StrongerBible

ratson

רָצוֹן

HebrewH7522favor, acceptance, ...

Appears 56 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 49:6Exo 28:38Lev 1:3Lev 19:5Lev 22:19Lev 22:20Lev 22:21Lev 22:29Lev 23:11Deu 33:16Deu 33:232Ch 15:15Ezr 10:11Neh 9:24Neh 9:37Est 1:8Est 9:5Psa 5:12(13)Psa 19:14(15)Psa 30:5(6)Psa 30:7(8)Psa 40:8(9)Psa 51:18(20)Psa 69:13(14)Psa 89:17(18)Psa 103:21Psa 106:4Psa 143:10Psa 145:16Psa 145:19Pro 8:35Pro 10:32Pro 11:1Pro 11:20Pro 11:27Pro 12:2Pro 12:22Pro 14:35Pro 15:8Pro 16:13Pro 16:15Pro 19:12Isa 60:10Dan 8:4Dan 11:3Dan 11:16Dan 11:36
Root family
Word studyrah-TSOHNnoun

What ratson means

favorable pleasure: what pleases someone, and so the acceptance or favor they grant and the will they choose to carry out

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

This Hebrew word, ratson, names the pleasure one person takes in another, and it fans out from there into three connected shades. At its root it is the warm approval that makes a thing welcome. When that approval lands on a worshiper's offering, the word means being accepted: the gift is received with pleasure rather than refused. When it describes the steady goodwill a king or God extends, it means favor: the kindly disposition that brings life and blessing. And when it points back to the one who is pleased, it means that person's will: what they have settled on and choose to do because it pleases them.

The three senses are one idea seen from different angles. Acceptance is favor received; favor is pleasure shown; will is pleasure acted upon. The thread running through all of them is delight: ratson is never cold permission but the positive leaning of one heart toward something it finds good.

Because the same word can mean both the favor God shows and the will God enacts, context does the sorting. Worship language (an offering accepted, a prayer received) leans toward acceptance and favor; phrases about doing or acting according to ratson, especially of a king, point to the will.

Nuances

1aacceptance: being received with pleasure, especially of an offering or prayer found acceptable before God
Exo 28:38Lev 1:3Lev 19:5Lev 22:19Lev 22:20Lev 22:21Lev 22:29Lev 23:11Psa 19:14(15)Isa 56:7Isa 60:7Jer 6:20
1bfavor: the kindly goodwill a superior shows, the delight of God or a king that brings blessing
Deu 33:16Deu 33:23Psa 5:12(13)Psa 30:5(6)Psa 30:7(8)Psa 89:17(18)Psa 106:4Pro 8:35Pro 10:32Pro 11:1Pro 11:20Pro 12:2
1cwill: what a person chooses and resolves to do because it pleases them, said of God or of a ruler
Gen 49:62Ch 15:15Ezr 10:11Neh 9:24Neh 9:37Est 1:8Est 9:5Psa 40:8(9)Psa 103:21Psa 143:10Psa 145:16Psa 145:19

What scholars say about ratson

The standard lexica (BDB, HALOT, DCH) derive ratson from the root rtsh, "to be pleased with, accept favorably," and group its range under one polysemous entry: (1) the cultic sense "acceptance, acceptableness" (the le-ratson formula in the sacrificial legislation of Leviticus and the Holiness Code, where a victim is or is not accepted before YHWH), (2) "favor, goodwill," chiefly the favor of God but also of a king (frequent in Psalms and Proverbs, including the eschatological "year/time of favor" in Isaiah 49:8; 58:5; 61:2 and Psalm 69:13), and (3) "will, pleasure," what a person resolves to do, most concentrated in the late books (Daniel, Esther, Nehemiah, Ezra) and in the post-exilic idiom "to do the will" of God (Psalm 40:8; 103:21; 143:10; Ezra 10:11). TDOT and TDNT note that this volitional sense develops within Hebrew and feeds the later theological vocabulary of the divine will, which the Septuagint and New Testament render with eudokia/thelema. The senses are treated as one word, not homonyms, unified by the notion of pleasure or delight.

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. רָצוֹןlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. רָצוֹןlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. רָצוֹןlexicon
  • G. Gerleman, 'rṣh, to be pleased with,' Theological Dictionary of the Old Testamenttheological-dictionary

All attested forms of רָצוֹן

m s absolute

רָצוֹן

Exo 28:38, Lev 22:20, Lev 22:21, Deu 33:23, Psa 5:12, Psa 19:14, Psa 69:13, Psa 145:16

m s construct

רְצוֹנוֹ, רְצֹנוֹ

Ezr 10:11, Psa 30:5, Psa 103:21, Pro 11:1, Pro 11:20, Pro 12:22, Pro 15:8, Pro 16:15

m s construct

רְצוֹן

Deu 33:16, Est 1:8, Psa 106:4, Psa 145:19, Pro 14:35, Pro 16:13

m s construct

רְצוֹנְךָ, רְצוֹנֶךָ, רְצֹנְךָ

Psa 30:7, Psa 40:8, Psa 51:18, Psa 143:10, Psa 89:17

m s construct

רְצוֹנָם, רְצֹנָם

2Ch 15:15, Neh 9:24, Neh 9:37, Est 9:5, Gen 49:6

m s construct

רְצֹנְכֶם

Lev 19:5, Lev 22:19, Lev 22:29, Lev 23:11

m s construct

רְצוֹנִי

Isa 60:10