Tᵉrâphîym — H8655

Definition

masculine noun

Teraphim (singular or plural) a family idol

1. idolatry, idols, image(s), teraphim, family idol
1. a kind of idol used in household shrine or worship

Usually translated as

teraphim, images, idols, idolatry

Origin

plural from H7495; a healer

• Derived from Râphâʼ (H7495)

Greek equivalents

• dēlos (G1212)
• eídōlon (G1497)
• therapeía (G2322)

Occurrences

Tᵉrâphîym occurs 15 times in the King James.

Distribution of the word across the Bible: Genesis (3), Judges (5), 1 Samuel (3), 2 Kings (1), Ezekiel (1), Hosea (1), Zechariah (1)

• Genesis 31:19 — And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images (הַתְּרָפִ֖ים) that were her father’s.
• Genesis 31:34 — Now Rachel had taken the images (הַתְּרָפִ֗ים), and put them in the camel’s furniture, and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, but found them not.
• Genesis 31:35 — And she said to her father, Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom of women is upon me. And he searched, but found not the images (הַתְּרָפִֽים).
• Judges 17:5 — And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim (וּתְרָפִ֔ים), and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
• Judges 18:14 — Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim (וּתְרָפִ֔ים), and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do.
• Judges 18:17 — And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim (הַתְּרָפִ֖ים), and the molten image: and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.
• Judges 18:18 — And these went into Micah’s house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim (הַתְּרָפִ֖ים), and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye?
• Judges 18:20 — And the priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim (הַתְּרָפִ֖ים), and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people.
• 1 Samuel 15:23 — For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry (וּתְרָפִ֖ים). Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
• 1 Samuel 19:13 — And Michal took an image (הַתְּרָפִ֗ים), and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats’ hair for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth.
• 1 Samuel 19:16 — And when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image (הַתְּרָפִ֖ים) in the bed, with a pillow of goats’ hair for his bolster.
• 2 Kings 23:24 — Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images (הַתְּרָפִ֨ים), and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.
• Ezekiel 21:21 — For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images (בַּתְּרָפִ֔ים), he looked in the liver.
• Hosea 3:4 — For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim (וּתְרָפִֽים):
• Zechariah 10:2 — For the idols (הַתְּרָפִ֣ים) have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.