 S 5:18, 22 + (𝔊L) 23:13.
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from רפא (râphâʼ) (H7495) — to heal.
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.
רָפָא
- , v. רפי
רפי
- (b. h.) [to be or make loose, soft,] to be healed, relieved; to heal. Ber. 60ᵃ ותִרְפָּאֵנִי and do thou heal me, v. רְפוּאָה. Tanḥ. B’shall. 23 וכשרְפָאָהוּ בסערה רְפָאוֹ and when he came to heal him (Job), he healed him in a windstorm; Yalk. Ex. 235. Ber. 55ᵇ ואם צריכים רפואה רְפָאֵם וכ׳ and if they (my dreams) need remedy, remedy them as thou didst the waters of Marah &c.; a. fr.—Part. pass. רָפוּי. Sifra M’tsorʿa, Neg. ch. IV, Par. 7; a. e.
- same. Yalk. Ex. l. c. הוא רי׳ וכ׳ he healed Job in a windstorm. Ber. l. c. לפי שאין דרכן … לרַפְּאוֹת וכ׳ because it is not for man to cure, but it is the custom (to employ physicians). Ib. שניתנה … לרפאות, v. רוֹפֵא. Ned. IV, 4 (38ᵇ) ומְרַפְּאֵהוּ רפואת וכ׳ (Bab. ed. ומְרַפְּאוֹ) and he may attend to him as a physician to his body &c., v. רִיפּוּי. Pesik. R. s. 29-30-30 כל מה דאמר ירמיה ופרע אתא ישעיהו ור׳ whatever Jeremiah spoke and tore (prophesied evil), Isaiah came and healed (restored) it; a. fr.
- to be cured, be treated; to get well. Sabb. XXII, 6. Pes. 25ᵃ בכל מִתְרַפְּאִין חוץ מעצי וכ׳ you may apply anything (otherwise forbidden) as a remedy, except wood of an ăsherah. Ib. בכל מתרפאין חוץ מעבודת וכ׳ you may employ any remedy except idolatrous objects, lawless gratification, and bloodshed. Keth. 105ᵃ ספק מִתְרַפֵּא וכ׳ it is doubtful whether or not he will get well. Ab. Zar. II, 2, v. רִיפּוּי; a. fr.
- (v. next w.) to loosen (the bowels). Sabb. 147ᵇ מַרְפֵּאת (not מרפא), v. עָמֵל.
רְפֵי
- , to be lax, weak, unsteady. Yeb. 64ᵇ דרָפי דמא, v. קְמַט. Kidd. 65ᵃ אין ולא ורַפְיָא בידיה (he said) yes and no, and it was undecided in his hand; Sabb. 113ᵃ; 116ᵃ; B. Mets. 14ᵇ. Gitt. 32ᵃ שופתא … רפיא the pin of the hoe gets loose (from the heat); סיכתא בדפנא ר׳ the pin in the wall gets loose; קניא … ר׳ the reed in the basket becomes soft again (as if sprouting). Pes. 42ᵇ דרְפָא מקמיט ליה (Ms. M. דרָפֵי; Rashi דרפו, corr. acc.), v. קְמַט; Sabb. 110ᵃ. Y. Ber. II, 5ᶜ bot., v. עוּנְקְתָא; a. e.
- to loosen, break the soil (cmp. רְפַק). Ned. 41ᵇ דקא מְרַפֵּי וכ׳ he loosens the soil for him (by ploughing near him whom he has vowed not to benefit). B. Mets. 95ᵇ מרפי ואזיל קמה (Ms. F. קמא קמא, v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note 8; Ar. מְרַפֵּישׂ, מְרַפֵּשׂ) he breaks the ground as he goes before him (that ploughs with his cow).
- 1. to let loose, let go, let alone. Targ. Y. II, Ex. IV, 26 (h. text וירף). Targ. Prov. IV, 13 (ed. Wil. תִרְפֵּא, read: תַ׳).—Y. Ber. VII, 11ᶜ אַרְפּוּנֵיה let him alone. Y. Kil. IX, 32ᵇ אַרְפּוּנוּן ורחמיו וכ׳ let them (the mice in their nest) undisturbed, it is written, ‘and his mercies are over all his creatures’ (Ps. CXLV, 9); Y. Keth. XII, 35ᵃ. Lev. R. s. 5 אַרְפּוּן להון leave them (the dogs) alone; a. e. e.g. Psalms 145:9
- 2. to act as a laxative. Pes. l. c. מַרְפֵּא ליה (not להו; Ms. M. מַרְפֵּי; Rashi מרפו, corr. acc.); Sabb. l. c. מרפי, v. קְמַט.
- ; Ithpe. אִתְרְפֵי
- 1. to be lax, slack. Targ. Prov. XVIII, 9 (ed. Wil. מִתְרַפֵּה). Ib. XXIV, 10.
- 2. to relax, to let one’s hands drop (in astonishment). Targ. Hab. I, 5. Targ. Is. XXIX, 9. e.g. Habakkuk 1:5
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 18 distinct written forms H7497 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| רְפָאִֽים | Noun, Proper | Deuteronomy 3:13 | 7 |
| רְפָאִ֖ים | Noun, Proper | Joshua 15:8 | 2 |
| הָ/רְפָאִ֑ים | Noun, Proper | Joshua 12:4 | 1 |
| הָ/רְפָאִ֔ים | Noun, Proper | Joshua 13:12 | 1 |
| הָ/רְפָאִ֖ים | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 20:4 | 1 |
| הָ/רְפָאִֽים | Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute | Genesis 15:20 | 1 |
| הָ/רְפָאִים֒ | Noun, Proper | Deuteronomy 3:11 | 1 |
| הָ/רָפָ֗ה | Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | 2 Samuel 21:16 | 1 |
| הָ/רָפָֽה | Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | 2 Samuel 21:18 | 1 |
| וְ/הָֽ/רְפָאִ֑ים | Noun, Proper | Joshua 17:15 | 1 |
| לְ/הָ/רָפָ֖א | Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | 1 Chronicles 20:8 | 1 |
| לְ/הָ/רָפָ֖ה | Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | 2 Samuel 21:22 | 1 |
| לְ/הָ/רָפָֽא | Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | 1 Chronicles 20:6 | 1 |
| לְ/הָ/רָפָֽה | Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | 2 Samuel 21:20 | 1 |
| רְפָאִ֛ים | Noun, Proper | Deuteronomy 2:11 | 1 |
| רְפָאִ֤ים | Noun, Proper | Deuteronomy 2:20 | 1 |
| רְפָאִ֥ים | Noun, Proper | Deuteronomy 2:20 | 1 |
| רְפָאִים֙ | Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Genesis 14:5 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H7497, 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.
Derives from
Shares the same root
- מרפא marpêʼ H4832 healing
- רפא râphâʼ H7496 ghosts
- רפאה rᵉphuʼâh H7499 remedy
- רפאות riphʼûwth H7500 healing
- תרפים tᵉrâphîym H8655 teraphim
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
- ירפאל Yirpᵉʼêl H3416 Irpeel
- רפאל Rᵉphâʼêl H7501 Rephael
- רפוא Râphûwʼ H7505 Raphu
- רפיה Rᵉphâyâh H7509 Rephaiah
- רפא Râphâʼ H7498 Rapha
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 12 — not the complete family. 5 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Bible dictionary
Public-domain dictionary articles matched to this entry by name (giants). A biblical name can be shared by more than one person or place, so an article may treat several.
Easton's Bible Dictionary · M. G. Easton, 1897
(1.) Heb. nephilim, meaning "violent" or "causing to fall" (Gen. 6:4). These were the violent tyrants of those days, those who fell upon others. The word may also be derived from a root signifying "wonder," and hence "monsters" or "prodigies." In Num. 13:33 this name is given to a Canaanitish tribe, a race of large stature, "the sons of Anak." The Revised Version, in these passages, simply transliterates the original, and reads "Nephilim."
(2.) Heb. rephaim, a race of giants (Deut. 3:11) who lived on the east of Jordan, from whom Og was descended. They were probably the original inhabitants of the land before the immigration of the Canaanites. They were conquered by Chedorlaomer (Gen. 14:5), and their territories were promised as a possession to Abraham (15:20). The Anakim, Zuzim, and Emim were branches of this stock.
In Job 26:5 (R.V., "they that are deceased;" marg., "the shades," the "Rephaim") and Isa. 14:9 this Hebrew word is rendered (A.V.) "dead." It means here "the shades," the departed spirits in Sheol. In Sam. 21:16, 18, 20, 33, "the giant" is (A.V.) the rendering of the singular form ha raphah, which may possibly be the name of the father of the four giants referred to here, or of the founder of the Rephaim. The Vulgate here reads "Arapha," whence Milton (in Samson Agonistes) has borrowed the name "Harapha." (See also 1 Chron. 20:5, 6, 8; Deut. 2:11, 20; 3:13; Josh. 15:8, etc., where the word is similarly rendered "giant.") It is rendered "dead" in (A.V.) Ps. 88:10; Prov. 2:18; 9:18; 21:16: in all these places the Revised Version marg. has "the shades." (See also Isa. 26:14.)
(3.) Heb. Anakim (Deut. 2:10, 11, 21; Josh. 11:21, 22; 14:12, 15; called "sons of Anak," Num. 13:33; "children of Anak," 13:22; Josh. 15:14), a nomad race of giants descended from Arba (Josh. 14:15), the father of Anak, that dwelt in the south of Palestine near Hebron (Gen. 23:2; Josh. 15:13). They were a Cushite tribe of the same race as the Philistines and the Egyptian shepherd kings. David on several occasions encountered them (2 Sam. 21:15-22). From this race sprung Goliath (1 Sam. 17:4).
(4.) Heb. emin, a warlike tribe of the ancient Canaanites. They were "great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims" (Gen. 14:5; Deut. 2:10, 11).
(5.) Heb. Zamzummim (q.v.), Deut. 2:20 so called by the Amorites.
(6.) Heb. gibbor (Job 16:14), a mighty one, i.e., a champion or hero. In its plural form (gibborim) it is rendered "mighty men" (2 Sam. 23:8-39; 1 Kings 1:8; 1 Chr. 11:9-47; 29:24.) The band of six hundred whom David gathered around him when he was a fugitive were so designated. They were divided into three divisions of two hundred each, and thirty divisions of twenty each. The captians of the thirty divisions were called "the thirty," the captains of the two hundred "the three," and the captain over the whole was called "chief among the captains" (2 Sam. 23:8). The sons born of the marriages mentioned in Gen. 6:4 are also called by this Hebrew name.
Smith's Bible Dictionary · William Smith, 1863
men of extraordinary size or height.
+ They are first spoken of in (Genesis 6:4) under the name Nephilim. We are told in (Genesis 6:1-4) that "there were Nephilim in the earth," and that afterwards the "sons of God" mingling with the beautiful "daughters of mens produced a race of violent and insolent Gibborim (Authorized Version "mighty men"). + The Rephalim, a name which frequently occurs. The earliest mention of them is the record of their defeat by Chedorlaomer and some allied kings at Ashteroth Karnaim. The "valley of Rephaim," (2 Samuel 5:18; 1 Chronicles 11:15; Isaiah 17:5) a rich valley southwest of Jerusalem, derived its name from them. They were probably an aboriginal people of which the EMIM, Anakim and Zuzim, The [which see] were branches. [See also Goliath]
Classic public-domain reference works; full attribution on Sources.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 24 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 24 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.
