A revolt (national, moral or religious)
Reading a lexicon entry
What this page is: Each lexicon entry shows the original Hebrew or Greek word behind the English translation: its meaning, its range of use, and where it appears in Scripture.
Strong's number: The Strong's code (H- or G-) is the standard reference number for this word. It connects this entry to chapter and passage language tabs.
Where it appears: The witness passages show where this word is used in context. Click any to open the study page for that passage.
This lexicon entry is part of our ongoing editorial review. If you notice missing content, unclear wording, or a possible correction, please send us a note through the Connect page. Screenshots are helpful.
פֶּשַׁע is the OT's word for sin in its most deliberate form — not an accident, not a weakness, but a willful act of rebellion against YHWH's authority. The political-revolt root (פָּשַׁע is used of political secession in 2 Kgs 1:1 and 8:20) applied to the God-human relationship says something exact: the sinner is not merely failing a standard but withdrawing loyalty, defecting from the covenant king.
Reader summary
Full entry for פֶּשַׁע (H6588) · Open the biblical lexicon
פֶּשַׁע is the OT's word for sin in its most deliberate form — not an accident, not a weakness, but a willful act of rebellion against YHWH's authority. The political-revolt root (פָּשַׁע is used of political secession in 2 Kgs 1:1 and 8:20) applied to the God-human relationship says something exact: the sinner is not merely failing a standard but.
The BSB source-word alignment has 93 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include transgressions (11), my transgressions (7), transgression (6), your transgressions (6), our transgressions (4).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 31:36. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (14), Proverbs (12), Isaiah (11), Amos (10).
פֶּשַׁע is the OT's word for sin in its most deliberate form — not an accident, not a weakness, but a willful act of rebellion against YHWH's authority. The political-revolt root (פָּשַׁע is used of political secession in 2 Kgs 1:1 and 8:20) applied to the God-human relationship says something exact: the sinner is not merely failing a standard but withdrawing loyalty, defecting from the covenant king.
This is why Isa 53:5 is so theologically charged: 'he was pierced for our פְּשָׁעֵינוּ' — the Servant bears specifically the category of sin that is most culpable, most deliberate, most treasonous. The three-term combination in Ps 32:1-2 (פֶּשַׁע, חַטָּאָה, עָוֹן) is a comprehensive taxonomy: transgression (willful rebellion), sin (missing the mark), iniquity (twisted condition).
All three are covered by YHWH's forgiveness, but פֶּשַׁע is the hardest to forgive because it is the most knowing. Mic 7:18 — 'who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression (פֶּשַׁע) for the remnant of his inheritance?' — makes the passing-over of פֶּשַׁע the most astonishing act of divine mercy in the prophetic testimony.
פֶּשַׁע is indexed in the local Hebrew artifact at about 93 occurrences, concentrated in Amos (the sevenfold judgment formula), Psalms (especially Ps 32), Proverbs (wisdom sayings about rebellion), and Isaiah (especially ch. 53). The full OT count is higher when including the verb פָּשַׁע.
But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
The NT's primary use of פֶּשַׁע arrives through the LXX of Isa 53. 'Pierced for our transgressions' (חֹלַל מִפְּשָׁעֵינוּ) places the most willful category of sin — deliberate rebellion — on the Servant. The substitution is explicit: our פֶּשַׁע is the cause; the Servant's piercing is the consequence. 1 Pet 2:24 and Rom 4:25 draw on this text directly.
Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
The three sin-words of Ps 32 (פֶּשַׁע, חַטָּאָה, עָוֹן in vv.1-2) appear together as a comprehensive taxonomy. Paul quotes Ps 32:1-2 in Rom 4:7-8 as evidence that David knew justification by faith — 'blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.' The forgiveness of פֶּשַׁע is the opening beatitude.
This is what the Lord says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they threshed Gilead with sledges of iron.
Amos's structural formula uses פֶּשַׁע for the crimes of the nations and then Israel (Amos 1-2). The graded numbering (three... and four) is not arithmetic but rhetorical: full-measure transgression, overflowing into judgment. The same category covers both pagan violence and Israel's covenant violations — פֶּשַׁע is not limited to breaking the Mosaic law but covers deliberate moral revolt by any covenant party.
Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
The prophetic doxology over the forgiveness of פֶּשַׁע. The rhetorical question ('who is a God like you?') implies the answer: no other god forgives in this way. The 'passing over' of פֶּשַׁע (the most willful sin category) is what makes YHWH incomparable. The ground is delight in חֶסֶד — covenant love is what makes the passing-over possible.
Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers all transgressions.
פֶּשַׁע in the wisdom register: 'all offenses/transgressions' covered by love. This is the social application of the same dynamic that Mic 7:18 applies to YHWH — the one who loves covers פֶּשַׁע rather than exposing and exploiting it. 1 Pet 4:8 ('love covers a multitude of sins') quotes or echoes this verse.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Deliberate rebellion against established authority—God or ruler—emphasizing volitional defiance rather than inadvertent error
Deliberate rebellion against established authority—God or ruler—emphasizing volitional defiance rather than inadvertent error
a revolt (national, moral or religious) BDB: transgression Usage: rebellion, sin, transgression, trespass.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 93 lexical occurrence verses.
פֶּשַׁע is built from this root:
Excessive speech often crosses moral boundaries through careless words. Isaiah 24:16b-23
The earth’s collapse is linked directly to human rebellion. Isaiah 43:22-28
Identifies sin as willful covenant violation. Proverbs 10:19
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Isa 53:5 choosing פֶּשַׁע — not the softer sin-words but the deliberate-rebellion word — is a pastoral statement about the scope of atonement. The Servant does not bear only accidental sins or sins of weakness; he bears the category of sin that most deserves judgment, the most knowing defection. The gospel's claim is not that God overlooks the small failures; it is that the most willful rebellion is what the piercing was for.
This is what makes the good news genuinely good: there is no category of sin — however deliberate, however knowing, however repeated — that falls outside the scope of what the Servant bore.
Isa.53.5
The political-revolt root of פֶּשַׁע is clarified by its use in historical narrative: 2 Kgs 1:1 ('Moab revolted [פֹּשַׁע] against Israel'), 2 Kgs 8:20 ('Edom revolted [פָּשַׁע] from under the hand of Judah'). The same verb applied to the covenant relationship says: the sinner is not a subject who stumbled but a vassal who defected. The three-term sin taxonomy of Ps 32:1-2 (and elsewhere: Exod 34:7; Isa 53:5-6; Dan 9:24) is the OT's deliberate comprehensiveness — no category of human sin is excluded from the divine reckoning or the divine forgiveness.
The OT trajectory: Exod 34:7 (YHWH 'forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin' — all three terms in the name-declaration) → Ps 32:1-2 (the beatitude of forgiven פֶּשַׁע) → Isa 53:5 (the Servant pierced for פְּשָׁעֵינוּ) → Mic 7:18 (no god passes over פֶּשַׁע like YHWH) → NT: Rom 4:7-8 (Paul cites Ps 32 as evidence for justification by faith) → 1 Pet 2:24 ('he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree') → 2 Cor 5:21 ('God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us'). The arc is: פֶּשַׁע defined → diagnosed in Israel and the nations → laid on the Servant → forgiven in Christ → declared righteous in justification.
MorphGNT Strong's Dictionary XML — CC0 1.0 Public Domain
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (morphhb/OSHB) — CC BY 4.0
Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon — CC BY 4.0
Berean Standard Bible (BSB) source-word alignment - CC0 Public Domain