חַי
living
‘living’ is one of 5 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
- Adjective
- A word that describes or qualifies a noun.
- 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.
Stem
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”).
Form
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
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).
Person
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
- Both
- Attested as both masculine and feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Every verse where H2416 appears in the Book of 1 Samuel — 24 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.
1 Samuel
- 1 Samuel 1:11 חַיָּ֔י/ו n c mp cs + sfx pers 3ms She vowed a vow, and said, Yahweh of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your handmaid, and remember me, and not forget your handmaid, but will give to your handmaid a man-child, then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come on his head.
- 1 Samuel 1:26 חֵ֥י adj Adjective ms She said, Oh, my lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to Yahweh.
- 1 Samuel 2:15 חָֽי adj Adjective ms Yes, before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man who sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have boiled flesh of you, but raw.
- 1 Samuel 7:15 חַיָּֽי/ו n c mp cs + sfx pers 3ms Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.
- 1 Samuel 14:39 חַי adj Adjective ms For, as Yahweh lives, who saves Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. But there was not a man among all the people who answered him.
- 1 Samuel 14:45 חַי adj Adjective ms The people said to Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it: as Yahweh lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he has worked with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan, that he didn't die.
- 1 Samuel 15:8 חָ֑י adj Adjective ms He took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
- 1 Samuel 17:26 חַיִּֽים adj Adjective mp David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?
- 1 Samuel 17:36 חַיִּֽים adj Adjective mp Your servant struck both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.
- 1 Samuel 17:46 וּ/לְ/חַיַּ֣ת conj + prep + n c fs cs This day will Yahweh deliver you into my hand; and I will strike you, and take your head from off you; and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky, and to the wild animals of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,
- 1 Samuel 17:55 חֵֽי adj Adjective ms When Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? Abner said, As your soul lives, O king, I can't tell.
- 1 Samuel 18:18 חַיַּ֔/י n c mp cs + sfx pers 1cs David said to Saul, Who am I, and what is my life, [or] my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?
- 1 Samuel 19:6 חַי adj Adjective ms Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan: and Saul swore, As Yahweh lives, he shall not be put to death.
- 1 Samuel 20:3 חַי וְ/חֵ֣י adj Adjective ms conj + Adjective Adjective ms David swore moreover, and said, Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes; and he says, Don't let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.
- 1 Samuel 20:14 חָ֑י adj Adjective ms You shall not only while yet I live show me the loving kindness of Yahweh, that I not die;
- 1 Samuel 20:21 חַי adj Adjective ms Behold, I will send the boy, [saying], Go, find the arrows. If I tell the boy, Behold, the arrows are on this side of you; take them, and come; for there is peace to you and no hurt, as Yahweh lives.
- 1 Samuel 25:6 לֶ/חָ֑י prep det + Adjective Adjective ms and thus shall you tell him who lives [in prosperity], Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.
- 1 Samuel 25:26 חַי וְ/חֵֽי adj Adjective ms conj + Adjective Adjective ms Now therefore, my lord, as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, seeing Yahweh has withheld you from blood guiltiness, and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now therefore let your enemies, and those who seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.
- 1 Samuel 25:29 הַ/חַיִּ֗ים ptcl def.art + Adjective Adjective mp Though men be risen up to pursue you, and to seek your soul, yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with Yahweh your God; and the souls of your enemies, them shall he sling out, as from the hollow of a sling.
- 1 Samuel 25:34 חַי adj Adjective ms For in very deed, as Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, who has withheld me from hurting you, except you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there wouldn't have been left to Nabal by the morning light so much as one man-child.
- 1 Samuel 26:10 חַי adj Adjective ms David said, As Yahweh lives, Yahweh will strike him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall go down into battle and perish.
- 1 Samuel 26:16 חַי adj Adjective ms This thing isn't good that you have done. As Yahweh lives, you are worthy to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, Yahweh's anointed. Now see where the king's spear is, and the jar of water that was at his head.
- 1 Samuel 28:10 חַי adj Adjective ms Saul swore to her by Yahweh, saying, As Yahweh lives, there shall no punishment happen to you for this thing.
- 1 Samuel 29:6 חַי adj Adjective ms Then Achish called David, and said to him, As Yahweh lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the host is good in my sight; for I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me to this day: nevertheless the lords don't favor you.
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.
חי — transliterated chay — is a Hebrew word carrying the sense “living.” The King James Version’s older “liveth” has given way to “life” in modern versions, as the renderings breakdown shows. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 450 verses — common. It first appears in Genesis 1:20. It is not a single-sense word — see its full sense range. See the sense tree, 450-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H2416 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 →
- 450
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 450 distinct verses.
- 29 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 29 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #99
- by frequency
- Top 100 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 99 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 450 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 450 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 194 verses · 43%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 138 verses · 31%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 118 verses · 26%
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).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 5 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: Life 122×, Liveth 66×, Living 53×
- American Standard Version†: Life 107×, Liveth 58×, Living 52×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Life 100×, Lives 62×, Living 53×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Life 118×, Living 92×, Life of 58×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H2416 across 498† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 80 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 3 further occurrences.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H2416 across 492† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 108 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 H2416 across 485† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 56 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 14 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H2416 across 528† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 53 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
16 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB
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 16 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.
חי I alive, living
- 1.
- a. of God, as the living one, the fountain of life אֵל חַי Jos 3:10 (J), Ho 2:1 ψ 42:3; 84:3; אלהים חי 2 K 19:4, 16 = Is 37:4, 17; אלהים חיים Dt 5:23 1 S 17:26, 36 Je 10:10; 23:36; חי יהוה Yahweh is living ψ 18:47 = 2 S 22:47; גאלי חי my avenger is living Jb 19:25; the formula of the oath is חַי י׳ Ju 8:19 Ru 3:13 1 S 14:39, 45; 19:6; 20:3, 21; 25:34; 26:10, 16; 28:10; 29:6 2 S 4:9; 12:5; 14:11; 15:21 1 K 1:29; 2:24; 17:1, 12; 18:10; 22:14 = 2 Ch 18:13, 2 K 5:16, 20 Ho 4:15 Je 4:2; 5:2; 12:16; 16:14, 15; 23:7, 8; 38:16; חי אל Jb 27:2; חי האלהים 2 S 2:27; חי אדני י׳ Je 44:26; חי י׳ צבאות 1 K 18:15 2 K 3:14; as used by God Himself it is חי אנכי Dt 32:40, elsewhere חי אני Nu 14:21, 28 (P) Is 49:18; Je 22:24; 46:18 Ez 5:11; 14:16, 18, 20; 16:48; 17:16, 19; 18:3; 20:3, 31, 33; 33:11, 27; 34:8; 35:6, 11 Zp 2:9, cf. also חֵי דרך באר שׁבע, חֵי אלהיך דן Am 8:14; with the exception of בְּחֵי הָעֹולָם by him who liveth for ever Dn 12:7, חֵי is always (as an artificial distinction of scribes) used of non-sacred oaths, v. b. e.g. Joshua 3:10
- b. of man; אָדָם חַי a living man La 3:39, in antith. מֵת: חי חי Is 38:19; הַחַי collective Ec 7:2; Absalom 2 S 19:7; Naboth 1 K 21:15; a son or lad 2 S 12:21 1 K 3:22(×2), 23(×2), 25, 26(×2), 27; 17:23; usually pl. חיים alive, living Nu 16:30, 33 (J), 17:13 (P), Dt 4:4; 5:3 Is 8:19 ψ 55:16; 124:3 Pr 1:12 Ec 4:2(×2), 15; 6:8; 9:4, 5 Ru 2:20; taking prisoners alive Jos 8:23 (J) 1 S 15:8 1 K 20:18(×2) 2 K 7:12; 10:14(×2) 2 Ch 25:12; living (prosperously) 1 S 25:6 (We reads לָחִי = לְאָחִי (v. Klo Dr) to my brother, after 𝔙 fratribus meis); elsewhere in phrase כל־הימים אשׁר הֵם (אַתֶּם) היים על (פני) האדמה all the days that they (ye) live upon (the face of) the land Dt 4:10; 12:1; 31:13 1 K 8:40 = 2 Ch 6:31. Note phrases: עוֹד חַי (ים) yet alive Gn 25:6; 43:7, 27, 28; 45:28; 46:30 (J), 45:3, 26 Ex 4:18 (E), Dt 31:27 1 Sa 20:14 2 S 12:22; 18:14 1 K 20:32; בהיות חי 2 S 12:18 1 K 12:6 2 Ch 10:6; אֶרֶץ (הַ)חַיִים land of the living Is 38:11; 53:8 Je 11:19 Ez 26:20; 32:23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 32 ψ 27:13; 52:7; 142:6 Jb 28:13; ארצות הח׳ ψ 116:9; ספר ח׳ ψ 69:29; צרור הח׳ bundle of the living 1 S 25:29; אור הח׳ light of the living Jb 33:30 ψ 56:14. In the oath by life of men חי is pointed always חֵי: חֵי אדני המלך as my lord the king liveth 2 S 15:21; חֵי פרעה Gn 42:15, 16 (E); חֵי נַפְשְׁךָ 1 S 1:26; 17:55 2 S 14:19; חַי י׳ וְחֵי נַפְשְׁךָ as Yahweh liveth and as thy soul (or thyself) liveth 1 S 20:3; 25:26 2 K 2:2, 4, 6; 4:30 חַיֶּךָ וְחֵי נ׳ 2 S 11:11 (but on text v. We Dr). e.g. Lamentations 3:39
- c. of animals, alive, living: ox Ex 21:35; 22:3 (E); goat Lv 16:10, 20, 21 (P); bird Lv 14:4, 6(×2), 7, 51, 53; dog, לְכֶלֶב חַי הוּא טוֹב מִן־הָאַרְיֵה הַמֵּת Ec 9:4 (comp. Arabic prov. Kalb ḥay wa-lâ maiyit, a living dog and no dead lion Wetzst Verhand. Berl. Anthrop. Ges 1878, 388); reptiles Gn 1:28 (P); animals in general Gn 9:3 (P); בשׂר חי living, raw flesh Lv 13:10, 14, 15(×2), 16 (P) 1 S 2:15. e.g. Exodus 21:35
- d. animals and man, phrases for either or both: כל חי Gn 3:20; 8:21 (J) Jb 12:10; 28:21; 30:23 ψ 143:2; 145:16; כל החי Gn 6:19 (P); נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה Gn 1:20, 24, 30 (P) 2:7, 19 (J); כל נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה Gn 9:12, 15, 16 (P) Ez 47:9; כל נפשׁ החיה Gn 1:21; 9:10 Lv 11:10, 46 (P). e.g. Genesis 3:20
- e. (dub.) of vegetation, as thorns, green, ψ 58:10 (Ges Ew Ol Pe, but De Ri Che Bae raw flesh, v. c supr. ad fin.) e.g. Psalms 58:10
- f. of water, flowing, fresh מים חיים Gn 26:19 (J), Lv 14:5, 6, 50, 51, 52; 15:13 Nu 19:17 (P), Je 2:13; 17:13 Zc 14:8 Ct 4:15. e.g. Genesis 26:19
- 2. (dub.) lively, active: אישׁ חַי an active man 2 S 23:20 (but Qr אישׁ חַיִל is to be preferred); איבי חיים mine enemies are lively ψ 38:20 (RV, but Houb Ol Ew Hu. Che al. read חִנָּם, ‖ שׁקר). e.g. 2 Samuel 23:20
- 3. reviving: כָּעֵת חַיָּה at the time (when it is) reviving, the spring Gn 18:10, 14 (J), 2 K 4:16, 17. e.g. Genesis 18:10
חי II [m.] kinsfolk (Arabic حَىٌّ a group of families united by vital ties RSK 36–40 DrSm 119), pl. sf. חַיַּי 1 S 18
חי III living thing, animal (Zinj. wild beast DHMSendsch. 34)
- 1. animal, as a living, active being:
- a. in general, Gn 8:17 Lv 11:2, 27, 47(×2) Nu 35:3 (P) ψ 104:25 Is 46:1 Dn 8:4. e.g. Genesis 8:17
- b. wild animals, on account of their vital energy and activity Gn 7:14, 21; 8:1, 19; 9:5 (P) Lv 17:13; 25:7 (H) Jb 37:8 ψ 148:10 Is 40:16 Ez 14:15; 33:27 Zp 2:14, 15; ח׳ קנה ψ 68:31 wild animal of the reeds; ח׳ רעה evil beast Gn 37:20, 33 (JE) Lv 26:6 (H) Ez 5:17; 14:15, 21; 34:25; ח׳ טמאה Lv 5:2 (P) unclean beast; ח׳ הארץ Gn 1:25, 30; 9:2, 10(×2) (P) 1 S 17:46 Ez 29:5; 32:4; 34:28 Jb 5:22; חיתו ארץ Gn 1:24 (P) ψ 79:2; ח׳ השׂדה Ex 23:11, 29 (covt. code) Lv 26:22 (H) Dt 7:22 2 S 21:10, 2 K 14:9 = 2 Ch 25:18, Ho 2:14, 20; 4:3; 13:8 Is 43:20 Je 27:6; 28:14 Ez 38:20; 39:4 Jb 5:23; 39:15; כל ח׳ השׂדה Gn 2:19, 20; 3:1, 14 (J) Jb 40:20 Je 12:9 Ez 31:6, 13; 34:5, 8; 39:17; חיתו שׂדי Is 56:9 ψ 104:11; חיתו (ב)יער Is 56:9 ψ 50:10; 104:20; פְּרִיץ חיות Is 35:9 destroyer among beasts. e.g. Genesis 7:14
- c. living beings, of the cherubic chariot Ez 1:5, 13(×2), 14, 15(×2), 19(×2), 20, 21, 22; 3:13; 10:15, 17, 20. e.g. Ezekiel 1:5
- 2. life, only in late poetry, ψ 143:3 Jb 33:18, 20, 22, 28; 36:14 Ez 7:13(×2), and (dub.) ψ 74:19; 78:50. e.g. Psalms 143:3
- 3. appetite, activity of hunger: חית כפרים appetite of young lions Jb 38:39. e.g. Job 38:39
- 4. revival, renewal: חַיַּת יָדֵךְ מָצָאתְ thou didst find renewal of thy strength (re-invigoration) Is 57:10; v. חָיָה 2. e.g. Isaiah 57:10
חי IV (si vera l.) community (= fem. of ii. חַי according to NöZMG, 1886, 176)
- —Several other passages are dub.: וַיֵּאָסְפוּ פְלִשְׁתִּים לַחַיָּה 2 S 23:11 assembled into a troop, or by bands (RV, but neither rend. justif.: Bö Ew We Klo Dr rightly read לֶ֫חְיָה to Leḥi, cf. Ju 15:9; wd. om. by accident in ‖ 1 Ch 11:13 Dr); חַיָּֽתְךָ יָֽשְׁבוּ־בָהּ ψ 68:11 thy troop dwelt in it (Thes SS RVm Hi Ri Che, but 𝔊 𝔖 Jer Pe thy (living) creatures, of the people; Hup id., ref. to quails; improb.); אַל־תִּתֵּן לְחַיַּת נֶפֶשׁ תּוֹרֶךָ חַיַּת עֲנִיֶּיךָ אַל־תִּשְׁכַּח לָנֶ֫צַח ψ 74:19 give not the soul of thy turtle-dove to the wild beasts, the life of thine afflicted do not forget for ever: RV Hi Pe Bae Sch render thus, giving חית diff. meanings in the two clauses, the former being archaic fem. abs. Ges§ 80, 2. R. 2; text doubtless corrupt, read poss. למות Schr Ri, for לחית, or לשׁחת Kroch; Gr either of these; Che either, or better לחרב. e.g. 2 Samuel 23:11
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
I. v. sub חיה infr.
II. adj. alive, living;—ח׳ Gn 25:6 +; חָ֑י Gn 3:20 +, חֵי Am 8:14 + 15 times (Ew§ 329 explains as cstr., but Ges§ 93, R 7 n. al. as contracted abs.); f. חַיָּה Gn 1:20 +; pl. חַיִּים ψ 116:9 +;—
III. n.[m.] kinsfolk (Arabic حَىٌّ a group of families united by vital ties RSK 36–40 DrSm 119), pl. sf. חַיַּי 1 S 18:18, incorrectly pointed with the interpretation my life RV, but read חַיִּי my kinsfolk, We Ki Dr RS SS RVm VB. It is explained by the gloss משׁפחת אבי We (Klo reads אַחַי וּ).
I. n.f. living thing, animal (Zinj. wild beast DHMSendsch. 34)—ח׳ Gn 8:17 +; cstr. חַיַּת Is 57:10 +; old case ending (poetic) חַיְתוֹ Gn 1:24 ψ 50:10; 79:2; 104:11, 20 Is 56:9(×2) Zp 2:14; sf. חַיָּתִי ψ 143:3, etc.; pl. חַיּוֹת Lv 14:4 + 12 times—
II. n.f. (si vera l.) community (= fem. of ii. חַי according to NöZMG, 1886, 176)—וְחַיַּת פְּלִשְׁתִּים חֹנָה and a community of Philistines (i.e. a group of allied families, making a raid together) was encamping 2 S 23:13 (= מַחֲנֵה 1 Ch 11:15); perhaps also ψ 68:11 (cf. infr.)
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from חיה (châyâh) (H2421) — to live.
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.
חַי
- 1. living, alive; living creature; healthy. Ber. 27ᵇ אלמלא אני חי והוא מת יכול החי וכ׳ if I were alive and he dead, the living one might give the lie to the dead. Ib. V, 5 זה חי this one is destined to live (recover). Sabb. 94ᵃ, a. e. החי נושא את עצמו a living being carries itself (the carrying of a living being on the Sabbath is not unlawful). Ib. X, 5 את החי במטה (he who carries) a living person on a couch; a. v. fr.—אבר מן החי, v. אֵבֶר.—Pl. חַיִּים, חַיִּין. Ab. IV, 22 והח׳ לידון and the living are destined to be judged. Sabb. 94ᵃ בין ח׳ ובין שחוטין whether alive or slaughtered; a. fr.—Ab. Zar. 5ᵇ (ref. to החי, Gen. VI, 19) שחיין ראשי וכ׳ the ends of whose limbs live (exist). e.g. Genesis 6:19
- 2. in natural condition, raw (opp. בשול); unmixed (opp. מָזוּג). Snh. 70ᵃ בשר חי raw meat, יין חי unmixed wine. Ab. Zar. 38ᵃ, a. fr. הנאכל כמות שהוא חי what is eatable in its natural state; a. fr.—Fem. חַיָּה. Ḥull. 42ᵃ (ref. to Lev. XI, 2) ח׳ אכול וכ׳ what is in a healthy condition (viable), you may eat, v. טְרֵפָה. [V. חַיָּה.] e.g. Leviticus 11:2
חַי ²
- Targ. Gen. IX, 3; a. fr.—Targ. Ex. XII, 9 כד חי (half-)raw; a. fr.—Sabb. 18ᵇ קרא חייא raw cabbage.—Midr. Till. to Ps. XXII, 7 [read:] חשיך חי דבעי למיתא luckless in the living one that is dependent on the dead; Yalk. ib. 686; a. fr.—Pl. חַיִּין, חַיַּיָּא, חַיֵּי. Targ. Ps. XXXVIII, 20. Targ. Num. XVII, 13; a. fr.—Snh. 98ᵇ אי מן ח׳ הוא if he is one of the living (the present age); Y. Ber. II, 5ᵃ top; a. fr.—Fem. חַיָּיא, חַיָּא, חַיְּתָא, חַיְּי׳. Targ. Gen. I, 20. Targ. Y. ib. XXXVII, 2; a. e.—Sabb. 18ᵇ קדרא ח׳ a raw dish.—Pl. חַיָּיתָא, חַיָּין. Targ. Y. Gen. I, 21; a. fr.—Targ. Y. II, Ex. I, 19 (strong).—[B. Kam. 38ᵇ דהוה חַיָּה (h. form.) that she would have lived.
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 196 distinct written forms H2416 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.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 136 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H2416, 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
- חיא chăyâʼ H2418 to live
- חיה châyeh H2422 lively
- חיות chayûwth H2424 living
- חיי châyay H2425 to live
- מחיה michyâh H4241 sustenance
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 10 — not the complete family. 3 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 425 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 450 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
- Genesis 1:20
- Exodus 1:14
- Leviticus 5:2
- Numbers 14:21
- Deuteronomy 4:4
- Joshua 1:5
- Judges 8:19
- Ruth 2:20
- 1 Samuel 1:11
- 2 Samuel 1:23
- 1 Kings 1:29
- 2 Kings 2:2
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.
