Hebrew word · H7576

רָתַק

yirchak

to bind

Rātaq means 'to bind, chain'. Its noun forms mean 'chains' (1 Kgs 6:21; Isa 40:19; Ezek 7:23), and the Pual means 'bound in chains' (Nah 3:10). The written consonants instead give rāḥaq, 'to be far, be removed'.

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) to bind

1a) (Niphal) to be snapped, be broken

1b) (Pual) to be bound

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 Ecclesiastes 12:6

Range of meaning

Rātaq means 'to bind, chain'. Its noun forms mean 'chains' (1 Kgs 6:21; Isa 40:19; Ezek 7:23), and the Pual means 'bound in chains' (Nah 3:10). The written consonants instead give rāḥaq, 'to be far, be removed'.

Against the English

KJV has 'loosed', YLT 'removed' (following the written form), and BSB, ESV and WEB 'snapped/severed'. 'Be bound' makes little sense, so translators turn to the context or to a correction of the text.

How it drifted

The KJV's 'loosed' can sound like a gentle untying or release, as if a soul were freed. The images that follow are violent: crushed, shattered, broken.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Greek Septuagint seems to have read a verb meaning 'be overturned', and the Vulgate has rumpatur, 'be broken'. Many modern commentators (e.g. Seow, Fox, Longman) consider yinnātēq, 'is snapped' (from nātaq, 'to tear apart'), to be the original, since it differs by only one letter.

Where it appears

Ecclesiastes · 1

  1. Ecclesiastes 12:6 יֵרָתֵק֙ it will be snapped

    Remember Him before the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is crushed, before the pitcher is shattered at the spring and the wheel is broken at the well,

    Here: The text is uncertain here. The reading tradition says 'is bound' (from the root of 'chain'), the written consonants say 'is removed', and many scholars restore 'is snapped'. Whichever is right, the sense is that the cord holding something up gives way.

Nahum · 1

  1. Nahum 3:10 רֻתְּק֥וּ they were bound

    Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles were bound in chains.

    Here: "Were bound": a rare passive verb, related to the noun for "chain" in Ezek 7:23. It is the end of their status: the great men led away in chains.

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