רָשַׁע
ra.sah
be wicked
Lexicon Entry
Lexicon data from STEPBible TIPNR, Tyndale House, Cambridge. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What Original Readers Understood
Supported# H7561 (רָשַׁע) — "To Be Wicked" The Hebrew verb רָשַׁע (rashaʿ) denotes the action of being or acting wickedly, appearing 34 times throughout the Hebrew Bible. As a verb form, it describes an active state or behavior rather than a static condition—someone *doing* wickedness rather than simply *being* wicked in essence. This distinction matters because it suggests the concept involves deliberate action or conduct that can be observed and evaluated. The word's distribution across 34 biblical occurrences indicates it was a standard term in Hebrew for discussing moral transgression and wrongdoing. Its presence in legal, wisdom, and prophetic texts suggests it functioned as a fundamental moral category in ancient Israelite discourse. Without access to the specific contexts of these 34 uses, the primary semantic range appears focused on the behavioral expression of wickedness—what people do when they act contrary to ethical or religious standards. The significance of this verb lies in its role as a basic vocabulary item for discussing human moral failure. It provides ancient Hebrew speakers with a verb form to describe wickedness as an actionable condition, making it useful for both describing individual acts and evaluating patterns of behavior. Its relatively high frequency (34 occurrences) suggests that discussions of wicked behavior held considerable importance in biblical literature.
Source data & methodology
Occurrences in Scripture
34 total occurrences across the text
After this, Jehoshaphat king of Judah joined himself with Ahaziah king of Israel. The same did very wickedly.
2 Chronicles 22:3He also walked in the ways of Ahab’s house, because his mother was his counselor in acting wickedly.
Nehemiah 9:33However you are just in all that has come on us; for you have dealt truly, but we have done wickedly.
Job 9:20Though I am righteous, my own mouth will condemn me. Though I am blameless, it will prove me perverse.
Job 9:29I will be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain?
Job 10:2I will tell God, ‘Do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me.
Job 10:7Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.
Job 10:15If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still will not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction.
Job 15:6Your own mouth condemns you, and not I. Yes, your own lips testify against you.
Job 32:3Also his wrath was kindled against his three friends, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.
Job 34:12Yes surely, God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert justice.
Job 34:17Should even one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty?—
Job 34:29When he gives quietness, who then can condemn? When he hides his face, who then can see him? He is over a nation or a man alike,
Job 40:8Will you even annul my judgment? Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?
Psalms 18:21For I have kept the ways of Yahweh, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
Psalms 37:33Yahweh will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.
Psalms 94:21They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.
Psalms 106:6We have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly.
Proverbs 12:2A good man shall obtain favor from Yahweh, but he will condemn a man of wicked plans.
Proverbs 17:15He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to Yahweh.
Ecclesiastes 7:17Don’t be too wicked, neither be foolish. Why should you die before your time?
Isaiah 50:9Behold, the Lord Yahweh will help me! Who is he who will condemn me? Behold, they will all grow old like a garment. The moths will eat them up.
Isaiah 54:17No weapon that is formed against you will prevail; and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of Yahweh’s servants, and their righteousness is of me,” says Yahweh.
Daniel 9:5we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances.
Daniel 9:15“Now, Lord our God, who has brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have gotten yourself renown, as it is today; we have sinned. We have done wickedly.
Daniel 11:32He will corrupt those who do wickedly against the covenant by flatteries; but the people who know their God will be strong, and take action.
Daniel 12:10Many will purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked will do wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand; but those who are wise will understand.
Exodus 22:9For every matter of trespass, whether it is for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any kind of lost thing, about which one says, ‘This is mine,’ the cause of both parties shall come before God. He whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor.
Deuteronomy 25:1If there is a controversy between men, and they come to judgment and the judges judge them, then they shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked.
1 Samuel 14:47Now when Saul had taken the kingdom over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines. Wherever he turned himself, he defeated them.
2 Samuel 22:22For I have kept Yahweh’s ways, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
1 Kings 8:32then hear in heaven, and act, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way on his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.
1 Kings 8:47yet if they repent in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of those who carried them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned, and have done perversely; we have dealt wickedly;’
2 Chronicles 6:37yet if they come to their senses in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done perversely, and have dealt wickedly;’