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חָדַל

to cease

‘to cease’ is one of 3 main senses fuller range ↓

H2308 Strong's Hebrew
châdal Transliteration
/khaw-dal'/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 59 appearances

Compare with another word →

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.

חדל — transliterated châdal — is a Hebrew verb carrying the sense “to cease.” It first appears in Genesis 11:8. With 56 verses in 17 books, it is a moderately common word in the Hebrew Bible. The verb spans 2 stems, from Qal to Hophal. From the same root come חדל and חדל. Each statement above links to its evidence; the full detail follows below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
cease
Modern gloss
to cease
Strong's 1890 agrees
Strong's 1890 and current BDB scholarship align on this entry's primary sense — a good signal that the gloss above is unambiguous and stable. Download share card

About this word

Strong's H2308 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 →

56
distinct verses
The word appears in 56 distinct verses.
17 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 17 of 39 Old Testament books.
Genesis 11:8
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Genesis 11:8.
Zechariah 11:12
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Zechariah 11:12.
#647
by frequency
Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 647 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 56 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 11 · 20%
  • Historical 20 · 36%
  • Wisdom 12 · 21%
  • Prophets 13 · 23%

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 56 distinct verses.

  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 27 verses · 48%
  • Writings (Ketuvim) 18 verses · 32%
  • Torah (Pentateuch) 11 verses · 20%

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: Cease 7×, Ceased 4×, Forbear 4×
  • American Standard Version: Cease 7×, Forbear 3×, Or shall i forbear 3×
  • Berean Standard Bible: Stop 4×, He stopped 3×, Should i stop giving 3×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: Cease 11×, Ceased 4×, Stop 4×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H2308 across 58 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Cease” 7×
  • “Ceased” 4×
  • “Forbear” 4×
  • “Or shall i forbear” 3×
  • “Or whether they will forbear” 3×
  • “He forbare” 2×
  • “Should i leave” 2×

Plus 33 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.

American Standard Version Public Domain

Renders H2308 across 58 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Cease” 7×
  • “Forbear” 3×
  • “Or shall i forbear” 3×
  • “Them” 3×
  • “Ceased” 2×
  • “He forbare” 2×
  • “Thereof” 2×
  • “Thou shalt forbear” 2×
  • “Whether they will hear or whether they will forbear” 2×

Plus 32 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 H2308 across 57 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Stop” 4×
  • “He stopped” 3×
  • “Should i stop giving” 3×
  • “Should we refrain” 3×
  • “Cease” 2×
  • “Ceased” 2×
  • “Refuse to listen” 2×

Plus 38 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.

unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Renders H2308 across 60 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Cease” 11×
  • “Ceased” 4×
  • “Stop” 4×
  • “He ceased” 3×
  • “Should i discontinue” 3×
  • “And” 2×
  • “Ceases” 2×
  • “Or not” 2×
  • “Should i refrain” 2×
  • “Will” 2×

Plus 25 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.


Senses in the full BDB

Hebrew verbs can shift meaning by stem (binyan): Qal is the basic action, Niphal is often passive or reflexive, Piel often intensifies or makes it factitive, and Hiphil is typically causative. The senses below are grouped under the stem BDB assigns to each. This entry also uses Hophal (the passive of Hiphil).

What do BDB’s symbols mean?

BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:

Symbol Meaning
𝔊 the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX)
𝔙 the Vulgate (the Latin translation)
𝔖 the Syriac version (the Peshitta)
𝔗 the Targum (the Aramaic translation)
ψ the Psalms
√ root (the underlying root or stem)
‖ parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel)
† the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited

The 4 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.

Qal

  • Pf. חָדַל Gn 18:11 + 4 times; וְחָדַל consec. Nu 9:13 ψ 49:9; 2 ms. וְחָדַלְתָּ֫ Ex 23:5; pl. חָֽדְלוּ Ju 5:6 + 4 times; חָדֵ֑לּוּ (cf. Köi, 243) Ju 5:7 1 S 2:5; 1 pl. חָדַלְנוּ Je 44:18; Impf. יֶחְדַּל Dt 15:11 + (Jb 10:20 Kt יחדל jussive > Qr וַחֲדָ֑ל Imv.); אֶחְדָּ֑ל Ju 15:7 + 3 times; וְאַחְדְּלָה Jb 16:6; pl. יֶחְדָּ֑לוּ Ez 2:5 + 2 times; יֶחְדָּלוּ֔ן Ex 9:29; וַיַּחְדְּלוּ Gn 11:8 Ex 9:33, נֶחְדָּ֑ל 1 K 22:15, etc.; Inf. cstr. חֲדֹל 1 S 12:23; Imv. חֲדַל Ex 14:12 +, etc.; חִדְלוּ Is 1:16; 2:22; חֲדָ֑לוּ Zc 11:12;— e.g. Genesis 18:11
  • 1. cease, come to an end Ex 9:29, 33, 34 (J), Is 24:8; impers. חָדַל לִהְיוֹת לְשָׂרָה Gn 18:11 (J); cease to be Dt 15:11 (sq. מִן), and poet. Ju 5:6, 7(×2) 1 S 2:5 Jb 14:7; = be lacking, fail Jb 19:14 Pr 10:19. e.g. Exodus 9:29
  • 2. cease, leave off, sq. inf. c. לְ Gn 11:8 (J), 41:49 (E), Nu 9:13 (P), 1 S 12:23; 23:13 Je 44:18; 51:30 Dt 23:23 ψ 36:4 Pr 19:27 Ru 1:18; inf. alone Is 1:16; so also Ho 8:10, where read וְחָֽדְלוּ for וַיָּחֵלּוּ 𝔊 Che We; sq. inf. c. מִן Ex 23:5 (JE), 1 K 15:21=2 Ch 16:5; sq. subst. c. מִן (cease regarding) Is 2:22 (but Che Du al. treat v. as interpol.; om. 𝔊), 1 S 9:5 Pr 23:4; sq. מֵאלהים 2 Ch 35:21, i.e. leave off provoking God; Ex 14:12 (J), sq. מִמֶּנּו desist from us, let us alone; Jb 7:16; sq. acc. Jb 3:17 ח׳ רֹגֶז; Jb 14:6 have rest (i.e. cease from being troubled, see Di; cf. v 1); no complem. expressed, cease, forbear Ju 15:7; 20:28 Am 7:5 1 K 22:6, 15 = 2 Ch 18:5, 14, Je 40:4; 41:8 Zc 11:12 ψ 49:9 Jb 16:6 2 Ch 25:16 Jb 10:20 (but read here prob. יְמֵי חֶלְדִּי 𝔊 𝔖 Bi Bu Du); specif. of refusal to hear Ez 2:5, 7; 3:11, 27 (all opp. שָׁמַע). e.g. Genesis 11:8

Hophal

  • Pf. (contracted) c. interrog. part. הֶחֳדַלְתִּי Ju 9:9, 11, 13 should I be made to leave, sq. acc. (cf. Köi, 240 ff.); but perhaps read הֶחָדַלְתִּי, Qal Pf. Stu Be, cf., for acc. sq., Jb 3:17. e.g. Judges 9:9

Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.


Word origin

vb. cease (Sab. חדל be negligent, Sab. Denkm.76)—

— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.

Origin: a primitive root

Part of speech: Verb TWOT: 609


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.

חָדַל

  • (b. h.) [to be cut off,] to cease, to omit. Gen. R. s. 48 (expl. חדל, Gen. XVIII, 1, by ref. to Deut. XXIII, 23 and Num. IX, 13) פסק. e.g. Genesis 18:1

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 46 distinct written forms H2308 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’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
אֶחְדָּ֑ל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular 1 Kings 22:6 4
הֶ/חֳדַ֨לְתִּי֙ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Judges 9:9 3
וַ/יֶּחְדַּ֕ל Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 Kings 15:21 3
חֲדַל Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Amos 7:5 3
חֲדַ֥ל Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Exodus 14:12 2
חָדֵ֑לּוּ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural 1 Samuel 2:5 2
חָדַ֖ל Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Isaiah 24:8 2
יֶחְדַּ֥ל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Deuteronomy 15:11 2
אֶחְדָּֽל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Judges 15:7 1
וְ/חָדַ֥ל Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Psalms 49:8 1
וְ/חָדַל֙ Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Numbers 9:13 1
וְ/חָדַלְתָּ֖ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Exodus 23:5 1
וְ/יֶחְדָּ֑ל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 14:6 1
וְ֝/אַחְדְּלָ֗ה Verb, Qal, Cohortative, 1st Person, Common, Singular Job 16:6 1
וַ/חֲדָ֑ל Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 10:20 1
וַ/יֶּחְדַּ֖ל Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 Samuel 23:13 1
וַ/יֶּחְדַּ֣ל Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 Chronicles 25:16 1
וַ/תֶּחְדַּ֖ל Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular Ruth 1:18 1
וַֽ/יַּחְדְּל֤וּ Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural Exodus 9:33 1
וַֽ/יַּחְדְּל֖וּ Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural Genesis 11:8 1
חֲדָ֑ל Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Jeremiah 40:4 1
חֲדָ֑לוּ Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural Zechariah 11:12 1
חֲדָֽל Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Proverbs 23:4 1
חִדְל֖וּ Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural Isaiah 1:16 1
חִדְל֤וּ Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural Isaiah 2:22 1
חַֽדַל Verb, Qal, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Proverbs 19:27 1
חָ֣דְלוּ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural Job 3:17 1
חָדְל֖וּ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural Judges 5:6 1
חָדְל֥וּ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural Job 19:14 1
חָדְל֧וּ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural Judges 5:7 1
חָדְלוּ֩ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural Jeremiah 51:30 1
חָדַ֜לְנוּ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 1st Person, Common, Plural Jeremiah 44:18 1
חָדַ֥ל Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 41:49 1
חָדַ֨ל Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Exodus 9:34 1
חָדַל֙ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 18:11 1
יֶחְדַּל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Proverbs 10:19 1
יֶחְדָּ֑לוּ Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural Ezekiel 2:7 1
יֶחְדָּ֔ל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Ezekiel 3:27 1
יֶחְדָּ֔לוּ Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural Ezekiel 2:5 1
יֶחְדָּֽלוּ Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural Ezekiel 3:11 1
יֶחְדָּל֗וּ/ן Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural Exodus 9:29 1
יחדל Verb, Qal, Jussive, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 10:20 1
מֵ/חֲדֹ֖ל Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct 1 Samuel 12:23 1
נֶחְדָּ֑ל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Plural 1 Kings 22:15 1
תֶחְדַּ֖ל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Deuteronomy 23:22 1
תֶחְדָּֽל Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular Job 14:7 1

Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H2308, 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.

Derived from this word

Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.


Septuagint verse parallels

This word appears in 55 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 56 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.

Reading settings

Reading text

Shown beneath each verse's original-language words.

Old Testament
Old Testament edition

Read the OT as the Masoretic Hebrew (MT) or the Greek Septuagint (LXX).

English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

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