Hebrew word · H7538

רָקָב

rakav

rottenness

Rot, decay, especially the rotting of wood or the wasting of the body.

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. · Updated October 25, 2026

What it means

rottenness, decay (always fig)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: Rot, decay, especially the rotting of wood or the wasting of the body.
Against the English: KJV/WEB/YLT "rottenness", BSB "decay". NLT turns the image into a modern disease, "cancer". That is vivid, but it brings in a medical category the text does not have.
Used elsewhere in the period: "Envy is rottenness of the bones" (Prov 14:30, using the same pairing of rot and bones). Job 13:28 has a man wasting away "like a rotten thing", and Hos 5:12 has God as "rottenness" to Judah. Habakkuk 3:16 has rot entering the prophet's bones in terror. The Septuagint changes the image to "as a worm in wood".

Range of meaning: Rot, decay, especially the slow, hidden decay of wood or of organic matter (Job 13:28, a person wasting away "like a rotten thing"; Job 41:27 [41:19 Heb.], "rotten wood"; Isa 40:20, a wood "that will not rot").
Against the English: Most versions say "rots" or "rottenness". NLT's "cancer in the bones" brings in a modern medical idea. The vividness is fair, but the Hebrew picture is decay, like wood rotting from inside.
Used elsewhere in the period: Prov 12:4: "a wife who brings shame is like rāqāv in his bones." Hos 5:12: God is "like rot (rāqāv) to the house of Judah". Hab 3:16: "rot entered my bones", describing the physical collapse that comes with terror.

Range of meaning: Rot or decay, especially of wood. Used figuratively for something that eats away a person's strength or a household's stability from within.
Against the English: 'Decay' and 'rottenness' are accurate. A modern reader may still take 'decay in my bones' as a medical condition. NIV's 'crept into' adds a slowness that the Hebrew 'comes' does not stress.
Used elsewhere in the period: Prov 12:4: a shameful wife is 'like rottenness in his bones'. Prov 14:30: envy is 'rottenness of the bones'. Hos 5:12: God will be 'like rottenness' to Judah. Job 13:28: a man wastes away 'like a rotten thing'.

Job · 1

Job 13:28 כְּרָקָ֣ב like rottenness

So man wastes away like something rotten, like a moth-eaten garment.

Proverbs · 2

Proverbs 12:4 וּכְרָקָ֖ב and [is] like rottenness

A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but she who causes shame is like decay in his bones.

Here: "And like rot": decay that eats something from the inside, as rot eats wood. It sets up the contrast with the crown: honor on the outside, decay hidden inside.
Proverbs 14:30 וּרְקַ֖ב and [is] rottenness of

A tranquil heart is life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

Here: "And the rot of". The word is used for wood rot and slow decay. It pictures damage that eats away from the inside and is not seen until the structure fails.

Hosea · 1

Hosea 5:12 וְכָרָקָ֖ב and like <the> rottenness

So I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like decay to the house of Judah.

Habakkuk · 1

Habakkuk 3:16 רָקָ֛ב rottenness

I heard and trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Decay entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Yet I must wait patiently for the day of distress to come upon the people who invade us.

Here: Rot, like wood that has gone soft. In his bones it pictures his inner frame giving way. It describes a sudden loss of strength, not a disease.

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