חׇכְמָה
wisdom
‘wisdom’ is one of 6 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
- Singular
- One.
Every verse where H2451 appears in the Book of Proverbs — 38 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.
Proverbs
- Proverbs 1:2 חָכְמָ֣ה n c fs To know wisdom and instruction; To discern the words of understanding;
- Proverbs 1:7 חָכְמָ֥ה n c fs The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; But the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.
- Proverbs 2:2 לַֽ/חָכְמָ֣ה prep det + n c fs So as to turn your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding;
- Proverbs 2:6 חָכְמָ֑ה n c fs For Yahweh gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
- Proverbs 2:10 חָכְמָ֣ה n c fs For wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
- Proverbs 3:13 חָכְמָ֑ה n c fs Happy is the man who finds wisdom, The man who gets understanding.
- Proverbs 3:19 בְּ/חָכְמָ֥ה prep + n c fs By wisdom Yahweh founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens.
- Proverbs 4:5 חָ֭כְמָה n c fs Get wisdom. Get understanding. Don't forget, neither swerve from the words of my mouth.
- Proverbs 4:7 חָ֭כְמָה חָכְמָ֑ה n c fs n c fs Wisdom is supreme. Get wisdom. Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding.
- Proverbs 4:11 חָ֭כְמָה n c fs I have taught you in the way of wisdom. I have led you in straight paths.
- Proverbs 5:1 לְ/חָכְמָתִ֣/י prep + n c fs cs + sfx pers 1cs My son, pay attention to my wisdom. Turn your ear to my understanding:
- Proverbs 7:4 לַֽ֭/חָכְמָה prep det + n c fs Tell wisdom, "You are my sister." Call understanding your relative,
- Proverbs 8:1 חָכְמָ֥ה n c fs Doesn't wisdom cry out? Doesn't understanding raise her voice?
- Proverbs 8:11 חָ֭כְמָה n c fs For wisdom is better than rubies. All the things that may be desired can't be compared to it.
- Proverbs 8:12 חָ֭כְמָה n c fs "I, wisdom, have made prudence my dwelling. Find out knowledge and discretion.
- Proverbs 9:10 חָ֭כְמָה n c fs The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
- Proverbs 10:13 חָכְמָ֑ה n c fs Wisdom is found on the lips of him who has discernment, But a rod is for the back of him who is void of understanding.
- Proverbs 10:23 וְ֝/חָכְמָ֗ה conj + n c fs It is a fool's pleasure to do wickedness, But wisdom is a man of understanding's pleasure.
- Proverbs 10:31 חָכְמָ֑ה n c fs The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, But the perverse tongue will be cut off.
- Proverbs 11:2 חָכְמָֽה n c fs When pride comes, then comes shame, But with humility comes wisdom.
- Proverbs 13:10 חָכְמָֽה n c fs Pride only breeds quarrels, But with ones who take advice is wisdom.
- Proverbs 14:6 חָכְמָ֣ה n c fs A scoffer seeks wisdom, and doesn't find it, But knowledge comes easily to a discerning person.
- Proverbs 14:8 חָכְמַ֣ת n c fs cs The wisdom of the prudent is to think about his way, But the folly of fools is deceit.
- Proverbs 14:33 חָכְמָ֑ה n c fs Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding, And is even made known in the inward part of fools.
- Proverbs 15:33 חָכְמָ֑ה n c fs The fear of Yahweh teaches wisdom. Before honor is humility.
- Proverbs 16:16 חָכְמָ֗ה n c fs How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! Yes, to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.
- Proverbs 17:16 חָכְמָ֣ה n c fs Why is there money in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, Seeing he has no understanding?
- Proverbs 17:24 חָכְמָ֑ה n c fs Wisdom is before the face of one who has understanding, But the eyes of a fool wander to the ends of the earth.
- Proverbs 18:4 חָכְמָֽה n c fs The words of a man's mouth are like deep waters. The fountain of wisdom is like a flowing brook.
- Proverbs 21:30 חָ֭כְמָה n c fs There is no wisdom nor understanding Nor counsel against Yahweh.
- Proverbs 23:23 חָכְמָ֖ה n c fs Buy the truth, and don't sell it: Get wisdom, discipline, and understanding.
- Proverbs 24:3 בְּ֭/חָכְמָה prep + n c fs Through wisdom a house is built; By understanding it is established;
- Proverbs 24:14 חָכְמָ֗ה n c fs So you shall know wisdom to be to your soul; If you have found it, then there will be a reward, Your hope will not be cut off.
- Proverbs 28:26 בְּ֝/חָכְמָ֗ה prep + n c fs One who trusts in himself is a fool; But one who walks in wisdom, he is kept safe.
- Proverbs 29:3 חָ֭כְמָה n c fs Whoever loves wisdom brings joy to his father; But a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.
- Proverbs 29:15 חָכְמָ֑ה n c fs The rod of correction gives wisdom, But a child left to himself causes shame to his mother.
- Proverbs 30:3 חָכְמָ֑ה n c fs I have not learned wisdom, Neither do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.
- Proverbs 31:26 בְ/חָכְמָ֑ה prep + n c fs She opens her mouth with wisdom. Faithful instruction is on her tongue.
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.
חכמה (chokmâh) is a Hebrew noun most often rendered “wisdom.” It is not a single-sense word — see its full sense range. With 141 verses in 14 books, it is a common word in the Hebrew Bible. It concentrates in Proverbs, which alone accounts for 27% of its uses. Debuting at Exodus 28:3, it then recurs through the corpus. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H2451 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 →
- 141
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 141 distinct verses.
- 14 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 14 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #301
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 301 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 141 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Proverbs 38 verses 27%
- Ecclesiastes 25 verses 18%
- Job 18 verses 13%
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 141 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 100 verses · 71%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 31 verses · 22%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 10 verses · 7%
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: Wisdom 117×, Is wisdom 6×, I wisdom 2×
- American Standard Version: Wisdom 103×, Is wisdom 5×, 's wisdom 3×
- Berean Standard Bible: Wisdom 123×, Skill 10×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Wisdom 115×, Wisdom of 10×, Is wisdom 6×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H2451 across 149 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 22 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 H2451 across 153 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 33 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 H2451 across 149 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 16 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 4 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H2451 across 151 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.
8 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 8 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.
- 1. skill in war Is 10:13; in technical work Ex 28:3; 31:3, 6; 35:26, 31, 35; 36:1, 2 (P), cf. 1 K 7:14, 1 Ch 28:21; of sailors ψ 107:27. e.g. Isaiah 10:13
- 2. wisdom, in administration Dt 34:9 Is 29:14 Je 49:7(×2) 2 S 14:20; of prince of Tyre Ez 28:4, 5, 7, 12, 17; Sol.’s wisdom included this with other forms of cleverness and shrewdness 1 K 2:6; 3:28; 5:9, 10, 14(×2), 26; 10:4, 6, 7, 8, 23, 24 = 2 Ch 9:3, 5, 6, 7, 22, 23, 1 K 11:41 2 Ch 1:10, 11, 12; the Messiah is to have רוּחַ חָכְמָה וּבִינָה Is 11:2. e.g. Deuteronomy 34:9
- 3. shrewdness, wisdom, 2 S 20:22 1 K 5:10(×2) Je 9:23; withheld by God from the ostrich Jb 39:17; of magicians and prophets Is 47:10 Dn 1:4, 17, 20. e.g. 2 Samuel 20:22
- 4. wisdom, prudence in religious affairs Dt 4:6 ψ 37:30; 51:8; 90:12 Pr 10:31 Is 33:6 Je 8:9. e.g. Deuteronomy 4:6
- 5. wisdom, ethical and religious:
- a. of God, as a divine attribute or energy; his wisdom is in the skies Jb 38:36; by it he numbers the clouds Jb 38:37; founded the earth Pr 3:19; and made all things Je 10:12 = 51:15, ψ 104:24; it is with him Jb 12:13; not to be found by the most persevering human search Jb 28:12, 20; he alone knows it Jb 28:23; gives it Pr 2:6; and shews its secrets Jb 11:6. e.g. Job 38:36
- b. the divine wisdom is personified: she was begotten before all things to be the architect and counsellor of God in the creation (Pr 8:22–31); she builds a palace and spreads a feast for those who will receive her instruction 9:1 (cf. v2–5); she teaches in public places 1:20; 8:1, 5, 11, 12 (v. context); gives her pupils the divine spirit 1:23; by her discipline simple become wise, rulers rule wisely, and those seeking her are richly rewarded 8:14 (cf. v1–21). e.g. Proverbs 8:22
- c. of man: to get wisdom is principal thing Pr 4:7(×2); its fundamental principle is to fear God ψ 111:10 Pr 15:33 Jb 28:28 (‖ סוּר מֵרַע בִּינָה); and know י׳, the All Holy Pr 9:10; 30:3; it is of inestimable worth Jb 28:18 Pr 8:11; 16:16; 17:16; 23:23; 24:7; beyond the reach of scorners Pr 14:6; God giveth it to the good Ec 2:26; men are to incline the ear Pr 2:2; attend unto wisdom Pr 5:1; seek Ec 7:25; know Pr 24:14 Ec 1:17; 8:16; behold Ec 2:12; 9:13; get her Pr 4:5, 7; treat her as sister Pr 7:4; happy the man who finds her Pr 3:13; he who has wisdom is אִישׁ תְּבוּנָה Pr 10:23; נָבוֹן Pr 10:13; 14:33; מֵבִין Pr 17:24; cf. also ψ 49:4 Jb 4:21; 12:2, 12; 13:5; 15:8; 26:3; 32:7, 13; 33:33 Pr 1:2, 7; 2:10; 4:11; 11:2; 13:10; 14:1, 8; 18:4; 21:30; 24:3; 28:26; 29:3, 15; 31:26 Ec 1:13, 16(×2), 18; 2:3, 9, 13, 21; 7:10, 11, 12(×2), 19, 23; 8:1; 9:10, 15, 16(×2), 18; 10:1, 10;—on Solomon’s wisdom v. supr. e.g. Proverbs 4:7
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
n.f. wisdom, ח׳ Ex 28:3 + 106 times; cstr. חָכְמַת Ex 35:35 + 15 times; sf. חָכְמָתִי Ec 2:9, etc. + 25 times sf.; pl. abst. חָכְמוֹת ψ 49:4 Pr 1:20; 9:1; 24:7 (GK§ 861); חַכְמוֹת Pr 14:1 (incorrectly pointed as adj. cstr. f.; read חָכְמוֹת De);—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from חכם (châkam) (H2449) — to be wise.
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.
חֲכָמָה
- 1. fem. of חָכָם. Y. Shek. V, 48ᵈ top הרי זו ח׳ that is a wise court; Snh. 17ᵇ שלישית ח׳ a Sanhedrin containing three orators is a wise one.
- 2. female physician, midwife. R. Hash. II, 5; Erub. 45ᵃ ח׳ הבאה לילד a midwife called for assisting at birth. Sabb. XVIII, 3 וקורין לה ח׳ וכ׳ and we must call for her a midwife from another place (on the Sabbath); a. fr.
חָכְמָה
- wisdom, learning, art. Ber. 17ᵃ תכלית ח׳ וכ׳ the perfection of wisdom is repentance and good deeds. Ib. 33ᵃ ברכת ח׳ the benediction of wisdom (the fourth of the Prayer of Benedictions). Gen. R. s. 17 חָכְמָתוֹ מרובה וכ׳ his (Adam’s) wisdom is greater than yours. R. Hash. 29ᵇ שהיא ח׳ ואינה מלאכה it is an art and not a labor; a. v. fr.—לשון ח׳ enigmatical speech. Erub. 53ᵇ.—חָכְמַת יונית, v. יְוָנִי.
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 69 distinct written forms H2451 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; 9 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H2451, 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
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 7 — not the complete family. 1 of the same-root words is a proper name (a person or place). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 134 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 141 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
- Exodus 28:3
- Deuteronomy 4:6
- 2 Samuel 14:20
- 1 Kings 2:6
- 1 Chronicles 28:21
- 2 Chronicles 1:10
- Job 4:21
- Psalms 51:6
- Proverbs 1:2
- Ecclesiastes 1:13
- Isaiah 10:13
- Jeremiah 8:9
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.
