Lexicon
רָמָה
ra.mah
H7411B
H:V Hebrew

to deceive

9
Occurrences
8
Books
Hebrew
Language

ra.mah describes misleading others, often in accusations that someone has acted deceptively.

The attested use chiefly concerns one person charging another with misleading conduct: Jacob confronts Laban, Joshua confronts those who claimed to be distant, and Saul and the woman each accuse another of deception. A separate Qal participle occurs in the description of a person who acts “with a high hand” in Numbers 15:30; the supplied translation does not isolate the term’s precise contribution there.

Senses in use

  1. Misleading another person · dominant

    The Piel perfect forms occur in direct accusations or complaints about conduct toward another: in Genesis 29:25 the APB renders Jacob's question, “Why then have you deceived me?”; in Joshua 9:22 it renders Joshua's challenge over the claim to be distant. The same accusatory setting appears in 1 Samuel 19:17 and 1 Samuel 28:12, while Lamentations 1:19 describes those called upon as having deceived the speaker and Proverbs 26:19 places the action against a neighbor.

  2. Conduct described as high-handed · rare

    In Numbers 15:30, the Qal active participle occurs in the verse describing “the soul that acts with a high hand,” followed by blaspheming the LORD and being cut off from the people. The APB's whole-verse translation confirms that setting but does not identify an exact English equivalent for the participle.

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the clearest accusatory clauses, the APB uses “deceived,” while 2 Samuel 19:27 has “slandered” and Numbers 15:30 describes acting “with a high hand.” These renderings present each verse's clause rather than supplying a fixed equivalent for every form; 1 Chronicles 12:18 does not visibly isolate the infinitive's contribution.

Passages featuring this word

Across Scripture