רָחַף

ra.chaph

to hover

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Strong’s H7363bVerb2 times in the Hebrew Bible

Where it occurs

Genesis1

Deuteronomy1

Translated as

was hovering1

it hovers1

In the text

Genesis 1:2מְרַחֶפֶת
Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
Deuteronomy 32:11יְרַחֵף
As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, He spread His wings to catch them and carried them on His pinions.

Brown-Driver-Briggs

רָחַף vb. Pi. hover (NH id., cf. Grünbaum ZMG xxxix (1885), 607; Syr. Pa. Syriac move gently, also cherish, and brood, cf. Thes S. V.; connexion with I. ר׳ dub.);—

Pi. Impf. 3 ms. יְרַחֵף עַל Dt 32:11 (poem) of vulture hovering over young; Pt. רוּחַ א׳ מְרַהֶפֶת עַל־פְּנֵי הַמָּ֑יִם Gn 1:2(P); hovering over face of waters, or perh. (v. Syr.) brooding (and fertilizing), so Jer Quaest. In Gen. ed. Lag. 4 (reading ‘marahaefeth’), cf. Di Gunk.

Sources: Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906, public domain) from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Lexicon (CC BY 4.0), glosses from STEPBible TBESH (CC BY 4.0); STEPBible TAHOT (Hebrew Bible, Leningrad Codex, CC BY 4.0); the Berean Standard Bible (public domain). Reformatted by Word Study, wording unchanged. All sources and licenses.