רָשַׁע
to be wicked
‘to be wicked’ is one of 5 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Hiphil verb in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Hiphil
- The causative active stem (“he caused / brought about”). Here: ‘condemn as guilty’
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”). Here: ‘be wicked’
Form
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Jussive
- A third- or second-person volitional form expressing wish or command (“let him write”).
State
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Person
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
3 verses where H7561 appears in the Qal stem in the Book of Job. Filtered view — show all forms. 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.
Job
- Job 9:29 אֶרְשָׁ֑ע Qal impf 1cs I shall be condemned; Why then do I labor in vain?
- Job 10:7 אֶרְשָׁ֑ע Qal impf 1cs Although you know that I am not wicked, There is no one who can deliver out of your hand.
- Job 10:15 רָשַׁ֡עְתִּי Qal pf 1cs If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still shall not lift up my head, Being filled with disgrace, And conscious of my affliction.
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.
רשע (râshaʻ) is a Hebrew verb most often rendered “to be wicked.” It first appears in Exodus 22:9. Spanning 35 verses in 13 books, it ranks among the moderately common words of the Hebrew Bible. Job dominates its distribution — 11 of 35 verses. As a verb its force shifts by stem, across 2 stems (Qal, Hiphil, and more). For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H7561 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 →
- 35
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 35 distinct verses.
- 13 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 13 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #990
- by frequency
- Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 990 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 35 occurrences in the concordance →
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 35 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 26 verses · 74%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 7 verses · 20%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 2 verses · 6%
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: Condemn 3×, We have done wickedly 3×, Do wickedly 2×
- American Standard Version: Condemn 3×, We have done wickedly 3×, Do wickedly 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: We have acted wickedly 4×, Condemn me 2×, Condemning 2×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Wicked 4×, We have acted wickedly 3×, Been wicked 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H7561 across 34 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 18 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 H7561 across 34 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 22 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 H7561 across 34 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 24 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H7561 across 48 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 31 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
- 1. be wicked, act wickedly
- 2. be guilty
Hiphil
- 1. condemn as guilty, in civil relations
- 2. condemn as guilty, in ethical and religious relations
- 3. act wickedly, in ethics and religious
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
[ רָשַׁע ] vb. denom. be wicked, act wickedly
— 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
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.
רָשַׁע
- [to be powerful,] to do violence, be wicked. Yalk. Koh. 976 (ref. to Koh. VII, 17) אלא אם רָשַׁעְתָּ אל תִּרְשַׁע הרבה (omitted in Sabb. 31ᵇ) but it means, if thou hast once done wrong, do not therefore do more wrong. e.g. Ecclesiastes 7:17
- 1. to declare in the wrong, to condemn. Snh. 10ᵃ אלא מעתה והצדיקו שנים והִרְשִׁיעוּ שנים וכ׳ if this be so (that you can derive from ושפטום, Deut. XXV, 1, that there must be two judges and one in addition to make a majority vote possible) then ‘and they shall justify’ (ib.) indicates two, ‘and they shall condemn’ (ib.) means two, hence you would require seven judges for a court! e.g. Deuteronomy 25:1
- 2. to charge with wrong-doing, accuse. Ib. עדים שהרשיעו את הצדיק וכ׳ if (false) witnesses accused an innocent person, and other witnesses came and justified him. B. Kam. 64ᵇ (ref. to Ex. XXII, 8) ולא המַרְשִׁיעַ עצמו “he whom the judges shall condemn shall pay double”, but not he who accuses himself. Ib. (ref. to Ex. XXII, 3) פרט למרשיע וכ׳ to the exemption of him who &c.; a. fr.— to do wrong. Tanḥ. D’barim 3; Yalk. Deut. 805 (play on רשעתים, Jud. III, 8) הם הרשיעו עלינו שתי רשעיות they (the Aramæans) did us two wrongs. e.g. Exodus 22:8
רְשַׁע I
- Targ. Deut. XVIII, 23 (some ed. דיַרְ׳ Af.).—Sabb. 31ᵇ (ref. to Koh. VII, 17) הרבה הוא דלא לִירְשַׁע הא מעט לירשע man should not sin much, but little he may?; Yalk. Koh. 976. e.g. Ecclesiastes 7:17
- same. Targ. Deut. I, 43. Targ. Y. Ex. XVIII, 11. Targ. Ps. LXXVIII, 57; a. fr.
- to talk wickedly. Targ. Is. XXVIII, 22 (h. text תתלוצצו).
רְשַׁע II
- m., v. רִשְׁעָא
רָשָׁע
- preced. wds.) wicked man, wrongful claimant. Snh. 27ᵃ (ref. to Ex. XXIII, 1) אל תשת ר׳ עד allow not a wicked man to be witness. Ib. 9ᵇ ר׳ הוא והתורה אמרה וכ׳ he is a (self-confessed) wicked man, and the Law says, allow not &c. Ib. אין אדם משים עצמו ר׳ none can incriminate himself (his testimony against himself has no legal effect). Ib. 27ᵃ ר׳ דחמס בעינן (to be disqualified in court) he must be a wicked man connected with violence (but you cannot disqualify a sinner against ceremonial laws). Gen. R. s. 20 נחש זה ר׳ בעל תשובות that serpent is a wicked creature rich in arguments. Bekh. 8ᵃ ולאותו ר׳ לא וכ׳ and to that wicked creature (the serpent) I find no parallel in nature (as to duration of pregnancy). Ab. V, 19 בלעם הר׳ Balaam the wicked; a. v. fr.—Pl. רְשָׁעִים. Ib. 1 להפרע מן הר׳ וכ׳ in order to punish the wicked who ruin the world &c. Ib. I, 8 וכשיהיו … יהיו בעיניך כר׳ when disputants stand before thee (the judge), look upon both parties as wrongful claimants, opp. זכאין. Ib. IV, 15 אין … משלות הר׳ וכ׳ it is beyond our power to understand why the wicked are prosperous or why the righteous suffer. Snh. 110ᵇ קטני בני רִשְׁעֵי ישראל young children of wicked Israelites; Tosef. ib. XIII, 1 רשעי ארץ (corr. acc.). Ib. 2 (ref. to Ps. IX, 18) אלו ר׳ ישראל this refers to Israelitish sinners. Hor. 10ᵇ (ref. to Koh. VIII, 14) כמעשה חר׳ של עוה"ב like that which happens to the wicked in the world to come. Snh. 93ᵃ רִשְׁעֵיהֶם של ישראל the wicked (idolaters) of the Israelitish people; a. v. fr.—Fem. רְשָׁעָה. Ber. 61ᵇ מלכות הר׳ Ms. M. (v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note) the wicked (Roman) government. Ex. R. s. 35 אדום הר׳ (sub. מלכות); a. fr. e.g. Exodus 23:1
רֶשַׁע
- preced.) wickedness, guilt. Snh. 47ᵃ נהרג מתוך רִשְׁעוֹ one who is put to death for his wickedness; מת מתוך רשעו who dies (a natural death) for his wickedness; a. e.
רִשְׁעָא
- Targ. O. Deut. XVIII, 22. Targ. Ps. XVIII, 22. Ib. XXXVI, 4. Ib. 5 (some ed. רשיעא, corr. acc.). Targ. Prov. VIII, 7 (some ed. רשיעא, corr. acc.); a. fr.
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 31 distinct written forms H7561 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.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H7561, 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 31 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 35 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
- Exodus 22:9
- Deuteronomy 25:1
- 1 Samuel 14:47
- 2 Samuel 22:22
- 1 Kings 8:32
- 2 Chronicles 6:37
- Job 9:20
- Psalms 106:6
- Proverbs 12:2
- Ecclesiastes 7:17
- Isaiah 50:9
- Daniel 9:5
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.
