Lexical Summary
rapha: Spirit, ghost, shade
Original Word:רָפָא
Part of Speech:Noun Masculine
Transliteration:rapha'
Pronunciation:rah-fah'
Phonetic Spelling:(raw-faw')
KJV: dead, deceased
NASB:departed spirits, dead, spirits of the dead
Word Origin:[fromH7495 (רָפָא רָפָה - heal) in the sense ofH7503 (רָפָה - fail)]
1. (properly) lax, i.e. (figuratively) a ghost (as dead
2. in plural only)
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
dead, deceased
Fromrapha' in the sense ofraphah; properly, lax, i.e. (figuratively) a ghost (as dead; in plural only) -- dead, deceased.
see HEBREWrapha'
see HEBREWraphah
NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Originfrom
raphahDefinitionshades, ghosts
NASB Translationdead (3), departed spirits (4), spirits of the dead (1).
Brown-Driver-Briggs
I, II. see below .
I.Job 26:5
(by most connected with above √, assunken, powerless, ones, StaG. i.420; Phoenician ); — Wisdom Literature and late, name of dead in She'ôl, with articleJob 26:5, elsewhere nearly = proper name:Isaiah 14:9 (inSh®°ôl),Isaiah 26:4 ("" ),Psalm 88:11 (""id.),Proverbs 2:18 ("" ),Proverbs 9:18 (in ),Proverbs 21:16; of righteous IsraelIsaiah 26:19earth shall cast forth ("" ).
Topical Lexicon
Meaning and Conceptual Backgroundרָפָא (raphaʾ) in the eight passages listed speaks of those who have died and now dwell in the shadow-world that the Old Testament calls Sheol. The word evokes the frailty, powerlessness, and silence that characterize humanity once life has fled. Unlike the living who can praise, act, and decide, the רְפָאִים are depicted as inert shades, unable to intervene in earthly affairs and wholly dependent on divine action should they ever rise again.
Occurrences in Scripture
•Job 26:5 pictures creation from the vantage point of the netherworld: “The dead tremble—those beneath the waters and their inhabitants.”
•Psalm 88:10 laments divine distance: “Do You work wonders for the dead? Do the departed rise up to praise You?”
•Proverbs 2:18; 9:18; 21:16 warn that sin’s path “sinks down to the departed” and that the rebellious man “will rest in the assembly of the dead.”
•Isaiah 14:9 personifies Sheol as a court where the departed stir at Babylon’s fall: “Sheol beneath is eager to meet you upon your arrival; it stirs the departed spirits for you.”
•Isaiah 26:14 sets idolaters among the shades—“they are dead, they will not live, their spirits will not rise”—whileIsaiah 26:19 reverses the imagery for the faithful: “Your dead will live; their bodies will rise.”
Relation to Sheol and the Afterlife
These texts link רפאים with Sheol, emphasizing its finality from a human standpoint. Sheol swallows all social distinctions; kings (Isaiah 14), fools (Proverbs 9), and the pious (Psalm 88) alike become powerless. Yet the passages also maintain divine sovereignty over that realm.Job 26 andIsaiah 26 set Yahweh’s rule beneath the earth as firmly as in the heavens.
Contrast with the Living God
Where the רפאים are voiceless, the LORD speaks; where they are motionless, He acts.Psalm 88:10 underscores that only God can cross the gulf between life and death: any “wonders for the dead” must come from Him. Proverbs turns the same truth into moral warning: choices leading away from wisdom end in the company of those forever inert.
Prophetic Hope of Resurrection
Isaiah 26:19 offers the clearest forward look: the very ones reduced to רפאים will “awake and shout for joy.” The contrast with verse 14 (idolaters who “will not rise”) reveals a two-fold destiny—judgment for the rebellious, resurrection for the faithful. The seed of New Testament resurrection hope is thus sown in a chapter that had just invoked the realm of רפאים.
Implications for Wisdom Literature
Proverbs uses the imagery homiletically: to follow adultery, folly, or wantonness is to live as if already among the shades. Wisdom, by contrast, keeps a person on paths of life. The thought pattern strengthens moral accountability: choices have consequences that extend beyond the grave.
Ministry Application and Contemporary Relevance
1. Mortality Realism: The sober portrait of the רפאים keeps believers realistic about death’s intrusion into the created order.
2. Discernment against Occultism: Because the departed are powerless and silent, attempts to consult them—whether ancient necromancy or modern séances—are exposed as deception and rebellion.
3. Gospel Foundation: Only divine intervention can reverse the state described; the resurrection of Jesus Christ verifies Isaiah’s promise and guarantees the future awakening of all who belong to Him (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).
Christological Fulfillment
Hebrews 2:14-15 declares that through death Christ rendered powerless “him who had the power of death.” In so doing He triumphed where no רפא could act, transforming the netherworld from an inescapable prison into a conquered domain awaiting final judgment. Thus the Old Testament depiction of the shades sets the stage for the New Testament proclamation that “death has been swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54).
Forms and Transliterations
הָרְפָאִ֥ים הרפאים רְ֝פָאִ֗ים רְפָאִ֖ים רְפָאִ֣ים רְפָאִ֥ים רְפָאִים֙ רפאים hā·rə·p̄ā·’îm harefaIm hārəp̄ā’îm rə·p̄ā·’îm refaIm rəp̄ā’îm
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