Rapha in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE

ra'-fa (rapha'): (1) In the Revised Version margin these names are substituted for "the giant" in 1 Ch 20:4,6,8 and in 2 Sam 21:16,18,20,22. The latter passage states that certain champions of the Philistines who were slain by David's warriors had been born to the raphah in Gath. The text is corrupt; Raphah is probably an eponym. Originally the name of one of the Philistines who was of the body "Rephaites" stood in the text. The plural of this word, or at least a plural of this stem, is REPHAIM (which see). (2) Raphah (the King James Version "Rapha"), a descendant of Saul (1 Ch 8:37). See REPHAIAH. Horace J. Wolf