a.rakh is used for drawing up forces, setting objects in place, and putting a matter into ordered presentation.

The dominant use concerns forces drawn up or arrayed for confrontation; the same verb also describes placing materials, food, lamps, or sacrificial pieces in an ordered setting, and it can extend to setting out a case, words, or a comparison before someone.

1. Drawing up for battle · dominant

   In 2 Samuel 10:9, the sequential imperfect describes Joab's response after seeing opposition in front and behind; the APB renders that he “arranged them to meet Aram.” In 1 Samuel 17:21, the feminine singular form occurs where Israel and the Philistines face one another, rendered “arranged rank to encounter rank,” while 1 Chronicles 19:17 places the action immediately before engagement with Aram.

   2 Samuel 10:91 Samuel 17:211 Chronicles 19:17Genesis 14:8Jeremiah 50:9Joel 2:5
2. Setting out materials and provisions · common

   In Leviticus 1:7, the plural sequential perfect concerns wood placed on the altar fire, and in Leviticus 1:12 the singular form concerns the animal's pieces placed on that wood. In Exodus 40:4 the second-person form is used of the table and its articles, while Psalm 23:5 and Proverbs 9:2 place a table within a provision-setting scene.

   Leviticus 1:7Leviticus 1:12Exodus 40:41 Kings 18:33Proverbs 9:2Psalm 23:5
3. Putting a case or statement in order · occasional

   In Job 13:18, the first-person perfect occurs with a case that has been prepared. Job 23:4 similarly uses a first-person cohortative for setting a case before him and filling the mouth with arguments; Job 33:5 addresses another person with an imperative to set words in order before the speaker.

   Job 13:18Job 23:4Job 33:5Job 37:19Isaiah 44:7
4. Prepared or set in place · occasional

   Passive participles describe something already positioned or prepared: a covenant is “arranged in all things” in 2 Samuel 23:5, a table is “set before” someone in Ezekiel 23:41, and Topheth is “prepared” in Isaiah 30:33. Joshua 2:6 uses a feminine plural passive participle for flax placed on the roof.

   2 Samuel 23:5Ezekiel 23:41Isaiah 30:33Joshua 2:6Jeremiah 50:42

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB variously presents the action as “arranged,” “drew up,” “arrayed,” “prepared,” “set,” and “set in order.” These renderings confirm the scenes' overall ordering or deployment without assigning every English expression exclusively to this term.