רָעַץ
ra.ats
to shatter
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# Analytical Synthesis of רָעַץ (ra.ats) The Hebrew verb רָעַץ carries the fundamental meaning "to shatter," describing a violent breaking apart or fragmentation of something. Based on the lexical data provided, this word appears only twice in the biblical text, indicating it represents a specialized or emphatic term rather than a common expression for breaking or destruction. The rarity of this term—occurring just twice—suggests that biblical authors deployed it selectively, likely when they wished to emphasize particularly forceful or complete destruction. Rather than functioning as an everyday word for breakage, רָעַץ appears to have served as a more dramatic or intensive alternative, reserved for moments requiring heightened descriptive force. This pattern of limited occurrence but defined semantic field is typical of Hebrew vocabulary where synonyms carry subtle distinctions in intensity or context. Without access to the specific biblical passages where this word appears, the full contextual range remains constrained by the data provided. However, the clear semantic content—shattering as opposed to mere breaking—establishes that this verb belonged to a vocabulary set dealing with forceful destruction, one that biblical writers could call upon when standard terminology for damage or ruin required amplification.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
2 total occurrences across the text
Your right hand, Yahweh, is glorious in power. Your right hand, Yahweh, dashes the enemy in pieces.
Judges 10:8They troubled and oppressed the children of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the children of Israel that were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.