רָפֶה

From the study of Isaiah 35:3

Range of meaning

Adjective from the verb rāpâ, 'sink, relax, go slack, let drop'. Used of hands that hang down, of people who are weak or disheartened, and of a slack bow. The causative form of the verb means 'let go, desist' (the 'Be still' of Ps 46:10 comes from this root: 'let your hands drop').

Against the English

'Weak' (KJV, WEB) can sound like physical frailty, age or illness. 'Limp' (BSB) and 'drooping' keep the picture of hands falling, which in Hebrew is how fear and despair look from the outside.

How it drifted

English 'weak hands' is read literally. The Hebrew idiom 'slack hands' was a fixed expression for demoralization, and that sense gets lost in English.

Used elsewhere in the period

2 Sam 4:1: when Ishbosheth heard of Abner's death 'his hands went slack'. 2 Sam 17:2: 'weary and slack of hands'. Jer 6:24; 50:43: at the news of the enemy 'our hands go slack'. Isa 13:7: 'all hands will go limp'. Zeph 3:16, very close to Isa 35:3–4: 'Do not fear, Zion; let not your hands hang slack.' Jer 38:4: officials accuse Jeremiah of 'weakening the hands of the soldiers'. Outside the Bible, Lachish Ostracon 6 (c. 588 BC, during the Babylonian siege) complains of words that 'weaken the hands' of the land and city. It is the same idiom, used in a real military crisis.

From the study of Job 4:3

Range of meaning

Slack, limp, sunk down, weak. Most often it describes hands, as a stock picture of losing courage or will. Its verb rāpâ means 'sink, relax, let drop.'

Against the English

'Weak hands' (KJV, WEB) and 'feeble hands' (BSB, YLT) are fair literal renderings. But a modern reader may hear physical frailty, as in old age or illness. The idiom is about morale.

How it drifted

English has no matching idiom of 'slack hands' for despair, so a literal translation reads as a physical description.

Used elsewhere in the period

2 Sam 4:1: when Ish-bosheth heard of Abner's death, 'his hands went slack,' meaning he lost heart. Jer 6:24; 50:43: 'our hands go limp' at bad news. Zeph 3:16: 'let not your hands sink.' Neh 6:9: enemies hoped 'their hands will drop from the work.' Isa 35:3: 'Strengthen the slack hands (ḥazzəqû yādayim rāpôt), make firm the stumbling knees.' This is almost word for word Job 4:3–4, and Hebrews 12:12 quotes it.