Bible Lexicons

Girdlestone's Synonyms of the Old TestamentGirdlestone's OT Synonyms

Wickedness

Rasha (רשׁע ) is the word most generally rendered wicked [The word wicked is supposed by some etymologists to be connected with quick, and to mean lively; if this be its true significance, it answers admirably to Rasha. See Dean Hoare's work on English Roots.] in the A. V. It is supposed originally to refer to the activity, the tossing, and the confusion in which the wicked live, and the perpetual agitation which they cause to others. Thus Isaiah says (Isaiah 57:20-21) 'The wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt; there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.' Job also (Job 3:17) looks forward to the grave as the place 'where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest.' in the Book of Job the wicked are represented as triumphing for a time, but as finally put out into darkness; in the Psalms they are represented as busily occupied in disturbing the peace of others, and as trying to destroy them. They are frequently contrasted with the righteous; and their ways are fully described in Ezekiel, chaps.18. and 33. If Kennicott's view of Isaiah 53:9 could be substantiated, we should read of the Messiah, 'he made his grave with the rich, but with the wicked was his death;' and the use of the word to mark the robbers or disturbers of the public peace would have been very appropriate.

Rasha is usually rendered ἀσεβής, ungodly, in the LXX, but ἄνομος and ἁμαρτωλός are found in several passages.

The verb in its Hiphil or causative form is generally taken as signifying to condemn, literally 'to make wicked,' and hence 'to deal wit has wicked.' It is found in all but four passages where the word 'condemn' occurs in the A. V.