Tēr'a-phīm, n. pl.

n. pl. [Hēb. terāphīm.] Household deities or images. “The word Teraphim has been literally translated nutritores (nourishers). It seems that the plural form was used as a collective singular for the personified combination of all nourishing powers, as the plural Teraphim signifies God, in whom all superior powers to be revered with reverential awe are combined. . . . The word Teraphim signifies an object or objects of idolatry, as we may learn from the renderings of the Septuagint, and that it was in meaning similar to the Penates. . . . It seems, therefore, that [they] were tutelary household gods, by whom families expected, for worship bestowed, to be rewarded with domestic prosperity.” Kitto.