Rezeph

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Rezeph . A city mentioned in the message of the Rabshakeh of Sennacherib to Hezekiah (  2 Kings 19:12 ,   Isaiah 37:12 ). It is the Ratsappa or Ratsapi of the Assyrian inscriptions, the modern Rasafa , between Palmyra and the Euphrates. This district belonged for several centuries to the Assyrians, and many of the tablets show it to have been an important trade-centre. Between b.c. 839 and 737 the prefects who had authority in the place were, to all appearance, Assyrians, only one, of unknown but apparently late date, having a name which may be West Semitic, namely, Abda’, possibly a form of ‘Abda or ‘ Obadiah .

T. G. Pinches.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Place which the king of Assyria boasted of his 'fathers' having destroyed.  2 Kings 19:12;  Isaiah 37:12 . Several places have been known bearing this name. There is one west of the Euphrates, on the road from Racca to Hums, and another on the east of the river, near Bagdad; both have been suggested as probable identifications.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Re'zeph. (A Hot Stone). One of the places, which Sennacherib mentions, in his taunting message to Hezekiah, as having been destroyed by his predecessor.  2 Kings 19:12;  Isaiah 37:12.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A city conquered by the Assyrians,  2 Kings 19:12;  Isaiah 37:12 . It is thought to have been afterwards called Rasapha, and to have stood some twenty-five miles west of the Euphrates towards Palmyra.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

("a stone".) A fortress conquered by Sennacherib ( 2 Kings 19:12), probably on the western side of Euphrates; joined with Haran. Ptolemy ( 2 Kings 5:15) mentions a Resapha in the Palmyrene district.

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

A city of Syria. ( 2 Kings 19:12)

Holman Bible Dictionary

 2 Kings 19:12 Isaiah 37:12

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 2 Kings 19:12 Isaiah 37:12

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

rē´zef .

1. Forms of the Name:

( רצף , receph  ; Codex Vaticanus Ῥάφεις , Rhápheis  ; Ῥάφες , Rháphes  ; Codex Alexandrinus τὴν Ῥάφεθ , tḗn Rhápheth (  2 Kings 19:12 ), B Q margin Ῥάφεθ , Rhápheth Codex Sinaiticus Q Ῥάφες , Rháfes  ; Codex Alexandrinus Rhapheis ( Isaiah 37:12 ); Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) Roseph (  2 Kings 19:12 ), Reseph (  Isaiah 37:12 )): One of the places referred to by Sennacherib's Rabshakeh when delivering that king's message to Hezekigh demanding the surrender of Jerusalem. The names which precede are Gozan and Haran; and "the children of Eden that were Telassar" follows.

2. Now Called Rucafa:

It is now represented by Ruṣafa , East of Tipsah and Northeast of Hamath, and is regarded as the ( Ῥησάφα , Rhēsápha ) of Ptolemy (  2 Timothy 1:15 ). It was for some time under Assyrian dominion, and appears in a geographical list (2 R 53, 37a) preceded by Arraph̬a (Arrapachitis) and H̬alah̬h̬u (Halah), and followed by Tamnunu, uder the form of Raṣappa (elsewhere Raṣapi ).

3. Its Assyrian Governors:

From the Eponym Canons, Ninip - kibsi - uṣur was, it appears, prefect in 839 BC, Uraš - ereš from 804 to 775 BC, Sin - šallimanni in 747, and Bel-emuranni in 737 BC. Judging from their names, all these were Assyrians, but a seemingly native governor, Abda'u (or Abda'i ), possibly later than the foregoina, is mentioned in a list of officials (K. 9921). Yah̬uṭu was šanû (deputy-governor?) of Rezeph in 673 BC. Its mention in the Assyrian geographical lists implies that Rezeph was an important trade-center in Old Testament times.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Re'tseph, רֶצֶפ , A Hot Stone, as in  1 Kings 19:6; Sept. ῾Ρασἐφ , ῾Ραφείς , v. r. ῾Ραφέθ ), one of the places which Sennacherib mentions, in his taunting message to Hezekiah, as having been destroyed by his predecessor ( 2 Kings 19:12;  Isaiah 37:12). He couples it with Haran and other well-known Mesopotamian spots. It is supposed to be the same that Ptolemy mentions under the name of Rhesopha ( ῾Ρησώφα ) as a city of Palmyrene ( Geog. v, 15); and this, again, is possibly the same with the Rasapha which Abulfeda places at nearly a day's journey west of the Euphrates. The name is still a common one, Yakut's Lexicon quoting these two and seven other less important towns so called. SEE SENNACHEIRIB

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Re´zeph, a city which occurs among those subdued by the Assyrians . It is possibly the same with the Rasapha which Abulfeda places at nearly a day's journey west of the Euphrates.