StrongerBible

raḥoq

רָחֹק

HebrewH7350far, distant, ...

Appears 84 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 22:4Gen 37:18Exo 2:4Exo 20:18Exo 20:21Exo 24:1Num 9:10Deu 13:7(8)Deu 20:15Deu 28:49Deu 29:22(21)Deu 30:11Jos 3:4Jos 9:6Jos 9:9Jos 9:22Jdg 18:7Jdg 18:281Sa 26:132Sa 7:191Ki 8:411Ki 8:462Ki 2:72Ki 19:252Ki 20:141Ch 17:172Ch 6:322Ch 6:362Ch 26:15Ezr 3:13Neh 4:19(13)Neh 12:43Est 9:20Job 2:12Job 36:3Job 36:25Psa 38:11(12)Psa 65:5(6)Pro 31:10Ecc 7:23Isa 33:13Isa 39:3Isa 46:12Isa 57:9Isa 66:19Jer 23:23Jer 25:26Jer 48:24Ezk 12:27Ezk 22:5
Root family
Names & words formed with this
Word studyrah-KHOKEadjective

What raḥoq means

far off, distant: removed by a wide gap, whether in space, in time, or in closeness.

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled

This is the ordinary word a Hebrew speaker reached for to say that something is a long way off. Its home base is physical distance: a place you can barely see on the horizon, a country at the far edge of the earth, an army marching in from a land nobody has heard of. From there the same word stretches naturally to other kinds of distance, because the picture of a wide gap fits more than just geography.

Stretched across time, it points either far back into the past or far ahead into the future, so the prophets use it for things God planned long ago and for promises that reach generations down the line. Stretched across relationships, it describes people or God as standing at a remove: the distant nations as opposed to the people close at hand, or, most painfully, God seeming far off when a sufferer cries out. And pushed all the way to the figurative edge, it can mean simply out of reach, beyond what a person can grasp or afford.

These are not different words; they are the same plain idea of distance read off different scales. Context, not the word itself, tells a reader which kind of distance is in view, and the word often gets its full force from sitting opposite its natural partner, קָרוֹב, the word for near.

Nuances

1adistant in space: a place, land, people, or object a long way off.
Gen 22:4Exo 2:4Exo 20:18Deu 13:7(8)Deu 20:15Deu 29:22(21)Jos 3:4Jos 9:6Jos 9:9Jos 9:22Jdg 18:7Jdg 18:28
1bdistant in time: far back in the past, or far ahead in the future.
2Sa 7:192Ki 19:251Ch 17:17Isa 22:11Isa 25:1Isa 37:26Ezk 12:27
1cdistant in relationship: God or people standing at a remove, far rather than near.
Psa 10:1Psa 22:1Psa 38:11(12)Psa 119:155Psa 139:2Pro 15:29Isa 46:12Isa 57:19Isa 59:14Jer 12:2Jer 23:23Jer 31:3
1dbeyond reach: too far to grasp, attain, or afford.
Deu 30:11Pro 31:10Ecc 7:23Ecc 7:24

What scholars say about raḥoq

Standard lexicons (BDB, HALOT, DCH) treat this as a single adjective meaning far off or distant, the counterpart of the word for near, and they group its uses by the kind of distance in view rather than as separate meanings: literal space, distance in time (both past and future), and the relational or moral remove of God or of people. It is the adjective of the same root as the verb meaning to be far or to remove, and it pairs idiomatically with its antonym near, a contrast the lexicons highlight in passages such as the distant against the nearby nations.

Sources

  • BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs), s.v. רָחוֹקlexicon
  • HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner), s.v. רָחוֹקlexicon
  • DCH (Dictionary of Classical Hebrew), s.v. רָחוֹקlexicon

All attested forms of רָחֹק

m s absolute

רָחוֹק, רָחֹק

Deu 28:49, Jos 3:4, 2Sa 7:19, 2Ki 2:7, 2Ki 19:25, 1Ch 17:17, 2Ch 26:15, Ezr 3:13

f s absolute

רְחוֹקָה, רְחֹקָהׄ, רְחֹקָה

Deu 29:22, Jos 9:6, Jos 9:9, Jdg 18:28, 1Ki 8:41, 1Ki 8:46, 2Ki 20:14, 2Ch 6:32

m p absolute

רְחוֹקִים, רְחֹקִים

Jos 9:22, Neh 4:19, Est 9:20, Isa 33:13, Isa 46:12, Zec 6:15, Deu 13:7, Jdg 18:7

f p absolute

רְחֹקוֹת, רְחוֹקוֹת, רְחֹקֹת

Jer 48:24, Ezk 22:5, Ezk 12:27, Deu 20:15