Bible Dictionary
RAG
A rag is a torn or worn-out piece of clothing. Scripture uses rags literally and also pictures human righteousness as filthy, inadequate clothing.
Definition
A rag is a torn, worn, or tattered piece of clothing. Biblical usage includes both literal worn garments and figurative descriptions of what is inadequate or defiled.
Biblical Usage
Proverbs uses rags as an image of the poverty produced by drowsiness. Isaiah compares human righteousness to filthy, tattered clothing. In Jeremiah, the word refers to a worn-out garment or old cloth.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>Plural in Pr 23:21, "Drowsiness will clothe a man with rags" (qera'im "torn garment"; compare 1Ki 11:30), and figuratively in Isa 64:6 the King James Version, "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags," in the sense of "tattered clothing" (beghedh, the Revised Version (British and American) "garment"). In Jer 38:11,12 the American Standard Revised Version translates cechabhah, as "rag" (the King James Version, the English Revised Version "old cast clout"), while the King James Version, the English Revised Version use "rotten rag" for melach (the American Standard Revised Version "worn-out garment"). Both cechabhah and melach mean "worn out."</p>