H7328 — רָז (râz)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H7328
Original: רָז
Transliteration: râz
Pronunciation: rawz
Part of Speech: Masculine noun (Aramaic)
Root: From an unused Aramaic root probably meaning "to attenuate," i.e. (figuratively) to hide
Occurrences: 9 tokens in 8 unique verses (Aramaic portion of OT)
First Occurrence: Dan 2:18 — "desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret (râz)"
Hapax Legomenon: No (appears 9x, all in Daniel)

Lexicon Definition¶

(Aramaic) from an unused root probably meaning to attenuate, i.e. (figuratively) hide; a mystery:—secret.

The word is a loan from Old Persian rāza- ("secret"), taken into Imperial Aramaic and from there into later Hebrew/Rabbinic usage. In Daniel the term denotes not merely a hidden fact but a divinely concealed content — a matter sealed in God's counsel that can be known only by divine disclosure.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
secret	4	50.0%
secrets	2	25.0%
the secret / The secret	2	25.0%
of secrets	1	12.5%

All nine KJV renderings use "secret" or "secrets." The word is translation-stable: KJV never varies the English gloss.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Daniel	8 (9 tokens)	2.2

The word is confined to the Aramaic section of Daniel (Dan 2:4b–7:28), and within that, it clusters densely in chapter 2 (7 of 9 tokens) with one isolated occurrence in 4:9. It is entirely absent from the Hebrew OT, from Ezra's Aramaic, and from the rest of Daniel's Aramaic (chs. 3, 5, 6, 7).

Semantic Categories¶

1. The Dream-Content Concealed in God's Counsel¶

The râz is the substance of Nebuchadnezzar's dream — a hidden content that only God can disclose. - Dan 2:18 — "desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret" - Dan 2:19 — "Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision" - Dan 2:30 — "this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have"

2. What Human Wisdom Cannot Reach¶

The râz lies beyond the competence of the Babylonian wisdom class. It marks the boundary between human divination and divine revelation. - Dan 2:27 — "The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king" - Dan 4:9 — "no secret troubleth thee" (Nebuchadnezzar to Daniel, contrasting him with the failed magicians)

3. Disclosed by the God Who Reveals¶

The word is consistently bound to a participle of גְּלָה (gᵉlâh, "to reveal") — God is characterized as the revealer of secrets. - Dan 2:28 — "there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets" - Dan 2:29 — "he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee" - Dan 2:47 — "your God is... a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret"

4. Eschatological Content ("What Shall Be in the Latter Days")¶

In Dan 2, the râz is explicitly identified as the future course of world empires culminating in the kingdom of God. - Dan 2:28 — "revealeth secrets, and maketh known... what shall be in the latter days" - Dan 2:29 — "what should come to pass hereafter"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
דָּנִיֵּאל (Dânîyêʼl)	H1841	4x (50%)	Daniel is the human recipient of the râz
יְדַע (yᵉdaʻ) "know, make known"	H3046	4x (50%)	râz is the object of divine "making known"
לָא (lâʼ) "not"	H3809	4x (50%)	Negation framing: what human wisdom cannot do
אֲמַר (ʼămar) "say, answer"	H560	3x (38%)	speech-act framing of the disclosure
חֵזֵו (chêzêv) "vision"	H2376	3x (38%)	the râz is mediated through vision
שָׁמַיִן (shâmayin) "heaven"	H8065	3x (38%)	"the God of heaven" as source of the râz
חַכִּים (chakkîym) "wise man"	H2445	2x (25%)	the râz exceeds the wise men
חֵלֶם (chêlem) "dream"	H2493	2x (25%)	the râz is the dream's hidden content
חַרְטֹם (charṭôm) "magician"	H2749	2x (25%)	contrasted with pagan diviners
פְּשַׁר (pᵉshar) "interpretation"	H6591	2x (25%)	râz paired with its interpretation
רַעְיוֹן (raʻyôwn) "thought"	H7476	2x (25%)	thoughts of the heart/mind
מִשְׁכַּב (mishkab) "bed"	H4903	2x (25%)	the setting of the revelatory dream

Pattern signature: The râz is characteristically (a) possessed by the God of heaven, (b) withheld from the wise men / magicians, (c) disclosed to Daniel via a vision/dream on the bed, and (d) accompanied by its pᵉshar (interpretation) concerning what shall come to pass.

Word Family / Cognates¶

No Hebrew cognate verb exists in the canonical corpus. The noun is a loanword; later Hebrew literature (Qumran, Rabbinic) borrows רָז from this Aramaic base.

Synonyms¶

No synonyms returned by search_relationships.py for this Aramaic lemma.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms returned by search_relationships.py for this Aramaic lemma.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
סוֹד (sôd)	H5475	"secret(s)"	Hebrew equivalent; sôd = a council or the confidential counsel shared within it (Ps 25:14; Amos 3:7). râz names the content; sôd names the circle.
סֵתֶר (sêther)	H5643	"secret"	Hebrew; the place of concealment (hiding-place, covert). râz is an item of knowledge, not a locale.
סָתַר (sâthar)	H5641	"secret" (verbal)	Hebrew verb "to hide." râz presupposes hiding but denotes the hidden thing.
אַט (ʼaṭ)	H328	"secretly"	Adverbial/manner, not content.
κρυπτός (kryptós)	G2927	"secret" (NT/LXX)	Greek adjective "hidden"; a descriptor of concealment, whereas râz is a specific noun-category of divine mystery.
ἀπόκρυφος (apókryphos)	G614	"secret"	"Hidden away, stored up"; emphasizes concealment. LXX/NT uses it for what is hidden but not specifically for the Danielic mystery.

LXX Overlap (Greek renderings that other Hebrew words also receive)¶

μυστήριον (mystērion, G3466) is used in LXX Daniel for râz; the Hebrew סוֹד (sôd) is also rendered by μυστήριον in Theodotion's Dan 2 and in later Greek-Jewish literature, producing conceptual overlap between râz and sôd in the Greek tradition.

UBS Semantic Domains¶

No semantic-domain data returned by search_relationships.py for this Aramaic lemma.

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occ	PMI	Notes
μυστήριον (mystērion)	G3466	8	11.47	Primary — near-total overlap; Theodotion's standard rendering of râz in Daniel 2
ἀποκαλύπτω (apokalyptō)	G601	5	7.40	Paired verb: "reveal" the râz/mystērion
γνωρίζω (gnōrizō)	G1107	3	7.15	Paired verb: "make known" the râz/mystērion
Δανιήλ (Daniēl)	G1158	4	7.28	Consistent personal recipient
οὐρανός (ouranos)	G3772	3	4.23	"God of heaven" formula carried over
βασιλεύς (basileus)	G935	5	2.84	Kingship context of the mystery
θεός (theos)	G2316	5	2.41	Divine source of the mystery

The pairing râz → μυστήριον in Daniel is the lexical bridge by which the apocalyptic Danielic concept enters NT Greek, supplying the conceptual background for Paul's "mystery" (Rom 16:25; 1 Cor 2:7; Eph 1:9; 3:3–9; Col 1:26–27) and for the "mystery" vocabulary of Revelation (Rev 1:20; 10:7; 17:5, 7).