StrongerBible

ra'ah

רָאָה

HebrewH7200“see, appear, ...”

Appears 1300 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 1:4Gen 1:10Gen 1:12Gen 1:18Gen 1:21Gen 1:25Gen 1:31Gen 2:19Gen 6:2Gen 6:5Gen 6:12Gen 7:1Gen 8:8Gen 8:13Gen 9:22Gen 9:23Gen 11:5Gen 12:14Gen 12:15Gen 13:10Gen 13:14Gen 16:13Gen 22:8Gen 22:14Gen 24:30Gen 27:1Gen 27:27Gen 29:10Gen 29:32Gen 31:12 (2×)Gen 31:42Gen 31:50Gen 32:30(31)Gen 33:10 (2×)Gen 34:1Gen 37:4Gen 37:14Gen 37:18Gen 37:25Gen 38:15Gen 39:13Gen 39:14Gen 41:19Gen 41:41Gen 42:9Gen 42:12Gen 42:35Gen 44:23Gen 44:26Gen 44:28
Names & words formed with this
Word studyResearch-graderah-AHverb

What ra'ah means

to see: to take something in with the eyes, and from there to perceive, understand, experience, look into, provide for, or (turned around) be seen and shown.

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong

This is the ordinary Hebrew word for seeing, and it is one of the most common verbs in the whole Old Testament. At its core it simply means to take something in with the eyes. But like the English word "see," it reaches far past the eyes: to see can mean to notice, to realize, to understand, to look into a matter, or to live through an experience ("to see good days," "to see death"). One verb covers the whole stretch from physical sight to insight, and that convergence of perceiving, undergoing, and coming to know is built into the word itself.

A few of its uses are worth flagging because the English does not show them. When God is the one seeing, the word often carries the weight of attending to and acting on what he sees: God "sees" Israel's suffering and comes down to rescue. In the same vein, to "see to" a need slides into providing for it, which is why this verb stands behind the famous line that the Lord will provide on the mountain. In certain settings to see can also mean to look a person over with a view to choosing him, so a king is "seen out" for a task, or to scout a place ahead of time.

The verb also turns around. When the weight falls on the thing being seen rather than the one looking, it means to appear, to be seen, to show oneself. This is the regular language for God appearing to the patriarchs and the prophets, and a companion use means to make someone see, that is, to show. So one word runs

  • from a person catching sight of something
  • through perceiving and experiencing it
  • all the way to God revealing himself and being seen

Despite this range, scholars treat it as a single verb, not a bundle of look-alikes. The senses below are shades of one idea, seeing and what follows from seeing, not separate words. The reader's main task is simply not to flatten every occurrence down to bare eyesight when the context has already moved on to perceiving, experiencing, providing, or appearing.

Nuances

1ato see with the eyes: to catch sight of, notice, or watch something physically present.
Gen 1:4Job 22:14Job 28:24Job 41:34Psa 64:5Psa 112:8Psa 112:10Isa 21:6Isa 66:19Lam 1:7Lam 1:8Hab 3:10
1bto perceive, to realize, to understand: to take in with the mind what seeing makes plain.
Gen 26:28Gen 39:14Exo 10:10Exo 16:29Exo 35:30Deu 32:39Jos 8:4Job 37:24Psa 49:10Isa 17:8Isa 26:10Jon 4:5
1cto look at, to look into, to inspect or examine something closely.
Gen 11:5Gen 18:21Lev 13:3Lev 13:5Lev 13:21Lev 13:26Lev 13:31Lev 13:531Sa 14:171Sa 14:38Job 31:4Job 34:21
1dto scout out, to spy out, to reconnoitre: to look a place or situation over ahead of acting.
Gen 42:9Gen 42:12Num 13:18Num 32:8Num 32:9Jos 2:1Jdg 18:71Sa 23:221Sa 23:232Ki 6:132Ki 7:14Zec 2:2
1eto experience or undergo something, to live through it: the idiom of "seeing" good or evil, death or life.
Deu 1:35Deu 1:36Ecc 2:1Ecc 2:24Ecc 3:13Ecc 6:6Isa 53:10Isa 53:11Jer 17:6Jer 17:8Jer 22:12Jer 29:32
1fof God: to see in the sense of taking notice and acting, looking on someone's trouble in order to help.
Gen 16:13Gen 29:31Gen 31:12 (2×)Exo 2:25Exo 3:7Exo 4:31Deu 23:14(15)Deu 32:362Sa 16:12Psa 94:7Pro 24:18Jer 12:4
1gto look over in order to choose, to pick out or select.
Gen 41:33Deu 33:21Jdg 14:21Sa 14:521Sa 16:11Sa 16:172Ki 10:3Est 2:9
1hto see to a need, to provide for it: the idiom behind "the Lord will provide."
Gen 22:8Gen 22:142Ch 10:16
1ito see the face of, to be admitted to someone's presence: the set idiom for gaining an audience.
Gen 32:20Gen 43:3Gen 43:5Gen 44:23Gen 44:26Exo 10:28 (2×)Exo 10:292Sa 3:132Sa 14:24 (2×)2Sa 14:28Est 1:14Job 33:26
1jto appear, to be seen, to show oneself: the verb turned so the weight is on the one seen, the regular language for God appearing.
Gen 1:9Gen 12:7Gen 17:1Gen 18:1Gen 26:2Gen 35:9Exo 3:2Exo 3:16Lev 9:4Num 14:101Ki 3:51Ki 18:1
1kto make someone see, to show or reveal something to them.
Gen 12:1Exo 25:9Exo 25:40Deu 34:1Deu 34:42Ki 8:13Psa 50:23Psa 60:3Psa 71:20Amo 7:1Amo 7:4Amo 7:7
1lto see in a vision: prophetic seeing, taking in what God shows the prophet.
Isa 6:1Ezk 1:1Ezk 1:4Ezk 8:2Ezk 10:1Ezk 13:3Ezk 44:4Dan 8:2Dan 8:3Dan 10:5Dan 10:7Amo 7:8
1mto face one another, to face off: two parties (often armies) coming into each other's sight for a confrontation.
Gen 42:12Ki 14:82Ki 14:112Ch 25:172Ch 25:21Jer 32:4Jer 34:3

What scholars say about ra'ah

The lexica (BDB, HALOT, Fuhs in TDOT, Naudé in NIDOTTE, Vetter in TLOT) agree on the distribution: the Qal carries roughly 1,140 of about 1,300 occurrences and ranges across physical sight, epexegetical "see that," the experiential "see good/evil/death," pure cognition (frequently paired with yada, "see and know"), inspection, reconnaissance, selection, and the providential "see to" (Gen 22:8; Deut 33:21). The Niphal is the standard verb of theophanic appearance; the Hiphil ("show, cause to see") is the prototypical verb of prophetic vision-induction (Amos 7; Zech 1-6); the Hophal is its passive; the Hitpael is a reciprocal "face off" (Gen 42:1; 2 Kgs 14:8), matching Arabic Form VI tarāʾā. The Piel does not occur, and the sole possible Pual (Job 33:21) is textually suspect. Comparative Semitists reconstruct West-Semitic *rʾy; the root is conspicuously absent from Akkadian (amāru) and largely from Aramaic (which uses חזה/חמא), while Arabic raʾā preserves the fullest range including the cognitive "hold an opinion." Fuhs and Jepsen posit a functional split (ראה for general seeing, חזה for cultic and visionary seeing) that is a tendency rather than an airtight rule (note the synonymous parallelism in Isa 30:10). The word sits at the center of the canon's tension about seeing God; Sommer (The Bodies of God) reads the contradictory statements diachronically, Hamori (When Gods Were Men) as distinct categories of theophany, and Childs and Moberly as a deliberate canonical dialectic in which vision is converted into audition of the divine name and character (Exod 33-34). On the Psalms, Mark Smith's 1988 CBQ article is the standard critique of Dahood's "beatific vision" reading, locating the seeing-God language in this-worldly temple experience. Geiger first argued that the pilgrimage formula was originally Qal ("shall see the face of") and revocalized to Niphal ("shall appear before") as an anti-anthropomorphic softening, a view now widely held among critical text scholars and preserved in the rabbinic al-tiqre tradition (b. Ḥagigah 2a), though Kraus and Hossfeld-Zenger treat the received reading as the genuine formula.

Where scholars disagree about ra'ah

Whether the yearly pilgrimage command was originally worded "every male shall see the face of the Lord" (an active seeing of God) and was later revocalized to "shall appear before the Lord" to avoid saying that human beings see God's face. The same unpointed consonants (Exod 23:17; 34:23-24; Deut 16:16; cf. Ps 42:2; Isa 1:12) support both readings.

  • majorityOriginally "shall see," deliberately repointed to "shall appear" as part of a broader tendency to remove statements that people see God; the rabbinic al-tiqre note at b. Ḥagigah 2a preserves awareness of the alternative.; Abraham Geiger, Urschrift und Übersetzungen der Bibel (Breslau, 1857); Michael Fishbane, Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel (Clarendon, 1985), 65-77; Mark S. Smith, "'Seeing God' in the Psalms," CBQ 50 (1988): 171-183
  • minorityThe received "shall appear before" is the genuine cultic-pilgrimage formula and need not rest on an earlier "shall see."; Hans-Joachim Kraus, Psalms 1-59, Continental Commentary (Fortress, 1988); Frank-Lothar Hossfeld and Erich Zenger, Psalms 1, Hermeneia (Fortress, 2004)
In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. ראה, 906-911lexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. ראה, 1157-1161lexicon
  • H. F. Fuhs, "ראה," TDOT 13:208-242theological-dictionary
  • Jackie A. Naudé, "ראה," NIDOTTE 3:1007-1015theological-dictionary
  • D. Vetter, "ראה," TLOT 3:1177-1183theological-dictionary
  • A. Jepsen, "חזה," TDOT 4:280-290theological-dictionary
  • Benjamin D. Sommer, The Bodies of God and the World of Ancient Israel (Cambridge UP, 2009)monograph
  • Esther J. Hamori, "When Gods Were Men": The Embodied God in Biblical and Near Eastern Literature, BZAW 384 (de Gruyter, 2008)monograph
  • Brevard S. Childs, The Book of Exodus, OTL (Westminster, 1974), 593-599commentary
  • R. W. L. Moberly, At the Mountain of God, JSOTSup 22 (Sheffield, 1983), 80-93monograph
  • Mark S. Smith, "'Seeing God' in the Psalms," CBQ 50 (1988): 171-183article
  • Abraham Geiger, Urschrift und Übersetzungen der Bibel (Breslau, 1857)monograph

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of רָאָה

qal consecutive-imperfect 3ms

וַיַּרְא, וַיִּרְאֶה, וַיִּרְאֵ, וַיִּרְאֶ

Gen 1:4, Gen 1:10, Gen 1:12, Gen 1:18, Gen 1:21, Gen 1:25, Gen 1:31, Gen 6:5

qal infinitive-construct construct

רְאוֹת, רְאֹת, רְאוֹתָ, רְאֹתָ, רְאֹתִ, רְאֹה, רְאוֹתְ, רְאוֹתִ, רְאוֹתֶ, רְאֹתְ

Gen 2:19, Gen 8:8, Gen 34:1, Gen 42:9, Gen 42:12, Gen 44:23, Gen 44:26, Gen 44:31

qal perfect 1cs

רָאִיתִי, רְאִיתִי

Gen 7:1, Gen 16:13, Gen 31:12, Gen 32:30, Gen 33:10, Gen 41:19, Exo 3:7, Exo 3:9

qal imperative 2ms

רְאֵה

Gen 13:14, Gen 27:27, Gen 31:12, Gen 31:50, Gen 37:14, Gen 41:41, Exo 4:21, Exo 7:1

qal perfect 3cp

רָאוּ

Gen 9:23, Exo 10:6, Exo 10:23, Deu 4:9, Deu 7:19, Deu 10:21, Deu 11:2, Deu 21:7

qal imperfect 3ms

יִרְאֶה, יִרְאֶ, יִרְאַ

Gen 22:8, Gen 22:14, Lev 13:31, Lev 13:53, Deu 1:35, Deu 23:14, Deu 32:36, 1Sa 16:7

qal imperative 2mp

רְאוּ

Gen 39:14, Exo 10:10, Exo 14:13, Exo 16:29, Exo 35:30, Deu 32:39, Jos 2:1, Jos 8:4

qal consecutive-imperfect 3mp

וַיִּרְאוּ, וַיִּרְאֻ

Gen 6:2, Gen 12:14, Gen 12:15, Gen 37:4, Gen 37:18, Gen 37:25, Gen 42:35, Gen 50:15

qal perfect 3ms

רָאָה, רָאָ

Gen 29:10, Gen 29:32, Gen 31:42, Exo 4:31, Lev 5:1, Lev 13:56, Num 23:21, Jdg 20:41

qal consecutive-imperfect 1cs

וָאֶרְאֶה, וָאֵרֶא, וָאֶרְאֵ

Jdg 12:3, Ecc 4:1, Ecc 4:7, Isa 6:1, Jer 31:26, Ezk 1:1, Ezk 1:28, Ezk 2:9

qal consecutive-perfect 3ms

וְרָאָה, וְרָאָ, וְרָאֲ

Exo 12:23, Exo 33:10, Exo 34:10, Lev 13:3, Lev 13:6, Lev 13:8, Lev 13:10, Lev 13:13

qal participle m s absolute

רֹאֶה

Gen 13:15, Gen 31:5, Gen 31:43, Gen 39:23, Exo 22:10, Jdg 9:36, Jdg 19:30, 1Sa 26:12

qal imperfect 2ms

תִּרְאֶה, תִּרְאֵ, תִּרְאֶ, תִּרְאֵה

Exo 6:1, Exo 23:5, Num 11:23, Num 23:13, Num 23:13, Deu 3:28, Deu 12:13, Deu 22:1

qal consecutive-imperfect 3fs

וַתֵּרֶא, וַתִּרְאֵ, וַתִּרְאַ

Gen 3:6, Gen 16:4, Gen 16:5, Gen 21:9, Gen 21:19, Gen 24:64, Gen 30:1, Gen 30:9

qal imperfect 3mp

יִרְאוּ

Gen 12:12, Num 14:23, Num 14:23, Num 32:11, Deu 4:28, Neh 4:11, Job 21:20, Job 22:19

niphal perfect 3ms

נִרְאָה, נִּרְאָה

Gen 48:3, Exo 3:16, Exo 4:1, Exo 4:5, Exo 16:10, Lev 9:4, Lev 14:35, Num 14:10

qal imperfect 1cs

אֶרְאֶה, אֶרְאֶ, אֶרְאֵ

Gen 32:20, Gen 44:34, Deu 18:16, Deu 32:20, 2Sa 14:32, Job 9:11, Job 23:9, Job 31:19

qal perfect 2ms

רָאִיתָ, רָאִיתָה, רָאִתָה

Gen 20:10, Deu 1:31, 1Sa 19:5, 2Sa 18:11, 1Ki 20:13, 1Ki 21:29, Psa 31:7, Psa 50:18

niphal consecutive-imperfect 3ms

וַיֵּרָא

Gen 12:7, Gen 17:1, Gen 18:1, Gen 26:2, Gen 26:24, Gen 35:9, Gen 46:29, Exo 3:2

hiphil perfect 3ms

הִרְאַ, הֶרְאָ, הֶרְאָה, הֶרְאֲ

2Ki 8:13, Jer 24:1, Jer 38:21, Amo 7:1, Amo 7:4, Amo 7:7, Amo 8:1, Deu 5:24

qal perfect 2mp

רְאִיתֶם, רְּאִיתֶם

Gen 45:13, Exo 14:13, Exo 19:4, Exo 20:22, Deu 1:19, Deu 4:15, Deu 29:2, Jos 23:3

qal perfect 1cp

רָאִינוּ

Gen 26:28, Gen 42:21, Num 13:28, Num 13:32, Num 13:33, Deu 1:28, Deu 5:24, Jdg 13:22

niphal imperfect 3ms

יֵרָאֶה

Gen 22:14, Exo 13:7, Exo 13:7, Exo 23:17, Exo 34:23, Deu 16:4, Deu 16:16, Deu 16:16

qal consecutive-perfect 1cs

וְרָאִיתִי, וּרְאִיתִי

Exo 12:13, 1Sa 19:3, Est 8:6, Est 8:6, Ecc 3:22, Ecc 4:4, Ecc 8:17, Ezk 37:8

qal consecutive-perfect 3cp

וְרָאוּ

Exo 34:35, Deu 28:10, Deu 29:22, Psa 97:6, Isa 40:5, Isa 52:10, Isa 62:2, Isa 66:18

qal participle m p absolute

רֹאִים

Exo 20:18, Num 14:22, Deu 4:12, Jdg 13:19, Jdg 13:20, Jdg 16:27, 2Ch 7:3, 2Ch 29:8

qal imperfect 2mp

תִּרְאוּ

Gen 43:3, Gen 43:5, Jdg 7:17, 1Sa 21:14, 2Ki 3:17, 2Ki 3:17, Job 6:21, Isa 18:3

qal participle m p construct

רֹאֵי, רֹאֶי, רֹאַ, רֹאַיִ, רֹאָי

2Ki 25:19, Est 1:14, Ecc 7:11, Isa 61:9, Jer 52:25, Est 2:15, Isa 14:16, Ezk 28:18

qal perfect 3fs

רָאֲתָה, רָאָתְ, רָאָתָה

Gen 38:14, 2Ki 11:1, 2Ch 22:10, Job 13:1, Job 28:10, Job 29:11, Psa 35:21, Psa 54:7

qal participle f p absolute

רֹאוֹת, רֹאֹת

Gen 45:12, Deu 28:32, 2Sa 24:3, 1Ki 1:48, Ecc 12:3, Isa 30:20, Jer 20:4, Jer 42:2

qal imperative 2fs

רְאִי

Jdg 16:5, 1Sa 25:17, 1Sa 25:35, 1Ki 17:23, Psa 45:10, Isa 49:18, Isa 60:4, Jer 2:19

qal imperfect 3fp

תִּרְאֶינָה, תִּרְאֶינָּה

2Ki 22:20, 2Ch 34:28, Isa 17:7, Isa 29:18, Isa 33:17, Isa 33:20, Jer 32:4, Jer 34:3

niphal infinitive-construct construct

הֵרָאוֹת, רָאוֹת, הֵרָאֹת

Lev 13:14, 2Sa 17:17, 1Ki 18:2, Ezk 21:24, Mal 3:2, Exo 34:24, Deu 31:11, Isa 1:12

qal consecutive-perfect 2mp

וּרְאִיתֶם

Exo 16:7, Num 13:18, Num 15:39, Jdg 21:21, 1Sa 6:9, 2Ki 10:3, Isa 66:14, Ezk 14:22

qal jussive 3ms

יֵרֶא, יִרְאֶה

Gen 41:33, Exo 5:21, 1Sa 24:15, 1Ch 12:17, 2Ch 24:22, Job 20:17, Jer 23:18, Lam 3:50

hiphil consecutive-imperfect 3ms

וַיַּרְאֵ, וַיַּרְא

Deu 34:1, Jdg 1:25, 2Ki 6:6, 2Ki 20:13, Isa 39:2, Zec 1:20, Zec 3:1, 2Ki 11:4

hiphil infinitive-construct construct

הַרְאוֹת, הַרְאוֹתְ, הַרְאוֹתָ, הַרְאֹת, הַרְאֹתְ, רְאֹתְ

Deu 3:24, Est 1:11, Est 4:8, Ezk 40:4, Jos 5:6, Est 1:4, Exo 9:16, Deu 1:33

qal consecutive-perfect 2ms

וְרָאִיתָ, וּרְאִיתַ, וְרָאִיתָה

Exo 33:23, Deu 4:19, Deu 20:1, Deu 21:11, Jer 51:61, 1Ch 17:17, Num 27:13

qal conjunctive-imperfect 1cs

וְאֶרְאֶה, וְאֶרְאֶ

Gen 18:21, Exo 3:3, Exo 4:18, Deu 3:25, 1Sa 20:29, Gen 45:28

qal infinitive-absolute absolute

רָאֹה, רָאוֹ, רָאוֹת

Exo 3:7, 1Sa 1:11, Ecc 9:11, Gen 26:28, Isa 6:9, Isa 42:20

61 further parsings are listed under Syntax.