WG: Wicked / Wickedness
Overview
The Hebrew wickedness concept centers on the r-sh-ʻ word family and extends to several related terms describing morally corrupt persons. These words work together across Wisdom, prophetic, and legal contexts to characterize those who oppose God and oppress others.
Word Group Members
| Strong's |
Word |
Transliteration |
POS |
Occurrences |
Role in Concept |
Library Entry |
| H7563 |
רָשָׁע |
rasha |
adj |
248v |
The person — wicked/guilty one |
H7563 |
| H7562 |
רֶשַׁע |
reshaʻ |
noun |
29v |
The quality — wickedness, wrong |
TODO(need H7562 study) |
| H7561 |
רָשַׁע |
rashaʻ |
verb |
35v |
The action — to be/declare wicked |
H7561 |
| H7451 |
רַע |
raʻ |
adj/noun |
623v |
Broad evil — bad, harmful (natural or moral) |
TODO(need H7451 study) |
| H1100 |
בְּלִיַּעַל |
beliyyaʻal |
noun |
26v |
Worthlessness — social dissolution |
TODO(need H1100 study) |
| H2611 |
חָנֵף |
chaneph |
adj |
13v |
Profane/godless — impious person |
TODO(need H2611 study) |
| H5767 |
עַוָּל |
avval |
noun |
5v |
Unjust/unrighteous — moral perversion |
TODO(need H5767 study) |
Relationships
Shared Root
- rasha (H7563), reshaʻ (H7562), rashaʻ (H7561) — all from root ר-שׁ-ע: adjective, noun, and verb forms of the same concept
Co-occurrence (appear in same verses)
| Word A |
Word B |
Shared Verses |
Typical Context |
| H7563 rasha |
H7451 raʻ |
24 (10% of rasha) |
"the wicked [does] evil" — reinforcing evil actions of wicked persons |
| H7451 raʻ |
H1100 beliyyaʻal |
5 (19% of beliyyaʻal) |
"men of Belial" doing evil deeds |
| H7563 rasha |
H7562 reshaʻ |
4 (14% of reshaʻ) |
"the wicked... his wickedness" — person and quality together |
| H7563 rasha |
H7561 rashaʻ |
4 (11% of rashaʻ) |
Deut 25:1 judicial formula "condemn the wicked" |
| H7562 reshaʻ |
H7451 raʻ |
3 |
"wickedness" and "evil" in parallel |
| H7563 rasha |
H1100 beliyyaʻal |
2 |
Job 34:18 "wicked... ungodly" paired |
| H7563 rasha |
H2611 chaneph |
1 |
Job 20:5 "wicked... hypocrite" |
| H7563 rasha |
H5767 avval |
1 |
Job 27:7 "wicked... unrighteous" |
Multi-Word Passage
- Psa 10:15 — H7563 + H7562 + H7451: "Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none."
LXX Overlaps (Shared Greek Targets)
| Greek |
Transliteration |
Hebrew Members Mapped |
Notes |
| G765 ἀσεβής |
asebes |
H7563 rasha (137x), H2611 chaneph (6x) |
"ungodly" — Greek impiety covering both active wickedness and profaneness |
| G459 ἄνομος |
anomos |
H7563 rasha (28x), H7561 rashaʻ (11x), H7562 reshaʻ (8x) |
"lawless" — Greek legal framing unifying the r-sh-ʻ family |
| G1342 δίκαιος |
dikaios |
H7563 rasha (83x), H7561 rashaʻ (10x), H7562 reshaʻ (5x) |
As antonym in same verse, not as translation |
Roles in the Concept
- Person: rasha (H7563) — the morally guilty individual; the standard substantive for "the wicked" as a class
- Quality: reshaʻ (H7562) — the abstract wickedness that characterizes the person
- Action: rashaʻ (H7561) — the verb: to act wickedly, or forensically to condemn as guilty
- Broad evil: raʻ (H7451) — the wider field of badness (natural and moral) within which rasha operates
- Social dissolution: beliyyaʻal (H1100) — "sons of Belial" — worthlessness leading to antisocial conduct
- Impiety: chaneph (H2611) — profaneness, pollution with sin, godless hypocrisy
- Injustice: avval (H5767) — moral crookedness, perverted judgment
Key Distinctions
- rasha vs. raʻ: rasha is always about a morally culpable person; raʻ covers natural evil (calamity, disaster) as well as moral evil
- rasha vs. beliyyaʻal: rasha is the generic "wicked person"; beliyyaʻal emphasizes worthlessness and social harm ("sons of Belial" = destructive troublemakers)
- rasha vs. chaneph: rasha is morally wrong; chaneph is specifically profane/godless — soiled with impiety
- rasha vs. avval: rasha is the broad term; avval focuses on injustice and perverted judgment
Generated from: gather_word_group_data.py, search_relationships.py
Last updated: 2026-05-11