Wow TAMARA

9. Ra’ רַע (pronounced rah)

There are many different words for sin in the bible but ra’ is used more than 600 times!  It comes from another Hebrew word ra’a, meaning evil or bad.  When you remove the “a” sound at the end, its meaning encompasses “evil”, “harm”, “displeasure”, or “misery” but it also conveys an aspect of brokenness.  It can mean “broken into pieces”, like when something’s completely ruined or “blemished”, like things unfit for presentation to God, such as for sacrifice.

Use in Scripture

The ugly, gaunt cows from Pharaoh’s dream in Genesis 41 are described using this word, as is the wild beast that Joseph’s brothers claimed devoured him in Genesis 37.  It’s also the word that was translated into “evil” in describing the tree in the Garden of Eden.  It was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Ra’.

A Reader’s Hebrew and Greek Bible

Brokenness

While we know that sin is disobedience to God, without the aspect of brokenness, we have no reason to turn to our Savior.   Everyone knows there’s sin in their life but not everyone realizes their brokenness in it.  We all know someone who says “Sure, I’ve done bad things but I’m a good person overall”.  This is to imply that sin is just part of who we are, but God will surely compare us to one another and forgive the good people for being less evil than the really evil ones. 

It sounds great but that’s just not how it works.  The bible says that we ALL have fallen short of God’s glory (Rom. 3:23).  He’s just too glorious, too perfect, and too holy for us – even the good ones – to ever measure up to Him.  HE is what we’ll be compared to in judgement, which is why all of us need Jesus, the only person to have kept all of the Law perfectly, as our substitute.  

Without realizing that the ra’ in our hearts has left us blemished, unacceptable, and broken before God, we are unable to see our need to accept the gift of Jesus.  When we get to the point of being devastated by our ra’, we can then humbly approach God, genuinely repentant, and be made unblemished, acceptable, and perfect in the eyes of our Creator, fit for communion with Him!

These are just a few examples of Hebrew words that can enrich our faith through an understanding of them in their original form.  Imagine what can come to light in the process of learning even more of the Hebrew language!  As lifelong students of the bible, learning its main original language will deepen both our faith and our relationship with the God of the universe!