H8655 — תְּרָפִים (tᵉrâphîym)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: H8655
Original: תְּרָפִים
Transliteration: tᵉrâphîym
Pronunciation: ter-aw-feme
Part of Speech: masculine noun (n-m)
Root: Uncertain. The lexicon marks it as a plural from an unused base and glosses that base as "a healer."
Occurrences: 15 tokens in 15 unique verses across 7 books
First Occurrence: Gen 31:19 — "Rachel had stolen the images that [were] her father's"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

Plural from an unused base; "a healer"; Teraphim (singular or plural), a family idol. KJV renderings: idols(-atry), images, teraphim.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
the images	4	26.7%
the teraphim	3	20.0%
an image	2	13.3%
and teraphim	2	13.3%
and idolatry	1	6.7%
teraphim	1	6.7%
the idols	1	6.7%
with images	1	6.7%

Most renderings are object terms ("images," "teraphim"). Only three uses shift into more interpretive English: idolatry (1 Sam 15:23), the idols (Zech 10:2), and with images (Ezek 21:21).

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Judges	5	0.8
Hosea	1	0.5
Zechariah	1	0.5
1 Samuel	3	0.4
Genesis	3	0.2
2 Kings	1	0.1
Ezekiel	1	0.1

The word is densest in Judges 17-18, where teraphim belong to Micah's private shrine complex. Genesis and 1 Samuel show household-object usage, while Hosea, Ezekiel, and Zechariah use the term in prophetic or divinatory settings.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Household / Family Objects¶

In Genesis 31 the teraphim are movable possessions belonging to a household head and kept among domestic goods.

Gen 31:19 — "Rachel had stolen the images that [were] her father's."
Gen 31:34 — Rachel hides the images "in the camel's furniture."
Gen 31:35 — Laban searches but "found not the images."

2. Shrine Objects Paired with Ephod and Priest¶

The Judges material repeatedly places teraphim alongside an ephod, a priest, and other cult objects inside Micah's house shrine.

Judg 17:5 — Micah "made an ephod, and teraphim," and consecrated a priest.
Judg 18:14 — the spies identify "an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image."
Judg 18:17 — the Danites "took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image."
Judg 18:20 — the priest "took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image."

3. Human-Sized Domestic Figure¶

In 1 Samuel 19 the term is applied to a single object that can be laid in a bed and dressed to imitate a person closely enough to delay discovery.

1 Sam 19:13 — Michal "took an image, and laid [it] in the bed."
1 Sam 19:16 — the messengers discover "an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats' [hair]."

4. Standard Idol-Term in Condemnation and Reform¶

Some uses treat teraphim as a stock member of Israel's anti-idolatry vocabulary.

1 Sam 15:23 — "stubbornness [is as] iniquity and idolatry."
2 Kgs 23:24 — Josiah puts away "the images, and the idols, and all the abominations."
Zech 10:2 — "the idols have spoken vanity."

5. Consultation / Divination Setting¶

The prophetic texts associate teraphim with inquiry, omens, or the absence of cultic apparatus.

Ezek 21:21 — the king of Babylon "consulted with images."
Hos 3:4 — Israel will remain "without an ephod, and [without] teraphim."
Zech 10:2 — the teraphim/idols "have spoken vanity," in parallel with diviners and false dreams.

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
אֵפוֹד (ʼephod)	H646	6x	"ephod and teraphim" — paired shrine objects
כֹּהֵן (kohen)	H3548	5x	priestly handling or custody of teraphim
לָקַח (laqach)	H3947	5x	"took / stolen / fetched" the teraphim
בַּיִת (bayith)	H1004	4x	teraphim located in a father's house or Micah's house
פֶּסֶל (pecel)	H6459	3x	graven image listed beside teraphim
מַסֵּכָה (maççêkâh)	H4541	3x	molten image listed beside teraphim
מֶלֶךְ (melek)	H4428	3x	appears in royal / national settings around the object

The strongest recurring pattern is the ephod + teraphim pairing, especially in Judges 17-18 and Hosea 3:4.

Root Note¶

The lexicon does not supply a clear usable Hebrew cognate. It treats teraphim as a plural form from an otherwise unused base.

Synonyms / Nearby Terms¶

H1544 גִּלּוּל (gillul) — idol; contemptuous idol-term in the same semantic field.
H3049 יִדְּעֹנִי (yiddeoni) — familiar spirit / spiritist; returned by search_relationships.py as a nearby unlawful-inquiry term rather than another image-word.
H4541 מַסֵּכָה (maççêkâh) — molten image; fabricated by casting.
H4676 מַצֵּבָה (matstsêbâh) — standing image / pillar term in KJV overlap.
H6459 פֶּסֶל (pecel) — graven image; fabricated by carving.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for H8655.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
מַצֵּבָה (matstsêbâh)	H4676	image(s)	standing pillar or erected image; emphasizes a fixed upright object
צֶלֶם (tselem)	H6754	images	general image/statue term; broader representation language
תְּמוּנָה (tᵉmûwnah)	H8544	image	likeness or form; representational shape rather than a household-idol class
פֶּסֶל (pecel)	H6459	image / idol field	carved image; stresses fabrication method more than domestic or oracular use

Semantic Domains¶

search_relationships.py places H8655 in two closely related domains:

[001002008001010] Images — alongside terms such as H434/H457 אֱלִיל, H842 אֲשֵׁרָה, H1544 גִּלּוּל, and H4541 מַסֵּכָה.
[001002008001006] Cult Objects — the same word appears in the vocabulary set for shrine and cult paraphernalia.

LXX Mapping¶

Greek Equivalent	Strong's	Co-occ	PMI	Notes
εἴδωλον (eidolon)	G1497	4	6.61	Primary Greek idol-word; the clearest lexical bridge in the returned mapping
ἱερεύς (hiereus)	G2409	5	3.53	Context word from priest/teraphim scenes, not a separate equivalent
λαμβάνω (lambano)	G2983	5	2.93	Context word from "took/stole" scenes
οἶκος (oikos)	G3624	5	2.33	Context word from household / shrine settings

From the tool output, G1497 εἴδωλον is the only obvious lexical equivalent; the remaining high-scoring entries appear to be contextual co-occurrence artifacts from the small verse set rather than alternate renderings.