רָשַׁם
ra.sham
to inscribe
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# The Hebrew Word רָשַׁם (rasham) The Hebrew verb *rasham* carries the specific meaning "to inscribe," describing the action of marking or writing something onto a surface. Based on the lexical data provided, this word appears only once in the biblical text, which limits our ability to observe how its meaning might shift across different contexts or literary settings. The single occurrence of *rasham* in the Hebrew Bible represents a notable constraint on our understanding of this term. With only one attestation, we cannot determine whether the word had a broader semantic range, whether it was used metaphorically, or how common it was in everyday speech versus formal or religious discourse. The word's definition—to inscribe—suggests a deliberate, intentional act of marking, but the absence of comparative usage prevents us from refining this basic sense further. The limited textual evidence for *rasham* illustrates an important principle in biblical lexicography: some Hebrew terms appear so infrequently that their full semantic potential remains somewhat opaque. Nevertheless, the definition "to inscribe" clearly places this word within the semantic field of writing and marking, indicating it was available in Hebrew vocabulary for describing the act of making written records or inscriptions.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
1 total occurrence across the text