רְמִיָּה
rᵉmîyâh · H7423 · Hebrew · 15 occurrences
Meanings
-
lazy, slothful, idle, slack
State or condition of a person unequipped or unwilling to work or be attentive to responsibilities
ExamplesProverbs 10:4 Poor is one who works with a lazy hand, But the hand of the diligent makes rich.
Proverbs 12:24 The hand of the diligent will rule, But the lazy hand will be put to forced labor.
Proverbs 12:27 A lazy person does not roast his prey, But the precious possession of a person is diligence.
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Literally: a slack bow; hence: a bow that has lost its spring and is therefore no longer useful (slack > useless (bow))
ExamplesPsalm 78:57 But turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers; They turned aside like a treacherous bow.
Hosea 7:16 They turn, but not upward, They are like a loose bow; Their officials will fall by the sword Because of the insolence of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.
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falsehood, deceit, treachery
Action by which humans say or do things that are false in order to deceive or mislead others
ExamplesJob 13:7 “Will you speak what is unjust for God, And speak what is deceitful for Him?
Job 27:4 My lips certainly will not speak unjustly, Nor will my tongue mutter deceit.
Psalm 32:2 How blessed is a person whose guilt the LORD does not take into account, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!
How it’s used In 6 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
Named alongside itApposition
2 occurrences in 1 groups
- לָשׁוֹןtongue, language 2
What it doesIt is the subject
2 occurrences in 2 groups
- הָיָהto be, to become 1
- חָרַךְto be singed 1
What is done to itIt is the object
2 occurrences in 2 groups
- דָבַרto speak, to say 1
- הָגָהto utter, to meditate, to moan 1
What it is said to bePredicate
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- אַיִןthere is no, not 1
What is said to be itIt is the predicate
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- לָשׁוֹןtongue, language 1
In phrases “… of it”It is the genitive
6 occurrences in 4 groups
- עָשָׂהto do, to make 2
- קֶשֶׁתbow 2
- כַּףpalm, hand 1
- נֶפֶשׁsoul, life 1
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Near synonyms 6 words
- כָּזָב kâzâb · H3577 · falsehood, lie, lies
- כָּזָב (kâzâb, H3577) focuses on lies and falsehood, while רְמִיָּה (rᵉmîyâh, H7423) focuses on deceit and guile. Both overlap in the sense of dishonesty and could substitute in many contexts.
- שָׁוְא shâvᵉʼ · H7723 · falsehood, deceit, deceitfulness
- Both lexemes genuinely denote falsehood/deception: רְמִיָּה (rᵉmîyâh, H7423) "deceit, false, guile" and שָׁוְא (shâvᵉʼ, H7723) "false, lie, vain, vanity" show overlapping semantic territory where both could substitute in contexts of falsehood.
- תֹּךְ tôk · H8496 · fraud
- Both lexemes center on "deceit" or "fraud" as their core semantic content; this is genuine same-language near-synonymy, two distinct words that could substitute for "deceit" in overlapping senses.
- כַּחַשׁ kachash · H3585 · leanness, gauntness, lies
- Both words denote falsehood and deception: כַּחַשׁ centers on lies and lying, and רְמִיָּה on deceit and guile.
- מַשָּׁאוֹן mashshâʼôwn · H4860 · deceit
- Both words denote deceit or falsehood.
- חֲלַקָּה chălaqqâh · H2514 · smooth, flattering
- Both words belong to deceptive or misleading speech and behavior.
In the other Testament 1 word
- δόλος dólos · G1388 · to deceive, to trick into, treachery
- Greek δόλος denotes deliberate trickery or deceptive cunning (the bait/trap metaphor), closely overlapping with Hebrew רְמִיָּה's core sense of deceitfulness and guile; both terms center on intentional deception rather than mere error.
Semantic domains 3 entries
- Lazy002001002017
- This lexeme's gloss also covers idleness or slackness, a sense reflected elsewhere in the corpus (e.g. Proverbs 10:4's "slack hand"), though the sampled citations here (Job 13:7; 27:4; Psalm 32:2; 52:4; 78:57) all illustrate the deceit sense rather than laziness specifically.
- Bad002001001006
- Psalm 52:4 condemns "You deceitful tongue" and Psalm 78:57 likens Israel's unfaithfulness to "a treacherous bow," both attesting a morally bad, treacherous quality alongside the deceit sense.
- False002001003007
- Job 13:7 and 27:4 both speak of speaking "deceit" or "unjustly," and Psalm 32:2 blesses one "in whose spirit there is no deceit," directly attesting the sense of falsehood or deception.
Word family 5 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon H7423. rmiyah I. רְמִיָּה noun feminine deceit, treachery; — always absolute ׳ר; —…
I. רְמִיָּה noun feminine deceit, treachery; — always absolute ׳ר; — deceit, treachery: especially of speech, predicate of לָשׁוֺן Mic 6:12 (|| שֶׁקֶר), apposition of לָשׁוֺן (or read לְשֹׁוֺן ?) Psa 120:2 (|| שֶׁקֶר שְׂפַת), Psa 120:3; of man, ר ׳עשֵֹׁה Psa 52:4 that workest treachery, Psa 101:7 (|| שְׁקָדִים דֹּבֵר); also Job 13:7; Job 27:4 (both || עַוְלָה); deception Psa 32:2 (|| עָוֺן); in phrase ר ׳קֶשֶׁת treacherous bow (simile) Hos 7:16; Psa 78:57 (failing him who trusts to it).
II. רְמִיָּה noun feminine laxness, slackness; — always absolute ׳ר; — ר ׳כַּף Pro 10:4 slack (negligent, idle) hand (opposed to חָרוּצִים יַד); ׳ר alone = slackness (abstract for concrete = one who is slack) Pro 12:24 (|| id.), Pro 12:27 (see חרך); ר ׳נֶפֶשׁ Pro 19:15 (|| עַצְלָה); as adverb י ׳מְלֶאכֶת רְמִיָּה עשֶֹׁה Jer 48:10.
Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), public domain
Topical studies with this word 3 entries
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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