StrongerBible

rekhush

רְכוּשׁ

HebrewH7399possessions, substance, ...

Appears 28 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 12:5Gen 13:6Gen 14:11Gen 14:12Gen 14:16 (2×)Gen 14:21Gen 15:14Gen 31:18Gen 36:7Gen 46:6Num 16:32Num 35:31Ch 27:311Ch 28:12Ch 20:252Ch 21:142Ch 21:172Ch 31:32Ch 32:292Ch 35:7Ezr 1:4Ezr 1:6Ezr 8:21Ezr 10:8Dan 11:13Dan 11:24Dan 11:28
Root family
Word studyreh-KOOSHnoun

What rekhush means

movable property: the goods, livestock, and belongings a person or group owns and can carry

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This word names the portable wealth a household or a nation owns: flocks and herds, silver and gold, tents and gear, the whole store of goods that can be gathered up and moved. It is deliberately different from land. When Abraham and Lot had grown too rich to live side by side, it was this kind of movable property, above all their animals, that crowded them apart.

Because such goods can be carried, they can also be carried off. A large share of the word's appearances describe property changing hands by force: the goods of Sodom hauled away by raiding kings and then recovered, or the treasure stripped from a defeated king's house. The word itself does not mean plunder. It simply names the goods, and the surrounding story tells us they were seized.

The same term covers the holdings of a king managed by his officials and the possessions the returning exiles brought back from Babylon. In every case it points to concrete, countable wealth rather than abstract riches or social standing.

Nuances

1athe movable goods, livestock, and accumulated belongings a person, family, or ruler owns
Gen 12:5Gen 13:6Gen 15:14Gen 31:18Gen 36:7Gen 46:6Num 16:32Num 35:31Ch 27:311Ch 28:12Ch 21:142Ch 31:3
1bgoods carried off from a defeated enemy as spoils of war
Gen 14:11Gen 14:12Gen 14:16 (2×)Gen 14:212Ch 20:252Ch 21:17Dan 11:24

What scholars say about rekhush

The lexicons treat רְכוּשׁ as a common noun for movable property, from the root רכשׁ "to gather, acquire" (BDB, HALOT). BDB groups its uses in three: property of individuals, royal property, and goods gained by war, all sharing the single sense of portable possessions. HALOT and DCH likewise give one meaning, "property, possessions, goods," and note its frequent pairing with מִקְנֶה (livestock) and its concentration in narratives of migration and conquest. There is no dispute over the word's sense.

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. רְכוּשׁlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. רְכוּשׁlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. רְכוּשׁlexicon
  • TWOT, s.v. רכשׁdictionary

All attested forms of רְכוּשׁ

m s absolute

רְכוּשׁ, רְכֻשׁ, רֲכוּשׁ

1Ch 27:31, 1Ch 28:1, 2Ch 20:25, 2Ch 21:17, 2Ch 32:29, Ezr 1:4, Ezr 1:6, Dan 11:13

m s construct

רְכוּשָׁם, רְכֻשָׁם

Gen 12:5, Gen 13:6, Gen 36:7, Gen 46:6, Num 35:3

m s construct

רְכֻשׁוֹ, רְכוּשׁוֹ

Gen 14:12, Gen 14:16, Gen 31:18, 2Ch 31:3, Ezr 10:8

m s construct

רְכוּשׁ, רְכֻשׁ

2Ch 35:7, Gen 14:11

m s construct

רְכוּשֵׁנוּ

Ezr 8:21

m s construct

רְכוּשֶׁךָ

2Ch 21:14