7516. rephesh

Lexical Summary

rephesh: Mud, mire, filth

Original Word: רֶפֶשׁ
Part of Speech: Noun Masculine
Transliteration: rephesh
Pronunciation: reh-fesh
Phonetic Spelling: (reh'-fesh)
KJV: mire
NASB: refuse
Word Origin: [from H7515 (רָפַשׂ - To trample)]

1. mud (as roiled)

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance

mire

From raphas; mud (as roiled) -- mire.

see HEBREW raphas

NAS Exhaustive Concordance

Word Origin
from an unused word
Definition
mire
NASB Translation
refuse (1).

Brown-Driver-Briggs

רֶ֫פֶשׁ noun [masculine] mire; — Isaiah 57:20 (+ טִיט).

Topical Lexicon

Root and Semantic Field

Rephesh depicts thick, churned-up mud. Although it occurs only once in the Hebrew canon, it belongs to a wider cluster of images—clay, mire, slime—that Scripture employs to portray moral defilement, spiritual instability, and the chaos that attends life apart from God.

The Lone Text: Isaiah 57:20

“But the wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be still, and its waters churn up mire and mud.” (Isaiah 57:20)

In context, Isaiah contrasts two communities: those who find peace in the covenant Redeemer (Isaiah 57:19) and “the wicked” who experience no shalom (Isaiah 57:21). Rephesh supplies the climactic picture of that unrest. The sea, unrestrained and ever-moving, ejects its refuse onto the shore; so, too, the wicked heart relentlessly produces moral sludge. The imagery is deliberate: chaos-sea plus mire equals a double reminder of pre-creation disorder (Genesis 1:2) and the Flood’s judgment (Genesis 7:19-20). Isaiah therefore links present rebellion with primeval chaos and hints at the ultimate judgment that will once more cleanse the earth.

Biblical Imagery of Mire

1. Personal misery: Psalm 40:2; Psalm 69:14 portray mire as the place of helplessness from which Yahweh rescues His servant.
2. Persecution: Jeremiah 38:6 pictures Jeremiah sinking into cistern mud, a vivid emblem of prophetic suffering.
3. Apostasy: “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.” (2 Peter 2:22). The New Testament adopts the metaphor to describe false teachers who, after superficial cleansing, plunge back into defilement.

Though these passages use other Hebrew and Greek terms, they amplify the theological cargo of rephesh: mire is what God’s salvation must overcome.

Historical and Cultural Background

In the Ancient Near East, flooded wadis and storm-lashed coastlines left behind beds of foul-smelling sludge. Sailors and farmers alike dreaded the muck that could swallow sandals, carts, and even livestock. Isaiah’s audience would immediately feel the visceral revulsion that rephesh evokes.

Theological Significance

Restlessness of Sin

Rephesh is not static; it is churned up. Sin never sits dormant; it brews and spreads (James 1:15). The wicked are “like the tossing sea”—perpetually agitated, never content, incapable of producing anything but filth.

Absence of Peace

Isaiah 57:21 follows with the divine verdict: “There is no peace… for the wicked.” Peace, then, is not merely the cessation of activity but the presence of righteousness. Where rephesh is present, peace is absent.

Judgment and Salvation

The prophetic warning is two-edged. First, it unmasks the futility of wickedness: all human schemes apart from God end in mire. Second, it magnifies grace: only God can still the sea (Psalm 107:29) and replace mire with firm ground (Psalm 40:2). The Gospel writer Matthew notes that Jesus “rebuked the winds and the sea, and it was perfectly calm” (Matthew 8:26), a living answer to Isaiah’s problem.

Connections to Other Biblical Passages

• Peace imagery: compare Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast mind, because he trusts in You.” Those who trust receive what the restless sea can never know.
• Creation and New Creation: Revelation 21:1 records, “the sea was no more,” signaling the final abolition of chaos. Hence, rephesh is a temporary feature of a fallen world, destined for removal.
• Sanctification: Galatians 5:19-23 contrasts “works of the flesh” with “fruit of the Spirit.” Rephesh stands on the flesh side of the ledger; the Spirit produces love, joy, and peace—the antithesis of churned mud.

Homiletical and Pastoral Applications

• Diagnosis of Unrest: When counseling those plagued by chronic turmoil, Isaiah 57:20 points beyond circumstances to heart orientation. The cure is reconciliation with God, not merely stress management.
• Evangelistic Appeal: The vivid disgust aroused by rephesh provides a natural bridge to the call, “Come, all you who are thirsty” (Isaiah 55:1). The same prophet who condemns also invites.
• Assurance for the Righteous: Believers may feel tossed by life’s storms, yet their standing in Christ is secure. He has already “drawn us out of deep waters” (Psalm 18:16).

Christological Reflections

Jesus, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), confronts the chaos-sea both literally (Mark 4:39) and figuratively at Calvary. His cross absorbs the mire of sin; His resurrection plants His people on immovable ground. Thus, Isaiah’s lone rephesh text, when read in light of the canon, joins a chorus that exalts the Savior who turns churned-up mud into living water.

Practical Ministry Insights

1. Use sensory language. Invite listeners to recall the smell and feel of mud to press home the ugliness of sin.
2. Hold peace and purity together. Real shalom cannot exist without cleansing; therefore, urge confession and faith as twin responses.
3. Celebrate final hope. Believers labor in a world still splashing with rephesh, yet Revelation guarantees a cleansed cosmos. Encourage perseverance anchored in that promise.

Forms and Transliterations

רֶ֥פֶשׁ רפש re·p̄eš Refesh rep̄eš

Englishman's Concordance

Isaiah 57:20
HEB: וַיִּגְרְשׁ֥וּ מֵימָ֖יו רֶ֥פֶשׁ וָטִֽיט׃
NAS: And its waters toss up refuse and mud.
KJV: whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
INT: toss waters refuse and mud

1 Occurrence

Strong's Hebrew 7516
1 Occurrence

re·p̄eš — 1 Occ.