rafa · Rephaim

What it means

rafa (רָפָא) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “Rephaim”.

An ancient people of Canaan and of the land beyond the Jordan, remembered for their great height (Deuteronomy 3:11). The "valley of Rephaim", south-west of Jerusalem, bears their name.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. An ancient people of very tall men.
2. Rapha, ancestor of some giants.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• Rephaim ×19
• Rapha ×6

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×2
• Deuteronomy×5
• Joshua×5
• 2 Samuel×7
• 1 Chronicles×5
• Isaiah×1

• Genesis 14:5

  In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,

• Genesis 15:20

  the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,

• Deuteronomy 2:11

  They too were counted as Rephaim, like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim.

• Deuteronomy 2:20

  (It too was counted as a land of Rephaim; Rephaim lived there formerly, and the Ammonites call them Zamzummim,

• Deuteronomy 3:11

  (For only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Look, his bed was a bed of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon? Nine cubits was its length and four cubits its width, by the cubit of a man.)

• Deuteronomy 3:13

  The rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half tribe of Manasseh, all the region of Argob. (As for all that Bashan, it is called a land of Rephaim.

• Joshua 12:4

  and the territory of Og king of Bashan, of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived in Ashtaroth and in Edrei,

• Joshua 13:12

  all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei (he was left of the remnant of the Rephaim); Moses struck them and dispossessed them.

• Joshua 15:8

  and the border went up by the Valley of Ben-hinnom to the slope of the Jebusite on the south (that is Jerusalem); and the border went up to the top of the mountain that lies over against the Valley of Hinnom to the west, which is at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim;

• Joshua 17:15

  And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up to the forest and clear ground for yourself there in the land of the Perizzite and the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.”

• Joshua 18:16

  and the border went down to the end of the mountain that lies over against the Valley of Ben-hinnom, which is in the Valley of Rephaim to the north; and it went down by the Valley of Hinnom to the slope of the Jebusite on the south, and went down to En-rogel;

• 2 Samuel 5:18

  Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.

• 2 Samuel 5:22

  The Philistines came up yet again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.

• 2 Samuel 21:16

  And Ishbi-benob, who was one of the descendants of Rapha —the weight of his spear was three hundred shekels in weight of bronze, and he was girded with a new sword— said that he would strike David.

• 2 Samuel 21:18

  After this there was again war at Gob with the Philistines. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck Saph, who was one of the descendants of Rapha.

• 2 Samuel 21:20

  There was again war at Gath, and there was a man of great stature, and the fingers of his hands and the toes of his feet were six and six, twenty-four in number; and he too had been born to Rapha.

• 2 Samuel 21:22

  These four were born to Rapha in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

• 2 Samuel 23:13

  Three of the thirty chief men went down and came, at harvest time, to David, to the cave of Adullam, while the troop of the Philistines was camped in the Valley of Rephaim.

• 1 Chronicles 11:15

  Three of the thirty chief men went down to the rock, to David, to the cave of Adullam, while the camp of the Philistines was camped in the Valley of Rephaim.

• 1 Chronicles 14:9

  The Philistines had come and made a raid in the Valley of Rephaim.

• 1 Chronicles 20:4

  And it happened after this that war arose at Gezer with the Philistines. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck Sippai, of the descendants of the Rephaim; and they were subdued.

• 1 Chronicles 20:6

  There was war again at Gath, and there was a man of great stature, and his fingers were six and six, twenty-four; and he too had been born to Rapha.

• 1 Chronicles 20:8

  These were born to Rapha in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

• Isaiah 17:5

  And it will be as when one gathers the harvest, the standing grain, and his arm reaps the ears; and it will be like one who gleans ears in the valley of Rephaim.

And 1 more times.