Lexicon

H6588 - pesha

Strong's: H6588 · BLB lookup Pronunciation: peh'-shah Part of speech: masculine noun (from the verbal root H6586 pasha, "to rebel, transgress") Frequency: ~93 occurrences in the Hebrew Bible, concentrated in Psalms, the prophets (Isaiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Micah), and the priestly atonement texts. LXX equivalents: ἀνομία (anomia, lawlessness), ἁμαρτία (hamartia, sin), ἀσέβεια (asebeia, ungodliness)

Semantic range (Brown-Driver-Briggs)

Transgression, rebellion, the deliberate breach of an established relationship of authority, not merely the violation of a rule. The verbal root pasha means "to revolt against a superior", covenantal or political rebellion.
Trespass, breach, the act of crossing a line one has been bound not to cross.
Guilt of transgression, by metonymy, the standing condition of having rebelled.

Theological force, sin as covenant rebellion

Pesha is the strongest of the three principal Hebrew sin-words. The classical OT triad, distinct but overlapping, is:

H2403 - chattath (חַטָּאָה / חַטָּאת, chattath), "missing the mark," failure to attain the standard; also the technical sin-offering. Default for inadvertent / culpable failure.
H5771 - avon (עָוֹן, ʿawon), "iniquity," twisted / perverted state; sin viewed as crookedness or warping of moral faculties; carries the standing-guilt sense.
H6588 pesha, "transgression / rebellion," the deliberate, covenant-breaking, willful breach of a binding relationship.

The triad's classical co-appearance is the Exodus 34.6-7 mercy-formula: "forgiving ʿawon and peshaʿ and chattath"; and Numbers 14.18; and the Day-of-Atonement liturgy in Leviticus 16:21 where the high priest confesses "all the ʿawōnōt of the sons of Israel and all their pishʿēhem and all their chattōʾtām", the threefold confession aiming to leave no sin-category unaddressed.

The verbal root's political-rebellion sense (1 Kings 12:19, "Israel has been in rebellion pasha against the house of David") is the controlling metaphor: sin against God is covenantal rebellion against a divine sovereign, not merely failure or weakness. This is why pesha is the word the prophets reach for when indicting Israel's idolatry and breach of covenant, the sin is treason, not error.

Notable verses

The mercy formula and Day of Atonement

Exodus 34.6-7, the LORD's self-revelation: "forgiving ʿawon and peshaʿ and chattath", the threefold object of YHWH's covenant mercy
Numbers 14:18, the formula repeated when Moses intercedes for Israel after the spies
Leviticus 16:21, Aaron lays both hands on the live goat and confesses "all the iniquities (ʿawōnōt) of the sons of Israel, and all their transgressions (pishʿēhem) in regard to all their sins (chattōʾtām)", the scapegoat carries the threefold weight

Isaiah, Suffering Servant pierced for peshaʿ

Isaiah 53.5, "He was pierced through for our peshaʿ, He was crushed for our ʿawon", penal substitution language: the Servant absorbs the rebellion of the many
Isaiah 53:8, "for the peshaʿ of My people, the stroke was due Him"
Isaiah 53.12, "He bore the sin of many, and interceded for the poshʿim (transgressors)"
Isaiah 43:25, "I, even I, am the one who wipes out your peshaʿim for My own sake"
Isaiah 44:22, "I have wiped out your peshaʿim like a thick cloud, and your chattaʾoth like a heavy mist"
Isaiah 59:12, "our peshaʿim are with us, and we know our ʿawōnōt"

Psalms, confession and forgiveness

Psalms 32:1, "How blessed is he whose peshaʿ is forgiven (nesuy), whose chataʾah is covered", Paul cites this LXX form in Romans 4:7
Psalms 51:1, "blot out my peshaʿim"
Psalm 51:3, "I know my peshaʿim, and my sin is ever before me"
Psalm 103:12, "as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our peshaʿim from us"

Prophetic indictment

Amos 1-2, the cycle "for three peshaʿim of [nation], and for four, I will not turn back its punishment", covenant rebellion as the basis of judgment on the nations and Israel
Micah 6:7, "shall I give my firstborn for my peshaʿ?"
Micah 7:18, "Who is a God like You, who pardons ʿawon and passes over peshaʿ?"
Ezekiel 18:30, "Repent and turn away from all your peshaʿim"
Ezekiel 33:10, "our peshaʿim and our chattaʾoth are upon us"
Daniel 9:24, the Seventy Weeks: "to finish the peshaʿ and to make an end of chattath and to atone for ʿawon", eschatological resolution of the entire sin-triad

Patristic / scholarly note

The Septuagint's variability in rendering pesha (sometimes ἀνομία, sometimes ἁμαρτία, sometimes ἀσέβεια) reflects the difficulty of mapping a single Greek word onto its specific covenantal-rebellion sense. Paul's most decisive use of the lexeme stands in Romans 4:7-8 where he quotes Psalms 32:1 (LXX), μακάριοι ὧν ἀφέθησαν αἱ ἀνομίαι, to ground his doctrine of forensic justification: forgiveness is the non-imputation of peshaʿ. The Hebrew rebellion-against-covenant frame undergirds the Pauline logic: justification is reconciliation of a covenant-breaking rebel to the covenant Lord, not the rehabilitation of a slightly-flawed citizen.

In Rabbinic theology, the threefold chattath / ʿawon / peshaʿ triad becomes the basis for differentiated repentance, Maimonides (Hilkhot Teshuvah 1.1-2) treats peshaʿ as the most severe category, requiring not merely confession but explicit reversal of the rebellion. The Christian doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement (cf. Penal Substitutionary Atonement) reads Isaiah 53's "pierced for our peshaʿ" as the controlling text: what the goat-of-Azazel could only carry symbolically (Lev 16), the Servant carries actually.

The English "rebellion" captures the political / covenantal weight better than "transgression," though "transgression" is the King-James-tradition default. Modern translations (NASB, ESV, NIV) retain "transgression" but the lexicographers (BDB, HALOT, Koehler-Baumgartner) consistently note the verbal root's political-revolt origin.

Verses in this codex

See Obsidian's backlinks pane for every verse page linking here. Top-cited references using peshaʿ: Isaiah 53.5, Psalms 32:1, Exodus 34.6-7.