Hebrew word · H7431

רֶ֫מֶשׂ

remes

creeping

From the verb rāmaś, 'to creep, glide, swarm, move about'. It means small creatures that move low or near the ground. It can also describe the movement of any animal (Ps 104:20, forest animals 'prowl'; Gen 9:3, 'every moving thing that lives').

Appears 17 times in 17 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) creeping things, moving things, creeping organism

1a) creeping things

1b) gliding things (of sea animals)

1c) moving things (of all animals)

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

From the study of Genesis 1:25

Range of meaning

From the verb rāmaś, 'to creep, glide, swarm, move about'. It means small creatures that move low or near the ground. It can also describe the movement of any animal (Ps 104:20, forest animals 'prowl'; Gen 9:3, 'every moving thing that lives').

Against the English

KJV/YLT 'creeping thing', BSB 'everything that crawls', NIV 'creatures that move along the ground', NLT 'small animals'. 'Creeping thing' can suggest only insects or 'creepy' animals. The word covers mice, lizards, snakes and the like as well.

How it drifted

No major drift. The main risk is reading a modern zoological category (insects, reptiles) into a word that describes how animals move.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used in Gen 1:24–26, 30, in the flood lists (6:7, 20; 7:14, 23), and in Ps 104:25 for small sea creatures, which shows it is about movement and size, not habitat.

From the study of Genesis 8:17

Range of meaning

The noun means a moving or creeping creature, typically small animals low to the ground. The verb means to move about, creep or glide, and it is broader: sea creatures (Genesis 1:21; Psalm 104:25) and even prowling forest beasts (Psalm 104:20) can be its subject.

Against the English

KJV and WEB say "creeping thing." BSB says "everything that crawls." NLT speaks of small animals that scurry, which conveys the group well. "Creeping" can wrongly suggest only insects or something repulsive.

How it drifted

English "creep" has picked up the sense of "creepy," which the Hebrew does not carry.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 1:24–26, 1:28, 6:20, 7:14, 9:2–3; 1 Kings 5:13 (4:33 in many English Bibles), where Solomon speaks of animals, birds, creeping things and fish; Habakkuk 1:14.

From the study of Genesis 9:3

Range of meaning

From the verb ramas, "to move about, creep, scurry." The noun covers creatures defined by how they move. In a narrow sense it is the small ground animals (rodents, lizards, insects and the like) listed next to livestock and wild beasts. In a wider sense it means any moving creature, including creatures of the sea.

Against the English

KJV/WEB: "moving thing" (good). YLT: "creeping thing", which is literal to the root but sounds to modern ears like bugs and reptiles. BSB/NIV: "everything that lives and moves", which correctly shows the wide sense.

How it drifted

"Creeping thing" was a fair rendering in older English, where "creep" could mean any low, steady movement. Today it suggests only crawling vermin. That would make Genesis 9:3 sound as if it is about insects and reptiles, when it is about animals in general.

Used elsewhere in the period

Narrow sense: Genesis 1:24–26, where remes is one category beside behemah (livestock) and chayyat ha-aretz (wild animals); also Genesis 6:7; 7:14; 1 Kings 5:13 (Eng. 4:33), where Solomon speaks of beasts, birds, remes and fish. Wide or sea sense: Psalm 104:25, the sea teeming with "remes without number"; Habakkuk 1:14, people made "like fish of the sea, like remes with no ruler." The verb in Genesis 1:21 and 1:28 describes sea creatures and "every living thing that moves on the earth." The Greek Septuagint uses herpeton ("creeping thing"). The Latin Vulgate translates by meaning: omne quod movetur et vivit, "everything that moves and lives."

Where it appears

Genesis · 10

  1. Genesis 1:24 וָרֶ֛מֶשׂ and creeping thing[s]

    And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, land crawlers, and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.

    Here: Collective noun for the small animals that move low along the ground: scurrying, gliding or crawling things. Verse 25 calls them the remes 'of the ground.'

  2. Genesis 1:25 רֶ֥מֶשׂ <the> creeping thing of

    God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that crawls upon the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

    Here: Small animals that move low to the ground, darting, scurrying or crawling: rodents, lizards, snakes, insects and similar creatures. The word describes how they move, not a scientific class.

  3. Genesis 1:26 הָרֶ֖מֶשׂ <the> creeping thing

    Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”

    Here: Small creatures that move low to the ground: reptiles, rodents, insects and the like. Not “creepy” in the modern sense, simply animals that scurry or crawl.

  4. Genesis 6:7 רֶ֖מֶשׂ creeping thing[s]

    So the LORD said, “I will blot out man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—every man and beast and crawling creature and bird of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.”

    Here: Small creatures that move low to the ground: reptiles, rodents, insects and the like. It is the category word from Genesis 1:24–26.

  5. Genesis 6:20 רֶ֥מֶשׂ <the> creeping thing of

    Two of every kind of bird and animal and crawling creature will come to you to be kept alive.

  6. Genesis 7:14 הָרֶ֛מֶשׂ <the> creeping thing

    they and every kind of wild animal, livestock, crawling creature, bird, and winged creature.

  7. Genesis 7:23 רֶ֙מֶשׂ֙ creeping thing[s]

    And every living thing on the face of the earth was destroyed—man and livestock, crawling creatures and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth, and only Noah and those with him in the ark remained.

    Here: Small creatures that move low along the ground: reptiles, rodents, insects. It is the same category named in creation (1:24–26).

  8. Genesis 8:17 הָרֶ֛מֶשׂ <the> creeping thing

    Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—birds, livestock, and everything that crawls upon the ground—so that they can spread out over the earth and be fruitful and multiply upon it.”

    Here: Small animals that move low on the ground, such as lizards, rodents and insects. It is a description of how they move, not a word of disgust.

  9. Genesis 8:19 הָרֶ֙מֶשׂ֙ <the> creeping thing

    Every living creature, every creeping thing, and every bird—everything that moves upon the earth—came out of the ark, kind by kind.

  10. Genesis 9:3 רֶ֙מֶשׂ֙ creeping thing

    Everything that lives and moves will be food for you; just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you all things.

    Here: In Genesis 1 this word names one class of animal, the small creatures that scurry along the ground. Here it is widened to mean any creature that moves, the whole animal world just listed in 9:2 (land animals, birds, ground creatures, fish).

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 4:33 הָרֶ֖מֶשׂ the creeping thing[s]

    He spoke of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing in the wall, and he taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.

Psalms · 2

  1. Psalm 104:25 רֶ֭מֶשׂ moving thing[s]

    Here is the sea, vast and wide, teeming with creatures beyond number, living things both great and small.

  2. Psalm 148:10 רֶ֝֗מֶשׂ creeping thing[s]

    wild animals and all cattle, crawling creatures and flying birds,

    Here: A collective word (one word for a whole group) for small creatures that move along close to the ground: lizards, snakes, rodents, insects and the like. These are the least impressive animals, and many of them were ritually unclean under Leviticus 11. They are called to praise too.

Ezekiel · 2

  1. Ezekiel 8:10 רֶ֤מֶשׂ creeping thing

    So I went in and looked, and engraved all around the wall was every kind of crawling creature and detestable beast, along with all the idols of the house of Israel.

  2. Ezekiel 38:20 הָרֶ֙מֶשׂ֙ <the> creeping thing

    The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that crawls upon the ground, and all mankind on the face of the earth will tremble at My presence. The mountains will be thrown down, the cliffs will collapse, and every wall will fall to the ground.

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 2:18 וְרֶ֖מֶשׂ and [the] creeping thing[s] of

    On that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that crawl on the ground. And I will abolish bow and sword and battle in the land, and will make them lie down in safety.

    Here: Small animals that move close to the ground, such as reptiles, rodents and creeping pests, including the snakes and scorpions people feared.

Habakkuk · 1

  1. Habakkuk 1:14 כְּרֶ֖מֶשׂ like creeping thing[s]

    You have made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler.

    Here: Small creatures that move in masses, low down and unorganised. Next to 'fish of the sea' it probably means the swarming life of the water, as in Psalm 104:25. They are the bottom of the creation order.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.