empty-handed: with nothing to show for it, whether one comes or goes with no goods, acts to no effect, or acts for no reason.
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong
This is the adverb built from the word for "empty." It pictures a hand, a container, or an errand that comes up with nothing in it. Most often it describes people who arrive or leave carrying or receiving nothing: Jacob complains he was nearly sent off "empty-handed" after twenty years of labor (Genesis 31:42), the LORD promises Israel they will not leave Egypt empty-handed (Exodus 3:21), and a freed servant must not be sent away empty-handed (Deuteronomy 15:13).
A cluster of laws uses the word for worship: no one is to "appear before the LORD empty-handed" at the yearly feasts (Exodus 23:15; 34:20; Deuteronomy 16:16). To come before God with nothing in hand is unthinkable; the worshiper brings an offering in keeping with the blessing received.
From that picture of a hand with nothing in it the word stretches in two directions. A thing sent out on a mission can come back "empty," meaning it accomplished nothing: Saul's sword never returned without blood (2 Samuel 1:22), and God's word "shall not return to me empty" but does what he sends it to do (Isaiah 55:11). And a person can act "empty," meaning without cause or provocation (חִנָּם carries this same "for no reason" sense), as the psalmist protests that he never wronged an ally groundlessly (Psalm 7:4).
Nuances
1aempty-handed: arriving, leaving, or being sent off carrying or receiving nothing.
ties the empty hand to what should have been brought or given: wages after long service, provision for a freed servant, an offering at a feastGen 31:42Deu 15:13
Both
both name arriving or leaving with nothing in handRut 1:21
Only empty-handed
the English phrase is purely physical, so it misses the extensions to accomplishing nothing and to acting without cause
still carries the root idea of emptiness, an action with nothing behind itPsa 25:3
Both
both mean acting against someone with no valid grounds or provocationPsa 7:4
Only without cause
the English is abstract and legal-sounding, losing the underlying image of an empty hand or empty errand
How reqam differs from similar Hebrew words
חִנָּםfor nothing, gratuitously, without cause; overlaps the groundless-action sense, but points to something done for no reason or no payment rather than to a hand or errand that comes up empty.
empty-handed: carrying nothing in hand, whether sent away, arriving, or returning with no gift, possession, or spoil to showGen 31:42Deu 15:13Rut 1:212Sa 1:22
to no effect: something sent out that comes back having accomplished nothing it was sent to doIsa 55:11Jer 50:9
Both
without cause: hostility or harm aimed at someone who has done nothing to deserve itPsa 7:4Psa 25:3Psa 69:4Psa 109:31Sa 19:5
free of charge: work done, or a thing given or taken, with no money or wages changing handsGen 29:15Exo 21:22Sa 24:24Jer 22:13
in vain: effort spent that yields no return or benefit to the one who spends itPro 1:17Mal 1:10
רֵיקthe adjective "empty" from the same root; describes a thing that is empty or a person who is worthless, whereas this word is the adverb for going, coming, or acting emptily.
Describes how a person is sent off or brought back: empty-handed, with nothing to carry away.Gen 31:42Deu 15:13Rut 1:21Job 22:9
Names the manner of approaching God, that no one is to come before him with empty hands and no offering.Exo 23:15Exo 34:20Deu 16:16
Says that an action or errand achieves nothing and comes back with no result to show.Isa 55:112Sa 1:22Jer 14:3
Both
Both grow from the same idea of emptiness, and each can speak of a word as void of effect: one denies that the law is an empty word, the other promises that God's word will not come back empty.Deu 32:47Isa 55:11
Describes a physical container or hollow that holds nothing, a literal void in a thing.Gen 37:242Ki 4:3Jdg 7:16
Brands a person as worthless, reckless, and good for nothing, an insult aimed at character.Jdg 9:4Jdg 11:32Ch 13:7
Marks a word or pursuit as having no substance behind it, empty of real worth.Deu 32:47Pro 12:11Pro 28:19
שָׁוְאemptiness that is false or deceptive: a lie, a worthless thing, futility; overlaps "in vain" but stresses falsehood, while this word stresses the absence of contents or result.
Describes a person coming or being sent away empty-handed, with no goods actually in hand. This concrete, physical lack is a sense shav never carries.Gen 31:42Exo 23:15Deu 15:13Rut 1:211Sa 6:3
Means without cause or undeservedly, describing hostility or trouble that a person did nothing to provoke.Psa 7:4Psa 25:3
Both
Both describe effort or action that comes to nothing, rendered in vain or to no effect.Isa 55:11Jer 50:9Psa 127:1Mal 3:14
Names falsehood, lying, and deception, especially in speech and testimony. It is a moral charge about untruth that reqam, a word of manner and result, never makes.Exo 20:7Exo 23:1Deu 5:20Ezk 13:6Psa 12:2
Names the built-in worthlessness or hollowness of a thing itself, above all of idols and empty objects of trust.Jon 2:8Psa 24:4
The word for empty hands, describing what a person carries away or brings back: Jacob says Laban would have sent him off with nothing, a freed slave may not be sent away with nothing, and Ruth is told not to go back to her mother-in-law with nothing.Gen 31:42Deu 15:13Rut 3:17
Fixed in the language of Israel's worship: at the yearly festivals no one is to come before the LORD with empty hands.Exo 23:15Exo 34:20Deu 16:16
Pictures something sent out coming back with nothing to show for it: Saul's sword never returned without blood, and the arrows aimed at Babylon do not come back empty.2Sa 1:22Jer 50:9
Shades into "for no reason at all", naming harm done with no grounds for it: the psalmist swears he never stripped an enemy without cause, and prays that those who betray without cause be shamed.Psa 7:4Psa 25:3
Both
Both can say that effort came to nothing: Isaiah's servant complains he has labored for nothing, and the LORD promises that his word never comes back to him having accomplished nothing.Isa 49:4Isa 55:11
Both can be plainly physical, describing a container with nothing in it: Babylon's victim says she has been set down like an empty jar, and servants sent for water come home with their jars empty.Jer 51:34Jer 14:3
Both voice bitter complaint to God about a life that came up empty: one psalmist says he kept his heart clean for nothing, and Naomi says the LORD brought her home empty.Psa 73:13Rut 1:21
Names the empty thing itself, something people can love or lean on: one psalm asks how long people will keep loving what is empty, and Isaiah says Egypt's help is "empty and worthless".Psa 4:2Isa 30:7
Belongs with hard work that yields nothing: seed sown for nothing, strength used up for nothing, whole nations wearing themselves out for nothing.Lev 26:16Lev 26:20Hab 2:13
Covers plotting and planning, not only physical labor, as when the nations scheme against the LORD and get nowhere.Psa 2:1
reqam in the other biblical languages
κενόςGreek“empty”the Greek word for "empty, vain, without effect" that most closely matches this word's range, and the term the Greek Old Testament often uses to render it.
Fixed in Hebrew law and worship: no one may appear before the LORD empty-handed at the feasts, and a freed servant must not be sent away empty-handed. It carries a covenant duty to give that the Greek word does not.Deu 16:16Deu 15:13Exo 23:15
Means without cause or groundlessly, describing hostility or shame that is undeserved rather than merely empty. This sense of an unjustified act lies outside the Greek word's range of futility.Psa 7:4Psa 25:3
Both
Sending a person off with nothing in hand, unrewarded or stripped of what they came for. The Greek word regularly renders the Hebrew adverb in exactly this scene.Gen 31:42Rut 1:21Mrk 12:3Luk 1:53
An effort, a mission, or a spoken word that comes to nothing and fails of its result. Both words deny this of what God sets in motion and affirm it of wasted human labor.Isa 55:11Jer 50:91Co 15:58Php 2:16
Describes a thing itself as hollow, having no real substance inside: empty words, an empty message, an empty man. As an adjective it attaches to a noun and calls the thing's content worthless, a use the Hebrew adverb never has.Eph 5:61Co 15:14Jas 2:20
δωρεάνGreek“freely”"freely, for nothing, without cause" in Greek; lines up with the groundless-action sense but also carries the idea of a gift given free of charge.
Means "empty-handed": leaving, arriving, or being sent off with nothing in hand, lacking goods, gifts, or spoil. This physical sense of carrying nothing is the word's core and has no counterpart in the Greek adverb.Gen 31:42Exo 3:21Rut 1:21Deu 16:16
Both
Both can mean "without cause, for no reason": an action aimed at someone who did nothing to deserve it.Jhn 15:25Psa 7:4
Both can mean "in vain, to no purpose, without effect": an act or a thing that fails to accomplish anything.Gal 2:21Isa 55:11
Means "as a free gift, without payment or cost": something given or received for nothing, out of grace rather than earned. This is the dominant New Testament use, and it is the opposite of being empty-handed.Mat 10:8Rom 3:24Rev 21:6
Describes labor or a benefit supplied free of charge, without demanding the payment one could rightly claim.2Co 11:72Th 3:8
What scholars say about reqam
The standard lexicons (BDB, HALOT, DCH) treat רֵיקָם as an adverb formed from the adjective רֵיק "empty," agreeing on a core sense "with empty hands" and two recognized extensions: "without result, in vain" (the sword of 2 Samuel 1:22, the word of Isaiah 55:11, the arrows of Jeremiah 50:9) and "without cause, undeservedly" (Psalm 7:5[4]; 25:3). The pilgrimage laws (Exodus 23:15; 34:20; Deuteronomy 16:16) and the manumission law (Deuteronomy 15:13) are its most theologically weighted occurrences, and TDOT treats the motif of not appearing before God empty-handed as programmatic for Israelite worship. The syntax of רֵיקָם in Psalm 7:5 is debated, but the sense of the word itself is not at issue.