אָרֵךְ
a.rekh (H0750)
slow
AI Word Study
# אָרֵךְ (arekh): The Hebrew Word for "Slow" The Hebrew word אָרֵךְ (arekh) carries the basic meaning of "slow" and appears fifteen times throughout the Hebrew Bible. This modest frequency suggests it was a functional vocabulary item rather than a central theological term, used primarily to describe the quality of moving or proceeding without haste or urgency. As a descriptor, arekh functioned in biblical Hebrew to characterize actions or conditions marked by deliberate slowness. The word's limited occurrences indicate it was employed selectively when the concept of slowness was specifically relevant to the narrative or discourse at hand. Its presence across multiple texts demonstrates that the concept of slowness—whether of movement, speech, or reaction—held practical significance for biblical authors and their audiences, though it remained a relatively specialized vocabulary choice compared to more frequently used terms. The significance of arekh lies in its straightforward lexical function: it provided Hebrew speakers and writers with a specific term to denote the quality of being slow. Without access to the specific biblical contexts in the provided data, we cannot determine whether the term carried idiomatic, symbolic, or metaphorical weight beyond its literal meaning, but its consistent use across fifteen biblical instances confirms that slowness was a recognizable and regularly referenced characteristic in ancient Israelite language and thought.
AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.
Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,
‘Yahweh is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’
and refused to obey. They weren’t mindful of your wonders that you did among them, but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and didn’t forsake them.
But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.
Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness.
Yahweh is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving kindness.
He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a quick temper displays folly.
A wrathful man stirs up contention, but one who is slow to anger appeases strife.
One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty; one who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city.
Better is the end of a thing than its beginning. The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
Yahweh, you know. Remember me, visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors. You are patient, so don’t take me away. Know that for your sake I have suffered reproach.
and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “A great eagle with great wings and long feathers, full of feathers, which had various colors, came to Lebanon, and took the top of the cedar.
Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to Yahweh, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.
He prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please, Yahweh, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.
Yahweh is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Yahweh has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.