רִיב
A contest (personal or legal)
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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.
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What does רִיב (riv) mean in the Bible?
רִיב (riv) is a Hebrew word meaning "a contest (personal or legal)". a contest (personal or legal) BDB: strife Usage: adversary, cause, chiding, contend(-tion), controversy, multitude (from the margin), pleading, strife, strive(-ing), suit. Defines prophetic speech as formal covenant litigation. This term runs through the canonical themes of Covenant.
Meaning
Legal dispute or personal conflict; often involves God as judge mediating between contending parties.
a contest (personal or legal) BDB: strife Usage: adversary, cause, chiding, contend(-tion), controversy, multitude (from the margin), pleading, strife, strive(-ing), suit.
Why This Word Matters
Defines prophetic speech as formal covenant litigation. Hosea 4:1-3
Grammatical Forms
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Canonical Themes
Biblical Occurrences
Each occurrence shows the passage reference, the original language term as it appears in that context, its transliteration, and the contextual sense.
Old Testament Witnesses
Showing 8 of 61 occurrences in the biblical text.
Appears In
Compound and idiomatic lexemes in which this word is a constituent. Follow a link to study the phrase and its other participating words.