חׇכְמָה
wisdom
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
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.
Grammatical forms
- Particle, Definite Article 3 times (38%)
- Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute 3 times (38%)
- Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct 2 times (25%)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (morphhb / Westminster Leningrad Codex — WLC text public domain, morphhb tagging CC BY 4.0), counted across 8 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where H2452 appears — 7 distinct verses across 2 books. 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.
Ezra 1 verse
Daniel 6 verses
- Daniel 2:20 חָכְמְתָ֛/א n c fs det + ptcl def.art Daniel answered, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever; for wisdom and might are his.
- Daniel 2:21 חָכְמְתָ/א֙ n c fs det + ptcl def.art He changes the times and the seasons; he removes kings, and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who have understanding;
- Daniel 2:23 חָכְמְתָ֛/א n c fs det + ptcl def.art I thank you, and praise you, you God of my fathers, who have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we desired of you; for you have made known to us the king's matter.
- Daniel 2:30 בְ/חָכְמָה֙ prep + n c fs But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but to the intent that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart.
- Daniel 5:11 וְ/חָכְמָ֥ה כְּ/חָכְמַת conj + n c fs prep + n c fs cs There is a man in your kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him; and the king Nebuchadnezzar your father, the king, [I say], your father, made him master of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;
- Daniel 5:14 וְ/חָכְמָ֥ה conj + n c fs I have heard of you, that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in 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.
The Hebrew noun חכמה centers on the idea of “wisdom.” The word gravitates to Daniel (86%), then Ezra. It appears 7 verses across 2 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its uncommon vocabulary. Debuting at Ezra 7:25, it then recurs through the corpus. It shares a root with חכמה and חכמות. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H2452 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 →
- 7
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 7 distinct verses.
- 2 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 2 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #2,625
- by frequency
- Top 5000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 2,625 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 7 occurrences in the concordance →
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 7 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 7 verses · 100%
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 5×
- American Standard Version: Wisdom 5×
- Berean Standard Bible: Wisdom 5×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Wisdom 5×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H2452 across 8 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 3 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 H2452 across 8 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 3 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 H2452 across 8 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 3 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 H2452 across 9 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 4 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 חכמה (chokmâh) (H2451) — wisdom.
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 6 distinct written forms H2452 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| וְ/חָכְמָ֥ה | Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute | Daniel 5:11 | 2 |
| חָכְמְתָ֛/א | Particle, Definite Article | Daniel 2:20 | 2 |
| בְ/חָכְמָה֙ | Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute | Daniel 2:30 | 1 |
| חָכְמְתָ/א֙ | Particle, Definite Article | Daniel 2:21 | 1 |
| כְּ/חָכְמַ֨ת | Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct | Ezra 7:25 | 1 |
| כְּ/חָכְמַת | Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Construct | Daniel 5:11 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H2452, 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
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 7 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 7 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.
