רָפָא
Rapha
BDB lists 3 entries for ‘Rapha’ 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).
Every verse where H7498 appears — 2 distinct verses across 1 book. 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 2 verses
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.
רפא — transliterated Râphâʼ — is a Hebrew name carrying the sense “Rapha.” A scarce word — 2 verses in all of the Hebrew Bible. More than three-quarters of its appearances fall in 1 Chronicles. Its earliest occurrence is 1 Chronicles 8:2. See 2-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H7498 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 →
- 2
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 2 distinct verses.
- 1 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 1 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #4,807
- by frequency
- Top 5000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 4,807 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 2 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- 1 Chronicles 2 verses 100%
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 2 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 2 verses · 100%
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 5 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†: Rapha 2×
- American Standard Version†: Rapha 1×, Raphah 1×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Rapha 1×, Raphah 1×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Rapha 1×, Raphah 1×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H7498 across 2† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H7498 across 2† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H7498 across 2† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H7498 across 2† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
30 senses and sub-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. This entry also uses Hithpael (reflexive or reciprocal).
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 30 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.
רפא I m. in Saul’s line 1 Ch 8
רפא II sink, relax (NH id., so Aramaic רפא (der. spec.), Zinj. רפה Aph., ܪܦܳܐ
Qal
- Pf. 3 ms. Ju 19:9 (yet v. infr.); 3 fs. רָֽפְתָה Ju 8:3 Je 49:24, etc.; Impf. 3 ms. יִרְפֶּה Is 5:24, וַיִּ֫רֶף Ex 4:26 (v. infr.), etc.;— e.g. Judges 19:9
- 1. sink down, of hay in flame Is 5:24; sink, decline, of day Ju 19:9 (si vera l.; 𝔊L κέκλικεν, GFM נָטָה [but how expl. the difficult רפה?]). Usually e.g. Isaiah 5:24
- 2. sink, drop (of wings, v. Pi.), of hands, c. מִן Ne 6:9 their hands will drop from the work (in fear); elsewhere abs. fig. = lose heart, energy, 2 S 4:1; Is 13:7; Je 6:24; 50:43; Ez 7:17; 21:12; Zp 3:16; 2 Ch 15:7; יָדַיִם om. Je 49:24. e.g. Nehemiah 6:9
- 3. relax, abate, of temper Ju 8:3 (+ מֵעַל pers.). e.g. Judges 8:3
- 4. relax, withdraw, subj. י׳, מִן pers. Ex 4:26 (J), i.e. let one alone (but read perhaps וַיֶּרֶף, v Hiph.). e.g. Exodus 4:26
Niphal
- Pt. pl. נִרְפִּים idle Ex 5:18, 17 (J). e.g. Exodus 5:18
Piel
- Pf. 3 ms. רִפָּה Jb 12:21; Impf. 3 fpl.; תְּרַפֶּינָה Ez 1:24, 25; Pt. מְרַפֵּא (Ges§ 75 rr) Je 38:4; pl. מְרַפִּים Ezr 4:4;—causat.: let wings drop Ez 1:24, 25 (read Qal, כנפיהם subj., 𝔊 Co Toy Krae al., who del. in v 25); loosen and let drop, girdle of mighty, fig. for weaken them Jb 12:21; c. acc. hands, fig. for enfeeble, dishearten Je 38:4; Ezr 4:4. e.g. Job 12:21
Hiphil
- Impf., 3 ms. sf. יַרְפְּךָ Dt 4:31 +; juss. 2 ms. תֶּ֫רֶף Jos 10:6 +, etc.; Imv. ms. הַרְפֵּה Ju 11:37; 2 K 4:27; הֶ֫רֶף Dt 9:14 +; mpl. הַרְפּוּ ψ 46:11;—causat., e.g. Deuteronomy 4:31
- 1. let drop, the hand 2 S 24:16 = 1 Ch 21:15; fig., + מִן pers., = abandon, Jos 10:6 (JE); perhaps also (יָד om.) = relax, refrain Ex 4:26 (reading וַיֶּרֶף, v Qal.); acc. rei, = abandon, forsake, Ne 6:3, so (subj. י׳) ψ 138:8; subj. י׳, c. acc. pers., Dt 4:31; 31:6, 8; Jos 1:5 (D), 1 Ch 28:20. e.g. 2 Samuel 24:16
- 2. let go, sf. pers., Ct 3:4 (opp. אחז); fig., acc. (om.) מוּסָר, Pr 4:13 (opp. החזיק), צְדָקָה Jb 27:6 (opp. id.). e.g. Song of Solomon 3:4
- 3. refrain, c. מִן pers., = let one alone Ju 11:37; Dt 9:14, מִן of anger ψ 37:8; c. ל pers. 1 S 11:3; 2 K 4:27; acc. pers. Jb 7:19; abs. let alone, i.e. do nothing, be quiet, 1 S 15:16 ψ 46:11 (cf. Weir in Dr 18 15, 16).—Je 3:22; Jb 5:18 ψ 60:4 v. רָפָא. e.g. Judges 11:37
Hithpael
- Pf. 2 ms. הִתְרַפִּית Pr 24:10 hast shewn thyself slack; Pt. מִתְרַפֶּה 18:9 one shewing himself slack, pl. מִתְרַפִּים Jos 18:3.—Vid. also רָפָא heal. e.g. Proverbs 24:10
רפא III II. רָפָא as n.pr.m., always c. art. Hā-Rāphā (perhaps der. from n.pr.gent. II. רְפָאִים, q.v.)
רפא IV heal (NH in deriv.
Qal
- Pf. 3 ms. consec. וְר׳ Is 6:10, sf. וּרְפָאָם 19:22, 1 s. sf. consec. וּרְפָאתִיו 57:19, etc.; Impf. 3 ms. יִרְפָּא 2 K 20:8 +, sf. יִרְפָּאֵנוּ Ho 6:1, 1 s. אֶרְפָּא Ho 14:5 +, אֶרְפָּה (Ges§ 75 pp) Je 3:22; 3 fpl. תִּרְפֶּינָה (id.ib. qq) Jb 5:18, etc.; Imv. ms. רְפָא Nu 12:13, רְפָה (id.ib. pp) ψ 60:4, רְפָאָ֫ה 41:5, etc.; inf. abs. רָפוֹא Is 19:22; cstr. לִרְפֹּא Ho 5:13, etc.; Pt. רֹפֵא (פֶ K 3) 2 K 20:5 +;—heal: e.g. Isaiah 6:10
- 1. lit.,
- a. of God, c. acc. pers. Gn 20:17 (E), ψ 107:20 (sf.), c. ל pers. Nu 12:13 (JE) 2 K 20:5, 8. e.g. Genesis 20:17
- b. of men, abs. Ec 3:3 (opp. הרג); pt. as subst. healer, physician, Gn 50:2(×2), (J) 2 Ch 16:12. e.g. Ecclesiastes 3:3
- 2. fig., heal hurts of nation, involving י׳’s (restored) favour (and, often, forgiveness):
- a. subj. י׳, c. sf. pers., Ho 6:1; 11:3 (yet cf. We Now), Ex 15:26 (J), Is 19:22b; 57:18, 19 Je 33:6 ψ 30:3, cf. 6:3; c. acc. עַם 2 Ch 30:20, c. acc. אֶרֶץ 2 Ch 7:14; c. ל of nation Ho 7:1, and (indef. subj.) Is 6:10 (lest) one heal them (= pass., they be healed); c. acc. of hurt, מַחַץ מַכָּתוֹ 30:26, שְׁבָרִים (of land) ψ 60:4, so מְשׁוּבָה Ho 14:5; Je 3:22 (incl. the consequences of backsliding); c. ל of hurt ψ 103:3; acc. nation (personif.) + מִן of hurt Je 30:17 I will heal thee of thy wounds (‖ אֶרְפָּאֵךְ); abs. Is 19:22a (opp. נגף), Dt 32:39 (opp. מחץ); pt. as subst. healer, physician Je 8:22. e.g. Hosea 6:1
- b. human subj., c. ל of nation, Ho 5:13, cf. La 2:13. e.g. Hosea 5:13
- 3.
- a. fig., heal individ. distresses, c. sf. pers. Je 17:14, c. acc. נַפְשִׁי = me ψ 41:5, c. ל pers., לִשְׁבוּרֵי לֵב ψ 147:3 (i.e. longing exiles, cf. Is 61:3); abs. Jb 5:18 (opp. מחץ); e.g. Jeremiah 17:14
- b. pt. as subst Jb 13:4. e.g. Job 13:4
Niphal
- Pf. 3 ms. נִרְפָּא Lv 13:37 +, 3 fs. נִרְפָּ֑תָה (Ges§ 75 qq) Je 51:9; 3 pl. וְנִרְפּאוּ consec. Ez 47:8; Impf. 2 ms. תֵּרָפֵא Je 51:8; 3 mpl. יֵרָֽפְאוּ Ez 47:9, 11, וַיֵּרָפוּ (Gesl.c.) 2 K 2:22, etc.; inf. cstr. הֵרָפֵא Je 15:18 +, הֵרָפֵה (id.ib.) Je 19:11;—be healed: e.g. Leviticus 13:37
- 1. lit., of pers. 1 S 6:3; + acc. of disease Dt 28:27, 35; subj. disease Lv 13:18, 37; 14:3, 48; of (bad) water 2 K 2:22, salt waters (prediction), i.e. be made fresh, Ez 47:8, 9, 11; of (broken) pottery, i.e. be made whole, Je 19:11 (in sim.). e.g. 1 Samuel 6:3
- 2. fig., be healed:
- a. of national hurts, subj. city Je 51:8, 9; involving forgiveness and י׳’s blessing, impers. c. ל of people, נִרְפָּא־לָנוּ Is 53:5 i.e. healing has come to us. e.g. Jeremiah 51:8
- b. of personal distress, subj. pers. Je 17:14, subj. the distress 15:18. e.g. Jeremiah 17:14
Piel
- Pf. 1 s. רִפִּאתִי 2 K 2:21; 2 mpl. רִפֵּאתֶם Ez 34:4; 1 pl. רִפִּאנוּ Je 51:9; Impf. 3 ms. יְרַפֵּא Ex 21:19; Zc 11:16, וַיְרַפֵּא 1 K 18:30; 3 mpl. וַיְרַפְּאוּ Je 6:14, וַיְרַפּוּ (Ges§ 75 qq) 8:11; inf. abs. רַפֹּא Ex 21:19;—have healed, heal, usually human subj.: e.g. 2 Kings 2:21
- 1. lit., רַפֹּא יְרַפֵּא Ex 21:19 he shall have (him) well healed; c. acc. of altar, = repair, 1 K 18:30; c. ל of water (subj. י׳) 2 K 2:21. e.g. Exodus 21:19
- 2. fig. of healing national defects and hurts, acc. pers., Ez 34:14; Zc 11:16; work at healing, treat (acc. of hurt) Je 6:14; 8:11 (both עַל־נְקַלָּה, v. [קָלַל] Niph. 2), 51:9. e.g. Ezekiel 34:14
Hiphil
- inf. cstr. of purpose, לְהִתְרַפֵּא, lit., in order to get healed, + מִן of wounds 2 K 8:29 = 9:15, so ‖ 2 Ch 22:6 (read with 𝔊 מִן for כִּי, cf. Be Kau Benz).—v. רָפָה relax. e.g. 2 Kings 8:29
רפא V m. in Benj., 1 Ch 8
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
I. n.pr.m. in Saul’s line 1 Ch 8:37, Ραφαι(α), 𝔊L Αραχα; v. רְפָיָה.—II. ר׳ v. רפה.
II. vb. sink, relax (NH id., so Aramaic רפא (der. spec.), Zinj. רפה Aph., ܪܦܳܐ; Arabic رَفَاهَة an easy life is perhaps akin);—
III. II. רָפָא as n.pr.m., always c. art. Hā-Rāphā (perhaps der. from n.pr.gent. II. רְפָאִים, q.v.);—הָֽרָפָה 2 S 21:16, 18, c. prep. לְהָ׳ v 20:22 = לְהָרָפָא 1 Ch 20:6, 8;—only as parent, בִּילִידֵי הָר׳ 2 S 21:16, 18 (= מִילִידֵי הָֽרְפָאִים 1 Ch 20:4); יֻלַּד לְהָר׳ v 20, 22 ‖ I Ch 20:6, 8.—1. רָפָה v. sub רָפָא.
I. vb. heal (NH in deriv.; Ph. רפא, Syriac ܪܦܳܐ heal; on Aramaic n.pr. cpd. with רפא v. NöZMG xl (1886), 723 Lzb 369; Sab. n.pr. אלרפא Langer 1, 1 DHMZMG xxxvii (1883), 326; Arabic رَفَأَ (and رَفَا) darn, mend, repair, pacify; Ethiopic ረፍአ stitch together, mend; cf. Küchenmeister ZWiss. Th. xxx (1887), 257 ff.);—
II. n.pr.m. in Benj., 1 Ch 8:2, Ραφη[α].—II. רָפָא v. רפה.—Vid. also בֵּית ר׳ p. 112.
— 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) (H7497) — giants.
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 2 distinct written forms H7498 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| וְ/רָפָ֖א | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 8:2 | 1 |
| רָפָ֥ה | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 8:37 | 1 |
Bible dictionary
Public-domain dictionary articles matched to this entry by name (Rapha). 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
Tall. (1.) A Benjamite, the son of Binea (1 Chr. 8:2, 37), a descendant of Saul. (2.) Margin of 1 Chr. 20:4, 6, where "giant" is given in the text.
Smith's Bible Dictionary · William Smith, 1863
(tall).
+ Son of Binea, among the descendants of Saul. (1 Chronicles 8:37) + One of Benjamin's descendants. (1 Chronicles 8:2)
Classic public-domain reference works; full attribution on Sources.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 2 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 2 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.
