Hebrew word · H7566

רֶ֫שֶׁף

vereshef

Resheph

As a common noun: 'flame, firebolt' (Song 8:6, 'flashes of fire'; Ps 76:3 [Heb 76:4], 'flashing arrows'), and also 'plague, burning fever' (Deut 32:24; Hab 3:5; Ps 78:48). Across the wider West Semitic world Reshep/Rašap was the name of a god of plague, war and the underworld.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament.

What it means

A man of the tribe of Ephraim living at the time of Divided Monarchy, only mentioned at 1Ch.7.25;

son of: Beriah (H1283H);

brother of: Sheerah (H7609) and Rephah (H7506);

father of: Telah (H8520)

§ Resheph = "flame"

a son of Ephraim

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 1 Chronicles 7:25

Range of meaning

As a common noun: 'flame, firebolt' (Song 8:6, 'flashes of fire'; Ps 76:3 [Heb 76:4], 'flashing arrows'), and also 'plague, burning fever' (Deut 32:24; Hab 3:5; Ps 78:48). Across the wider West Semitic world Reshep/Rašap was the name of a god of plague, war and the underworld.

Against the English

English versions simply write 'Resheph', so readers miss that the name sounded like 'Flame' or 'Firebolt', and that it was also the name of a well-known foreign god.

Used elsewhere in the period

The god Reshep is known from Ebla (3rd millennium BC), from Ugarit (where he is gatekeeper of the sun goddess and lord of plague), from New Kingdom Egypt (where he was worshipped as a warrior god) and from Phoenician inscriptions. In the Hebrew Bible the word is reduced to a figure of speech, for example Resheph walking behind God as part of his retinue in Habakkuk 3:5.

Where it appears

1 Chronicles · 1

  1. 1 Chronicles 7:25 וְרֶ֧שֶׁף and Resheph

    Additionally, Rephah was his son, Resheph his son, Telah his son, Tahan his son,

    Here: A personal name. As a common noun the same word means 'flame, burning bolt, plague'. It was also the name of a well-known West Semitic god of plague and war. In the main text there is no 'his son' after this name, so Resheph reads most naturally as Rephah's brother.

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