To run after (usually with hostile intent; figuratively [of time] gone by )
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H7291 is a Hebrew verb for pursuing or chasing, with context ranging from military pursuit and persecution to persistent pursuit of justice, peace, or knowledge. Exodus 14:9 describes Pharaoh's forces pursuing Israel to the sea, a violent attempt to reclaim liberated people.
Reader summary
Full entry for רָדַף (H7291) · Open the biblical lexicon
H7291 is a Hebrew verb for pursuing or chasing, with context ranging from military pursuit and persecution to persistent pursuit of justice, peace, or knowledge. Exodus 14:9 describes Pharaoh's forces pursuing Israel to the sea, a violent attempt to reclaim liberated people.
The BSB source-word alignment has 143 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include pursued (12), pursue (6), pursues (4), my pursuers (3), pursued them (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 14:14. Its strongest book concentrations include Psalms (20), Joshua (19), 1 Samuel (11), 2 Samuel (11).
H7291 is a Hebrew verb for pursuing or chasing, with context ranging from military pursuit and persecution to persistent pursuit of justice, peace, or knowledge. Exodus 14:9 describes Pharaoh's forces pursuing Israel to the sea, a violent attempt to reclaim liberated people. Deuteronomy 16:20 commands Israel to pursue justice, while Psalm 34:14 calls worshipers to seek peace and pursue it.
Psalm 23:6 uses the same energetic verb when goodness and mercy follow the psalmist. The verb communicates directed, sustained movement after an object; the moral value comes from who pursues, what is pursued, and why. H7291 helps teachers expose stalking, persecution, vindictive pursuit, and coercive control while also recovering the active persistence required by justice, peace, covenant love, and faithful discipleship.
H7291 can describe armies chasing fugitives, enemies persecuting the vulnerable, consequences overtaking people, or faithful people pursuing justice and peace. Its force is active and directional, while the object and narrative determine whether the pursuit protects life or threatens it.
The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi-hahiroth, opposite Baal-zephon.
Pharaoh's military forces pursue the Israelites and overtake them near the sea, exposing pursuit as imperial coercion against people God has liberated.
Pursue justice, and justice alone, so that you may live, and you may possess the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
Israel is commanded to pursue justice and justice alone so that communal life and possession of the land remain ordered by covenant righteousness.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Goodness and mercy actively follow the psalmist throughout life, reversing the threat of hostile pursuit within a confession of the Shepherd's care.
Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
The worshiper must turn from evil, do good, seek peace, and pursue it, presenting peacemaking as sustained action rather than passive preference.
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. Pursuit with hostile intent; captures both literal chase and metaphorical escape of fleeting time.
Pursuit with hostile intent; captures both literal chase and metaphorical escape of fleeting time.
to run after (usually with hostile intent; figuratively [of time] gone by) BDB: pursue Usage: chase, put to flight, follow (after, on), hunt, (be under) persecute(-ion, -or), pursue(-r).
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 144 lexical occurrence verses.
רָדַף is a primitive root - no further derivation.
The word suggests active pursuit of a moral direction.Proverbs 11:19
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H7291 is morally vivid because pursuit concentrates desire into movement. Pharaoh's chariots do not merely oppose Israel in principle; they chase liberated families toward the sea in an attempt to restore domination. Many narratives likewise show armies, avengers, rulers, or personal enemies pursuing people whose lives are at risk. The Psalms give sufferers language to ask rescue from pursuers and refuse to hide the terror of being hunted.
Yet the same verb can turn toward what is good. Deuteronomy commands the pursuit of justice with emphatic focus, and Psalm 34 insists that peace must be sought and chased rather than admired from a distance. Psalm 23 offers a striking reversal: the psalmist is followed not finally by an enemy but by goodness and covenant mercy. This range prevents a thin definition.
Persistence is not virtuous merely because it is intense, and retreat is not cowardice when safety requires escape. Faithful teaching judges pursuit by its object, means, power, and fruit. Churches should protect people facing stalking, persecution, retaliation, or coercive control and should never use reconciliation language to send them back into danger. At the same time, communities are called to persistent justice and costly peacemaking that do not surrender truth.
H7291 asks what our energies chase and who bears the cost of our zeal.
Deut.16.20
H7291 is a Hebrew verb whose basic image is moving persistently after someone or something. Direct objects, purpose clauses, military setting, poetic personification, and ethical commands establish whether it means chase, persecute, follow, or actively pursue a good.
The New Testament repeatedly commands believers to pursue peace, love, hospitality, holiness, and mutual good while naming persecution as suffering inflicted on disciples. These parallels preserve H7291's moral dependence on the pursued object, the means used, and the effect on others.