StrongerBible

resah

רֶשַׁע

HebrewH7562wickedness, guilt, ...

Appears 30 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Deu 9:271Sa 24:13(14)Job 34:8Job 34:10Job 35:8Psa 5:4(5)Psa 10:15Psa 45:7(8)Psa 84:10(11)Psa 125:3Psa 141:4Pro 4:17Pro 8:7Pro 10:2Pro 12:3Ecc 3:16Jer 14:20Ezk 3:19Ezk 31:11Ezk 33:12
Root family
Word studyREH-shahnoun

What resah means

wickedness: wrongdoing that sets itself against what is right, and the guilt it brings

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

This is the abstract word for being in the wrong. It names the evil a person does, not the person who does it, and the Hebrew Bible almost always sets it directly opposite צֶדֶק, the word for righteousness. To speak of this wickedness is to say that a life, an act, or a ruling has landed on the wrong side of a clear moral and legal line.

The word runs across a small range that all shares that core. Most often it is moral and religious evil in general: conduct God hates, the food and rule and plans of people who do wrong. In courtroom and covenant settings it narrows to guilt, the actual wrong a person is charged with and must turn from or confess. And in a few sharp passages it comes all the way down to earth as dishonest gain, the fraud of rigged scales and short measures.

These are shades of one idea rather than separate words. Whether the setting is a psalm about God's character, a prophet's warning to turn back, or a complaint about a crooked merchant, the term marks the same thing: the wrong that stands against the right, and the liability that wrong creates.

Nuances

1awickedness as moral and religious evil: conduct that is simply wrong, the opposite of doing right
1Sa 24:13(14)Job 34:8Job 34:10Psa 5:4(5)Psa 45:7(8)Psa 84:10(11)Psa 125:3Psa 141:4Pro 4:17Pro 8:7Pro 12:3Pro 16:12
1bguilt: the wrong a person has done, counted against them and set opposite being in the right
Deu 9:27Job 35:8Psa 10:15Jer 14:20Ezk 3:19Ezk 31:11Ezk 33:12
1cdishonest gain: wealth and dealings gotten by fraud, such as rigged scales and short measures
Pro 10:2Mic 6:10Mic 6:11

What scholars say about resah

The standard lexica treat רֶשַׁע (reshaʿ) as the abstract noun of the root רשׁע, denoting wickedness, wrongdoing, and, in forensic contexts, guilt. BDB distinguishes wickedness as violence and crime against civil law, wickedness of enemies opposed to the right, and general ethical wickedness. HALOT groups the range as wrong or injustice (including commercial injustice, as in Micah 6:10 to 11), guilt as the state of being in the wrong opposite צֶדֶק, and wickedness in the broad moral and religious sense. The near-constant antithesis with the righteousness word group (Psalm 45:7; Ezekiel 33:12) is the defining semantic feature, and TDOT (van Leeuwen) and TWOT stress that the root frames wrong forensically, as being in the wrong before a standard or a court, rather than merely as harm. The sense inventory is agreed among the lexica; only the fineness of the sense divisions varies, and there is no live dispute about what the word denotes.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. רֶשַׁעlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. רֶשַׁעlexicon
  • C. van Leeuwen, "רשׁע rāšaʿ," TDOTdictionary
  • G. Herbert Livingston, "רשׁע," TWOT §2222dictionary

All attested forms of רֶשַׁע

m s absolute

רֶשַׁע, רָשַׁע

1Sa 24:13, Job 34:8, Job 34:10, Psa 5:4, Psa 45:7, Psa 84:10, Psa 125:3, Psa 141:4

m s construct

רִשְׁעוֹ

Deu 9:27, Psa 10:15, Ezk 3:19, Ezk 31:11, Ezk 33:12

m s construct

רִשְׁעֵנוּ

Jer 14:20

m s construct

רִשְׁעֶךָ

Job 35:8