Hebrew word · H7295
רָהָב
rehavim
proud
The root rhb means to storm at, press, act boisterously or arrogantly (Isa 3:5, 'the youth will storm against the elder'). The plural rəhavîm, 'arrogant/defiant ones', occurs only here.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
proud, defiant
Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
- Range of meaning
The root rhb means to storm at, press, act boisterously or arrogantly (Isa 3:5, 'the youth will storm against the elder'). The plural rəhavîm, 'arrogant/defiant ones', occurs only here. The same spelling, Rahab, names the sea-monster God defeated (Job 9:13; 26:12; Ps 89:10; Isa 51:9) and is a poetic name for Egypt (Isa 30:7; Ps 87:4).
- Against the English
'The proud' (KJV, BSB, ESV, NIV) brings out the arrogance. It loses the Rahab echo, that is, loud, threatening, chaotic power that looks strong.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Isa 30:7 is the key parallel. Egypt, the great power Judah was tempted to rely on, is called 'Rahab who sits still', impressive and useless. The Septuagint here reads 'vanities' (mataiotētas), so it took the word to mean empty objects of trust.
Where it appears
Psalms · 1
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Psalm 40:4 רְ֝הָבִ֗ים proud people
Blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, who has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
Here: 'The arrogant': people who are proud, pushy and defiant. The same consonants spell Rahab, the chaos-monster of the sea in Hebrew poetry and a poetic name for Egypt. The word therefore suggests loud, self-important powers that set themselves against God.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.