הַוָּה
destruction
‘destruction’ is one of 2 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Absolute-state word in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Gender
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
- Singular
- One.
Every verse where H1942 appears in the Book of Psalms — 8 distinct verses. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Psalms
- Psalms 5:9 הַ֫וּ֥וֹת n c fp For there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their heart is destruction. Their throat is an open tomb. They flatter with their tongue.
- Psalms 38:12 הַוּ֑וֹת n c fp They also who seek after my life lay snares. Those who seek my hurt speak mischievous things, And meditate deceits all day long.
- Psalms 52:2 הַ֭וּוֹת n c fp Your tongue plots destruction, Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
- Psalms 52:7 בְּ/הַוָּתֽ/וֹ prep + n c fs cs + sfx pers 3ms "Behold, this is the man who didn't make God his strength, But trusted in the abundance of his riches, And strengthened himself in his wickedness."
- Psalms 55:11 הַוּ֥וֹת n c fp Destructive forces are within her. Threats and lies don't depart from her streets.
- Psalms 57:1 הַוּֽוֹת n c fp Be merciful to me, God, be merciful to me, For my soul takes refuge in you. Yes, in the shadow of your wings, I will take refuge, Until disaster has passed.
- Psalms 91:3 הַוּֽוֹת n c fp For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, And from the deadly pestilence.
- Psalms 94:20 הַוּ֑וֹת n c fp Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with you, Which brings about mischief by statute?
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
הוה (havvâh) is a Hebrew noun most often rendered “destruction.” It clusters heavily in Psalms, which alone accounts for 50% of its uses. With 16 verses in 4 books, it is an uncommon word in the Hebrew Bible. Debuting at Job 6:2, it then recurs through the corpus. Its lexical range runs to 2 senses. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H1942 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 16
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 16 distinct verses.
- 4 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 4 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #1,752
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 1,752 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 16 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 16 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 15 verses · 94%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 1 verse · 6%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Calamity 2×
- American Standard Version: Mischievous things 2×, Wickedness 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Destruction 6×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Calamities 3×, Calamity 3×, Desire of 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H1942 across 16 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 14 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H1942 across 16 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 12 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H1942 across 15 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 9 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H1942 across 14 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in BDB
The 2 senses BDB distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.
- desire
- chasm (figuratively of destruction)
Word origin
הַוָּה n.f. 1. desire; 2. chasm, fig. destruction
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from הוא (hâvâʼ) (H1933) — to be.
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
הֲוֵי
- , fut. יֶהֱוֵי, יְהֵא, יְהֵי ch.
- 1. same. Targ. Gen. I, 3; a. v. fr.—Koh. R. to IX, 10 הוא הוה גלי he emigrated, v. גְּלֵי. Ib. לא הֲוִינָא גלי did I not emigrate?—Ib. ויהוי מה דהוי (read דיהוי) and come what may. Ber. 3ᵃ (in Hebr. diction) ג׳ משמרות הוי נכ׳ the night consists of three watches. Ib.ᵇ תרי נשפי הוו there are two נשף (twilights); a. v. fr.—Y. Maasr. IV, end, 51ᶜ תְּווּן מפקדין וכ׳ (= תֶּהֱווּן, or read: הֱווּן) give orders to your wives &c., דיהוון מרימין וכ׳ that they (the laborers) should &c.—B. Bath. 73ᵇ, a. fr. הוה אזלינן it happened that we &c.—Kidd. 31ᵇ מרבינתיה הואי (= הֲוָאִית) she was his foster-mother. Ned. 50ᵃ אי הואי לי (Rashi הוי) if I become wealthy. Y. Shek. V, 49ᵇ top אית הוה סבין וכ׳ (Bab. ed. איתהוה, איתחוון, corr. acc.) there used to be old men &c.; Y. Peah VIII, 21ᵇ אית הוו.—Imper. הֱוֵי, v. preced. Ib. זיל הוי בי רב go and stay at college; a. fr.—In Palest. dialect יֵא, יֵיא = יְהֵא. Y. Taan. IV, 68ᶜ top ייא שלמא וכ׳ peace be with the hand &c.; a. fr.—V. יֵבָא, יֵיאבָךְ.
- 2. to dwell upon, discuss, v. infra.
- , הַוֵּא
- 1. to produce. Y. Taan. III, 66ᵈ bot. דהַוִּית וכ׳ (not דהיות) where the ground used to produce &c.; Midr. Till. to Ps. CXXVI דהַוָּה; v. זַוְויֵי.
- 2. (also Peel) with ב or על to dwell upon, to discuss, argue, oppose, cmp. קים. Y. R. Hash. I, 57ᵃ top על דב"ה אינון הַוִּוי they were discussing the question on the basis of Beth-Hillel’s opinion (differing as to the application of B. H.’s principle). Keth. 72ᵇ הוי בה ר׳ פפא R. P. (when that subject was up) raised the question.—Usu. והוינן בה, וה׳ עלה on its being brought up at college we raised the point. Ber. 45ᵇ. Gitt. 4ᵇ; a. fr.—Naz. 16ᵇ וכולה כדה׳ בהאליבא וכ׳ and all this must be understood, in accordance with what we have discussed (ib. 5ᵃ sq.), in the sense of &c.—Kidd. 50ᵇ, a. fr. מאי הַוֵּי עלה what have they decided upon it?, what is the result?—[Nidd. 66ᵃ תהוו … נתהוו, v. תְּהָא.]
הַוָּה
- , v. Pi.) [change,] misfortune.—Pl. הַוּוֹת. Num. R. s. 12 (expl. מִדֶּבֶר הוות, Ps. XCI, 3) מִדָּבָר שמביא ה׳ בעולם from the word which produces misfortunes &c.; Midr. Till. to Ps. l. c. שמביא הַוָּוה לעולם (insert מדבר). e.g. Psalms 91:3
*הֵוָה
- Ḥevah. Y. Yeb. III, 5ᵃ top R. Ḥ. דמן ה׳ of Ḥ.; (Gitt. 86ᵇ הונא or הוגא, Var. חֵיפָא).
הָוָה
- , v. הֲוִי
הֲוָהּ
- ah!, v. וָהּ.
הוי
- (b. h.) to exist; to be, become; to occur, come to pass.—With part. ה׳ מביט he looked; ה׳ אומר he said, freq. used to say. Gen. R. s. 1, beg. אני הָיִיתִי וכ׳ I was the implement &c. Ib. ה׳ הקב"ה מביט וכ׳ the Lord looked into the Law (as often as a thing was to be created). Ab. I, 13 הוא ה׳ אומר the same used to say. Gen. R. s. 2 ה׳ ללמה ולא כלום became a nothing; a. v. fr.—Apocopate forms: אֱהִי, אֱהֵא, תְּהִי, תְּהֵא, יְהִי, יְהֵא; תְּהוּ (= תִּהְיוּ), יְהוּ (= יִהְיוּ). Yoma 66ᵇ אהא בשלום אני נכ׳ (Tosef. ib. IV (III), 14 נִהְיֶה) may I and you be as well; Y. ib. VI, 43ᶜ bot. כן תהו וכ׳ so may ye be well. B. Mets. 35ᵃ תהא במאמינו let this be (speak of a case) when he accepts his opponent’s statement; a. v. fr.—Part. הוֶֹה, הוֶֹוה
- 1. frequent, usual. Sabb. VI, 6 דברו חכמים בה׳ the scholars (in using the words ‘Arabian women’) speak of the ordinary custom (not to the exclusion of other people); a. fr.
- 2. existing, enduring. Pesik. R. s. 11, end הם הווִֹים ודומים [להקב"ה] they shall be existing for themselves (not merely as an attachment) and resembling [the Lord]; ib. אף הם הווים אש וכ׳ they, too, shall endure as a consuming fire.—Cant. R. to II, 13 עניות ירבה ויוקר הווה (read תרבה) poverty shall increase, and prices remain high (different in Snh. 97ᵃ a. Sot. 49ᵇ, v. אָמַר II). Imper. הֱוֵי, הֱוֵא; pl. הֱווּ. Ab. I, 4. Ib. II, 3; a. fr.—הֱוֵי אוֹמֵר, also elliptically הֱוֵי say, i.e. you must admit, this proves, that is meant by saying. Taan. 2ᵃ which is the service of the heart? ה׳ אומר זו תפלה you must admit, it is prayer. Tosef. Nidd. I, 6 ה׳ לא אמרום וכ׳ that is to say, the scholars have spoken &c. Cant. R. to I, 6 ה׳ כרמי שלי וכ׳ this is meant by ‘my vineyard &c.’—Y. Shebu. VII, 38ᶜ top הווי לא צורכה וכ׳ it is evident that it would not have been necessary &c.; a. fr.
- (v. הְוָיָה
- 1. to change one’s legal status, to dispose of. Keth. 40ᵇ (ref. to תהיה Deut. XXII, 19) במְהַוָּה עצמה וכ׳ the text speaks of a woman who can dispose of herself. e.g. Deuteronomy 22:19
- 2. to produce, make. Kidd. 58ᵃ (ref. to והיית, Deut. VII, 26) כל שאתה מְהַיֶּיה הימנה whatever thou makest out of it; Tem. 30ᵇ מְהַיֶּה ממנה; a. e. e.g. Deuteronomy 7:26
וָהּ
- (interj.; cmp. b. h. הָהּ, הֶאָח) vah (hăvah), an exclamation of pleasure; ah! &c., contradist. to וַוי (woe!). Lam. R. to I, 5 למה אמרת ווי אמר וה אמרי (Ar. וַאי) why didst thou exclaim, Vay (woe!)? Said he, I said Vah. Ib. בין וי לוה וכ׳ between Vay and Vah R. Joḥ. escaped.—Pesik. Asser, p. 97ᵇ בתחלה הם אומרים וה ולבסוף הם אומרים וי at first (on entering the hot and again the cold place) they say Vah (how pleasant!), but finally they say Vay (woe!); Tanḥ. R’eh 13 הוה; Tanḥ. ed. Bub., ib. 10; Yalk. Deut. 892; (diff. versions: Y. Snh. X, 29ᵇ bot.; Yalk. Ps. 737). Pesik. l. c. (play on הַיָּוֵן, Ps. XL, 3) ממקום שאומרים ווה וּוַי (not שאומר) from the place where they (the wicked) say Vah and (then) Vay; Tanḥ. ed. Bub. l. c.; וה וּוַיי; Tanḥ. l. c. (corr. acc.); Yalk. Deut. l. c. הי ווי; (differ. vers. in Yalk. Ps. l. c. a. Y. l. c.). e.g. Psalms 40:3
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 13 distinct written forms H1942 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| הַוּֽוֹת | Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute | Job 6:30 | 3 |
| הַוּ֑וֹת | Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute | Psalms 38:12 | 2 |
| בְּ/הַוָּתֽ/וֹ | Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct | Psalms 52:7 | 1 |
| הַ֫וּ֥וֹת | Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute | Psalms 5:9 | 1 |
| הַ֭וּוֹת | Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute | Psalms 52:2 | 1 |
| הַוּ֥וֹת | Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute | Psalms 55:11 | 1 |
| הַוַּ֥ת | Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct | Micah 7:3 | 1 |
| הַוֺּ֣ת | Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute | Proverbs 19:13 | 1 |
| הַוֺּֽת | Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute | Proverbs 17:4 | 1 |
| וְ/הַוַּ֖ת | Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct | Proverbs 10:3 | 1 |
| וְ֝/הַוָּתִ֗/י | Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct | Job 6:2 | 1 |
| וּ֝/בְ/הַוַּ֗ת | Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct | Proverbs 11:6 | 1 |
| לְ/הַוָּתִ֥/י | Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct | Job 30:13 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H1942, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derives from
Shares the same root
Derived from this word
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 5 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 15 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 16 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
