רָחַץ

From the study of Isaiah 1:16

Range of meaning

To wash something or someone with water: feet (Gen 18:4), hands, face, the whole body (bathing, 2 Sam 11:2), sacrificial parts (Lev 1:9). It is a core word in the purity laws. Priests wash hands and feet before approaching the altar (Exod 30:19–21), and a person bathes to end a state of ritual impurity (Lev 14–15; Num 19).

Against the English

English 'wash' is accurate. What English readers miss is the setting: in the middle of a speech about sacrifices, festivals and prayer (vv.11–15), this is temple vocabulary. BSB and NIV merge 'wash' and 'make yourselves clean' into one phrase, which is natural English but loses the build-up of seven separate commands (v.16 has four, and v.17 adds more).

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 21:6–9: the elders wash their hands over the heifer and declare 'our hands have not shed this blood.' Ps 26:6: 'I wash my hands in innocence.' Ps 73:13 uses this verb and זכה together: 'in vain I have kept my heart clean (zikkîtî) and washed (wāʾerḥaṣ) my hands in innocence.' Job 9:30 pairs washing with making the hands clean. The washing of hands was an established way of claiming freedom from bloodguilt.

From the study of Isaiah 4:4

Range of meaning

rāḥaṣ: to wash or bathe the body (or feet, hands or sacrificial parts). dûaḥ (causative stem): to rinse away, wash off.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'purged' for dûaḥ leans toward medicine or doctrine. 'Rinsed' or 'washed off' is closer to the picture.

Used elsewhere in the period

rāḥaṣ: priests wash before ordination and on the Day of Atonement (Exodus 29:4; Leviticus 16:4). In Isaiah 1:16 God commands 'Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean.' In Ezekiel 16:9 God bathes Jerusalem as his bride. dûaḥ: rinsing the burnt-offering parts in the temple basins (2 Chronicles 4:6; Ezekiel 40:38).

From the study of Proverbs 30:12

Range of meaning

To wash or bathe the body, hands or feet with water. It is the standard verb for washing to remove uncleanness in Leviticus (e.g., Lev 14:8–9; 15:5–27; 16:4, 24) and for ordinary washing (Gen 18:4).

Against the English

'Washed', 'unwashed' and 'cleansed' are all adequate. BSB's adjective 'unwashed' loses the passive verb, the sense that a washing should have happened to them and has not.

Used elsewhere in the period

The same passive form appears in Ezekiel 16:4, where the abandoned baby girl 'was not washed with water to cleanse you'. Isaiah 4:4 has the Lord as the one who washes (rachats) Zion's filth (tso'ah).