רַק
only
also: altogether, surely 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
- Particle
- A short function word — article, negation, interrogative, the sign of the direct object, and the like.
Every verse where H7535 appears in the Book of Exodus — 8 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.
Exodus
- Exodus 8:9 רַ֥ק ptcl acc Moses said to Pharaoh, "I give you the honor of setting the time that I should pray for you, and for your servants, and for your people, that the frogs be destroyed from you and your houses, and remain in the river only."
- Exodus 8:11 רַ֥ק ptcl acc The frogs shall depart from you, and from your houses, and from your servants, and from your people. They shall remain in the river only."
- Exodus 8:28 רַ֛ק ptcl acc Pharaoh said, "I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to Yahweh your God in the wilderness, only you shall not go very far away. Pray for me."
- Exodus 8:29 רַ֗ק ptcl acc Moses said, "Behold, I go out from you, and I will pray to Yahweh that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow; only don't let Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to Yahweh."
- Exodus 9:26 רַ֚ק ptcl acc Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.
- Exodus 10:17 רַ֖ק ptcl acc Now therefore please forgive my sin again, and pray to Yahweh your God, that he may also take away from me this death."
- Exodus 10:24 רַ֛ק ptcl acc Pharaoh called to Moses, and said, "Go, serve Yahweh. Only let your flocks and your herds stay behind. Let your little ones also go with you."
- Exodus 21:19 רַ֥ק ptcl acc if he rises again and walks around with his staff, then he who struck him shall be cleared: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for his healing until he is thoroughly healed.
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.
רק — transliterated raq — is a Hebrew verb carrying the sense “only.” Not a single-sense word: its full sense range also takes in “altogether” and “surely”. Spanning 107 verses in 15 books, it ranks among the common words of the Hebrew Bible. Scripture first uses it in Genesis 6:5. It shares a root with רק, רקה and רקון. See the sense tree, 107-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H7535 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 →
- 107
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 107 distinct verses.
- 15 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 15 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #398
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 398 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 107 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Deuteronomy 20 verses 19%
- Joshua 15 verses 14%
- 1 Kings 12 verses 11%
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 107 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 48 verses · 45%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 40 verses · 37%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 19 verses · 18%
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: So 2×
- American Standard Version: Nevertheless 2×, Only 2×, You 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Only 30×, But 24×, Nevertheless 8×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Only 75×, Except 9×, Surely 7×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H7535 across 16 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 14 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H7535 across 16 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 10 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 H7535 across 97 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 10 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 12 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H7535 across 110 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 4 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
7 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB
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 7 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.
- 1. adj. thin;—fpl. רַקּוֹת, of kine, Gn 41:19, 20, 27 (‖ v 3, 4 דַּקּוֹת). e.g. Genesis 41:19
- 2. 109 adv. with restrictive force, only, altogether, surely (syn. אַךְ);—
- a. only, Gn 14:24; 41:40 רַק הַכִּסֵּא אֶגְדַּל מִמֶּךָּ only as regards the throne, etc., 47:22 רַק אַדְמַת הַכֹּהֲנִים לֹא קָנָה, 50:8; Ex 8:5 רַק בַּיְאֹר תִּשָּׁאַרְנָח, 10:17 וְיָסֵר מֵעָלַי רַק הַמָּוֶת הַזֶּה only this death, Dt 2:35 (cf. 20:14; Jos 8:2, 27), 3:11; Ju 6:39 (cf. אַךְ ib. Gn 18:32; Ex 10:17), 11:34 (circ. cl.) רַק הִיא יְחִידָה (there being) only she, an only one, 1 S 1:13; Am 3:2 רק אתכם ידעתי only you have I known, etc., Jb 1:15, 16, 17, 19 וָאִמָּֽלְטָה רַק אֲנִי לְבַדִּי I only, ψ 91:8 + often. Once strengthening אַךְ, †Nu 12:2 הֲרַק אַךְ־בְּמשֶׁה דִּבֶּר י׳. And separated (as sometimes in English) from the word actually emphasized, Pr 13:10 רַק בְּזָדוֹן יִתֵּן מַצָּה by pride there only cometh [נָתַן 1 z] contention. e.g. Genesis 14:24
- b. prefixed to sentences, to add a limitation on sthg. previously expressed (or implied), Gn 19:8 only to these men do nothing, 24:8 רַק אֶת־בְּנִי לֹא־תָשֵׁב הֵ֫נָּה, Ex 8:24 I will let you go …, only go not far, v 25 Nu 20:19 only—it is nothing—let me pass through on my feet (cf. Dt 2:28); especially in Deut. writers, as Dt 10:15; 12:15; 20:16; 1 K 3:2, 3 (cf. 2 K 12:4; 14:4; 15:4, 35), 8:19; 11:13; 15:14, 23; 2 K 3:2 (cf. 14:3; 17:2), etc., Is 4:1; emphasizing a command, Dt 4:9; 12:16, 23 Jos 1:7, 18; 6:18; 13:6; 22:5 (all D2). e.g. Genesis 19:8
- c. emphasizing single words, especially adjj., only = nought but, altogether, Gn 6:5 יֵצֶר מַחְשְׁבוֹת לִבּוֹ רַק רַע is only evil, i.e. exclusively evil, nought but evil, Gn 26:29 עָשִׂינוּ עִמְּךָ רַק טוֹב nothing but good, Dt 28:33 וְהָיִיתָ רַק עָשׁוּק, Is 28:19 רַק זְוָעָה it shall be nought but terror to, etc., 1 K 14:8 (cf. אַךְ 2 b β); sq. an adv. Dt 28:13 וְהָיִיתָ רַק לְמַ֫עְלָה above only; sq. a vb., Ju 14:16 thou dost but hate me. e.g. Genesis 6:5
- d. after a neg., save, except (syn. כִּי אִם 2 a), 1 K 8:9 (= 2 Ch 5:10) אֵין בָּאָרוֹן רַק שְׁנֵי לֻחוֹת הָאֲבָנִים, 15:5; 22:16 (= 2 Ch 18:15), 2 K 17:18. e.g. 1 Kings 8:9
- e. with an affirmative, asseverative force, only, altogether = surely, Gn 20:11 רַק אֵין יִרְאַת אלהים במקום הזה, Dt 4:6 (so EV; but Ges populus mere sapiens, so Di), 1 K 21:25 2 Ch 28:10 ψ 32:6 רַק לְשֶׁטֶף מים רבים אליו לא יַגִּ֑יעוּ. †f. רַק אִם (רַק prefixed for emph.) if only, provided only, Dt 15:5 רַק אִם שׁמוע תשׁמע וג׳, 1 K 8:25 (= 2 Ch 6:16) רַק אִם ישׁמרו בניך דרכם ללכת וג׳, 2 K 21:8 (= 2 Ch 33:8). e.g. Genesis 20:11
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
Derived from רק (raq) (H7534) — thin.
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.
רִיקּוּחַ
- perfume.—Pl. רִיקּוּחִים, רִקּ. Tanḥ. Sh’moth 14, v. רִיכּוּךְ.
רַק
- , v. רָקַק, רְקַק.
רֹק
- , v. רוֹק
רַק ²
- only, except.—Pl. רַקִּין use of the word רַק. Gen. R. s. 1; Y. Ber. IX, 14ᵇ bot., v. אַךְ I.
רֵק
- , v. רֵיק, רֵיקָא.
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 19 distinct written forms H7535 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| רַ֣ק | Particle, Accusative | Deuteronomy 12:23 | 16 |
| רַ֥ק | Particle, Accusative | Deuteronomy 2:35 | 16 |
| רַק | Particle, Accusative | Deuteronomy 3:11 | 14 |
| רַ֚ק | Particle, Accusative | Amos 3:2 | 13 |
| רַ֗ק | Particle, Accusative | Deuteronomy 20:16 | 9 |
| רַ֠ק | Particle, Accusative | Deuteronomy 3:19 | 8 |
| רַ֛ק | Particle, Accusative | Deuteronomy 2:37 | 6 |
| רַ֕ק | Particle, Accusative | 1 Kings 15:5 | 5 |
| רַ֖ק | Particle, Accusative | Deuteronomy 2:28 | 5 |
| רַ֤ק | Particle, Accusative | 1 Kings 11:13 | 3 |
| רַ֧ק | Particle, Accusative | Deuteronomy 10:15 | 3 |
| רַק֩ | Particle, Accusative | Deuteronomy 12:15 | 3 |
| רַ֞ק | Particle, Accusative | Deuteronomy 20:20 | 2 |
| הֲ/רַ֤ק | Adverb | Numbers 12:2 | 1 |
| וְ/רַק | Particle, Accusative | Joshua 6:18 | 1 |
| וְ/רַק֙ | Particle, Accusative | Judges 11:34 | 1 |
| רַ֡ק | Particle, Accusative | Deuteronomy 4:9 | 1 |
| רַ֭ק | Particle, Accusative | Psalms 91:8 | 1 |
| רַק֮ | Particle, Accusative | Deuteronomy 17:16 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H7535, 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
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → 1 of the same-root words is a proper name (a person or place). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 106 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 107 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
- Genesis 6:5
- Exodus 8:9
- Numbers 12:2
- Deuteronomy 2:28
- Joshua 1:7
- Judges 3:2
- 1 Samuel 1:13
- 1 Kings 3:2
- 2 Kings 3:2
- 2 Chronicles 5:10
- Job 1:12
- Psalms 32:6
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.
