StrongerBible

rage'a

רָגֵעַ

HebrewH7282“quiet, peaceable”

Appears 1 time · tap a cell to see the verses

Psa 35:20
Root family
Word studyrah-GAY-ahadjective

What rage'a means

quiet and peaceable: a settled person who lives calmly and causes no trouble

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong

This adjective describes a person who is settled and at peace, the opposite of a troublemaker. It belongs to a small family of Hebrew words built on the idea of coming to rest: the related verb can mean to be at rest or to grow calm, and a closely related noun names a moment, the brief instant in which something settles into stillness.

The word appears only once in the whole Hebrew Bible, in Psalm 35:20. There the writer contrasts violent schemers with "the quiet ones of the land," the peaceable people those schemers target with their lies. The picture is of ordinary, settled folk who keep to themselves and wish no one harm, set against the people plotting against them.

Because the word is so rare, its exact shade has to be filled in from that one verse and from its close relatives. The sense that best fits is peaceable and undisturbed: people minding their own business who want only to live in peace, gentle enough that the wicked treat them as easy prey.

Psa 35:20

What scholars say about rage'a

BDB and HALOT take רָגֵעַ as an adjective from רגע "to be at rest, quiet," glossing the Psalm 35:20 phrase רִגְעֵי־אֶרֶץ as "the quiet (peaceable) ones of the land." The construct plural is its only attested form. Because the line stands in synonymous parallelism with deceitful speech against the innocent, some commentators (e.g. proposals noted in the apparatus and discussed in critical Psalms commentaries such as Kraus and Hossfeld-Zenger) have entertained an emendation to a noun of deceit to sharpen the parallel, but the lexica and major versions retain the traditional reading. The root is to be kept distinct in usage from the homonymous רגע "to disturb, stir up" (H7280) and the noun רֶגַע "a moment" (H7281), even where the lexica relate them historically.

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. רָגֵעַlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. רגע / רָגֵעַlexicon
  • Hans-Joachim Kraus, Psalms 1-59 (Continental Commentary), on Ps 35:20commentary

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

All attested forms of רָגֵעַ

m p construct

רִגְעֵי

Psa 35:20