Hebrew word · H7541

רַקָּה

rakatekh

temple

The thin part of the head, the temple. The root rqq means 'thin'. It appears only five times: Judg 4:21, 22; 5:26; Song 4:3; 6:7.

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

temple, the temple (of the head)

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 Song of Songs 4:3

Range of meaning

The thin part of the head, the temple. The root rqq means 'thin'. It appears only five times: Judg 4:21, 22; 5:26; Song 4:3; 6:7.

Against the English

KJV, WEB, NASB and NIV have 'temple(s)'. ESV and NLT have 'cheeks', BSB 'brow'. The Septuagint's μῆλον and the Vulgate's genae both mean 'cheek'.

How it drifted

Translators move toward 'cheek' because the blush of a pomegranate fits a cheek better than a temple to modern taste. The ancient versions made the same move.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Judges it is the exact spot where Jael's tent peg went through Sisera's head, so it is the side of the head. Song 6:7 repeats this line word for word.

Where it appears

Judges · 3

  1. Judges 4:21 בְּרַקָּת֔וֹ in temple his

    But as he lay sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife Jael took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She drove the peg through his temple and into the ground, and he died.

  2. Judges 4:22 בְּרַקָּתֽוֹ׃ [was] in temple his

    When Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to greet him and said to him, “Come, and I will show you the man you are seeking.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera dead, with a tent peg through his temple.

  3. Judges 5:26 רַקָּתֽוֹ׃ temple his

    She reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workman’s hammer. She struck Sisera and crushed his skull; she shattered and pierced his temple.

Song of Songs · 2

  1. Song of Songs 4:3 רַקָּתֵ֔ךְ temple your

    Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon, and your mouth is lovely. Your brow behind your veil is like a slice of pomegranate.

    Here: 'Your temple': the thin side of the head by the eye. It is the spot where Jael drove the tent peg into Sisera (Judg 4:21; 5:26). In this verse it probably covers the temple and upper cheek, the part that shows red through a veil.

  2. Song of Songs 6:7 רַקָּתֵ֔ךְ temple your

    Your brow behind your veil is like a slice of pomegranate.

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