Raca

Raca (Aramaic reqa, meaning empty one, worthless, or good-for-nothing) was an Aramaic term of contempt and abuse appearing in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus cited it as an example of the kind of contemptuous anger that violates the spirit of the commandment against murder: whoever says to his brother, Raca, shall be liable to the council (Matthew 5:22). The term conveys dismissal of another person's worth and intelligence — treating someone as a mental and moral nonentity. By connecting verbal contempt with the prohibition against murder, Jesus internalized and deepened the law's reach to include the attitudes of the heart.