חָנַן
to be gracious
also: show favour, pity fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Hithpael verb in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”). Here: ‘of man’
- Hithpael
- The reflexive or reciprocal stem (the subject acts on itself). Here: ‘of man’
- Hophal
- The passive counterpart of the Hiphil (“he was caused to…”).
- Niphal
- Usually the simple passive or reflexive of the Qal (“he was written”).
- Piel
- An intensive or resultative active stem.
Form
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Jussive
- A third- or second-person volitional form expressing wish or command (“let him write”).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Infinitive Absolute
- An unbound verbal noun, often intensifying or standing in for a finite verb.
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Person
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Every verse where H2603 appears in the Book of Job — 6 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.
Job
- Job 8:5 תִּתְחַנָּֽן Hithpael impf 2ms If you want to seek God diligently, Make your supplication to the Almighty.
- Job 9:15 אֶתְחַנָּֽן Hithpael impf 1cs Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer. I would make supplication to my judge.
- Job 19:16 אֶתְחַנֶּן Hithpael impf 1cs I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer; I beg him with my mouth.
- Job 19:17 וְ֝/חַנֹּתִ֗י conj + Qal pf 1cs My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.
- Job 19:21 חָנֻּ֬/נִי חָנֻּ֣/נִי Qal impv 2mp + sfx pers 1cs Qal impv 2mp + sfx pers 1cs "Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; For the hand of God has touched me.
- Job 33:24 וַ/יְחֻנֶּ֗/נּוּ conj + Qal wimpf 3ms + sfx pers 3ms Then God is gracious to him, and says, 'Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.'
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.
חנן — transliterated chânan — is a Hebrew verb carrying the sense “to be gracious.” Where the King James Version says “have mercy,” newer translations reach for “be merciful to me” (Berean Standard Bible) and “be gracious to me” (unfoldingWord Literal Text); the renderings breakdown has the detail. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 73 verses — moderately common. More than a third of its appearances fall in Psalms. The verb spans 5 stems, from Qal to Niphal. Each statement above links to its evidence; the full detail follows below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H2603 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 →
- 73
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 73 distinct verses.
- 19 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 19 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #506
- by frequency
- Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 506 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 73 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 73 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 47 verses · 64%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 17 verses · 23%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 9 verses · 12%
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 2 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†: Have mercy 10×, Be merciful 9×, Make supplication 4×
- American Standard Version†: Have mercy 9×, Be merciful 4×, Be gracious 3×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Be merciful to me 6×, Mercy 5×, Have mercy 4×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Be gracious to me 10×, To 4×, Be gracious 3×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H2603 across 77† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 44 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 H2603 across 76† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 36 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 H2603 across 76† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 41 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 2 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H2603 across 98† 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.
14 senses and sub-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) and Hithpael (reflexive or reciprocal).
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 14 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.
חנן I show favour, be gracious (NH id., Aramaic חֲנַן, ܚܰܢ
Qal
- Pf. חָנַן Gn 33:5; sf. חַנַּ֫נִי Gn 33:11; יְ֯חַנַּנִי 2 S 12:22; חַנֹּתִי Ex 33:19; חָנָ֑נוּ La 4:16; Impf. יֶחֱנַן Am 5:15; יָחֹן Dt 28:50; וַיָּ֫חָן 2 K 13:23; sf. יָחְנְךָ Gn 43:29 Is 30:19; וִיחֻנֶּךָּ Nu 6:25; יְחֻנֶּנּוּ Is 27:11 Jb 33:24; יְחָנֵּנוּ ψ 67:2; 123:2 Mal 1:9; תָּחֹן ψ 59:6; sf. תְּחָנֵּם Dt 7:2; אָחֹן Ex 33:19; Imv. sf. חָנֵּנִי ψ 4:2 + 17 times ψψ; חָנְנֵנִי ψ 9:14 (Baer pts. חַנְנֵנִי); חָנֵּנוּ Is 33:2 ψ 123:3(×2); חָנּוּנוּ Ju 21:22; חָנֻּנִי Jb 19:21(×2); Inf. abs. חָנוֹן Is 30:19; cstr. חַנּוֹת ψ 77:10; חֶנְנָהּ ψ 102:14; חֲנַנְכֶם Is 30:18; Pt. חֹנֵן Pr 14:31; חוֹנֵן ψ 37:21 + 5 times ψψ Pr.—favour, shew favour; e.g. Genesis 33:5
- 1. of man:
- a. Ju 21:22 favour us with them (2 acc.; i.e. by giving them to us). e.g. Judges 21:22
- b. in dealing with the poor, needy, and orphans, abs. ψ 37:21, 26 = 112:5; c. acc. Pr 14:31; 19:17; 28:8; c. לְ ψ 109:12. e.g. Psalms 37:21
- c. by considering and sparing, c. acc. Dt 7:2; 28:50; La 4:16; Jb 19:21(×2). e.g. Deuteronomy 7:2
- 2. of God,
- a. in the bestowal of favours, with acc. Gn 33:11 (E), 43:29 (J), Nu 6:25 (P), 2 S 12:22; double acc. Gn 33:5 (E), תּוֹרָֽתְךָ חָנֵּנִי be gracious unto me (in giving) thy law ψ 119:29. e.g. Genesis 33:11
- b. usually in the bestowal of redemption from enemies, evils, and sins; abs. ψ 77:10, elsewhere c. acc. Ex 33:19(×2) (JE), Am 5:15; 2 K 13:23; Is 27:11; 30:18, 19(×2); 33:2; Mal 1:9 ψ 4:2; 6:3; 9:14; 25:16; 26:11; 27:7; 30:11; 31:10; 41:5, 11; 51:3; 56:2; 57:2(×2); 59:6; 67:2; 86:3, 16; 102:14; 119:58, 132; 123:2, 3(×2) Jb 33:24.—Jb 19:17 v. II. חנן. e.g. Psalms 77:10
Niphal
- Pf. 2 fs. נֵחַנְתְּ Je 22:23 be pitied (cf. נֵאַר √ ארר) but 𝔊 𝔖 𝔙 express groan (i.e. נֶאֱנַחְתְּ), which is favoured by context, and adopted by Hi Ew Gf Gie al. e.g. Jeremiah 22:23
Piel
- Impf. 3 ms. make gracious, favourable כִּי־יְחַנֵּן קוֹלוֹ Pr 26:25. Poʿel Impf. 3 ms. direct favour to (Ges§ 55, 1) וְאֶת־עֲפָרָהּ יְחֹנֵנוּ ψ 102:15; Pt. מְחוֹנֵן עֲנָיִ֯ם Pr 14:21. e.g. Proverbs 26:25
Hophal
- Impf. יֻחַן be shewn favour, consideration Is 26:10; Pr 21:10. e.g. Isaiah 26:10
Hithpael
- Pf. 2 ms. הִתְחַנַּנְתָּה 1 K 9:3 + 5 times Pf.; Impf. וַיִּתְחַנֵּן 2 K 1:13; וַתִּתְחַנֶּן־ Est 8:3; אֶתְחַנָּ֑ן ψ 30:9 + etc. + 6 times Impf.; Inf. לְהִתְחַנֶּן־ Est 4:8; בְּהִתְחַנְנוֹ Gn 42:21—seek or implore favour: e.g. 1 Kings 9:3
- 1. of man, with אֶל Gn 42:21 (E) 2 K 1:13; with לְ Jb 19:16; Est 4:8; 8:3. e.g. Genesis 42:21
- 2. of God, with אֶל־ Dt 3:23 1 K 8:33, 47 = 2 Ch 6:37, Jb 8:5 ψ 30:9; 142:2; with לְ Ho 12:5; Jb 9:15; with לפני 1 K 8:59; 9:3; 2 Ch 6:24. e.g. Deuteronomy 3:23
חנן II be loathsome (cf. Arabic خَنَّ x. foetorem emisit (puteus)
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. vb. show favour, be gracious (NH id., Aramaic חֲנַן, ܚܰܢ; Arabic حَنَّ yearn towards, long for, be merciful, compassionate, favourable, inclined towards; Sab. חן in n.pr. חן מסבררהם DHMEpigr. Denkm. 40; Ph. חנן in חן favour, and n.pr. as אלחנן, חננבעל; Assyrian in deriv. annu, grace, favour, unninu, têninu nannu, id., LotzTP ZimBP 23, 66)—
II. be loathsome (cf. Arabic خَنَّ x. foetorem emisit (puteus); Syriac ܚܰܢܻܝܢܳܐ rancid);—Qal pf. וְחַנֹּתִ֫י לִבְנֵי בִטְנִי Jb 19:17 and I am loathsome to the sons of my womb (‖ זָרָה v. ii. זור), so RVm Ew De Di al. (On the tone v. De.)
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from חנה (chânâh) (H2583) — to encamp.
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.
חנן
- , Y. Peah I, 16ᵇ מה ח׳ קיימין, read, as Y. Snh. X, beg. 27ᶜ, מה נן. [חנן Syr., rare form, v. P. Sm. 250 s. v. אנא.]
חָנַן
- [to cover, surround,] to caress, grace, favor. Sabb. 104ᵃ (in children’s acrostics) זֹן אותך וחָ֗ן אותך sustains and graces thee. Num. R. s. 11 (ref. to Num. VI, 25) יָחוֹן איתך בבנים may He favor thee with (good) children. Ib. (quot. from daily prayers) אתה חוֹנֵן לאדם דעת thou graciously endowest man with knowledge. Ib. עתיד הקב"ה לָחוֹן עליהם the Lord will in due time protect them. Sifré Num. 41 יָחְנְךָ בתלמוד תורה may He grace thee by enabling thee to study the Law. Pesik. Asser, p. 97ᵃ (ref. to מהונך, Prov. III, 9) ממה שחֲנָנְךָ out of what He has endowed thee with; a. fr.—[Midr. Till. to Ps. LXXVIII חָן, v. חָנָה.]—Part. pass. חָניּן, pl. חֲנוּנִים e.g. Numbers 6:25
- 1. graced, endowed. Num. R. l. c. חֲנוּנֵי (ב)דעת endowed with knowledge. Pes. 87ᵃ בני חֲנוּנֶיךָ children of thy favored ones, Abraham &c. (Ms., v. בָּחַן).
- 2. bandaged. Pl. fem. חֲנוּנוֹת. Sabb. V, 4, v. חָנוּן I, 2.
- to be shown favor. Deut. R. s. 7 (ref. to Is. XXVI, 10) אבל אם למד … אינו נ׳ but if he has learned …, he will be shown no favor (will not be forgiven). e.g. Isaiah 26:10
- to bend one’s self, to supplicate (v. תְּחִנָּה). Deut. R. s. 2, beg. מִתְחַנֵּן, v. חָבַט. Ib. התחיל להִתְחַנֵּן (התחיל מתחנן) he began to pray; a. fr.
- = חָנָה) to come to rest, to be collected. Ber. 30ᵇ (adopting the expression in conformity with ואתחנן, Deut. III, 23) until his mind be collected again (for prayer), v. חוּל. e.g. Deuteronomy 3:23
חֲנַן
- ch., pret. חַן same. Targ. O. Gen. XXXIII, 5.—Targ. O. Ex. XXXIII, 19 אֵיחוֹן. Targ. Jud. XXI, 22 חֲנוּנוּן להון ed. Lag. (oth. ed. חנינינון) be gracious to them.—Pes. 110ᵇ (in an incantation) אדחֲנַנִי וחֲנַנְכִי וכ׳ while He graced me and yourselves, I had not come to that (v. Ar. s. v. הר 8, a. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note for var. lect.).
חָנָן
- (b. h.) pr. n. m. Hanan, name of several Tannaim and of several Amoraim, esp. H., one of the Justices of Peace in Jerusalem, v. אַדְמוֹן. Keth. XIII, 1. Y. ib. 35ᶜ a. fr.—Ḥ. the Egyptian: Snh. 17ᵇ; a. e.—H. (interch. with הנין). M. Kat. 25ᵇ אסיקו ליה ח׳ וכ׳ (Ms. M. חנין) they gave him the name of H. from his father (Hanin).—Y. Yeb. XI, 12ᵃ top (ed. Krot. חָנוּן). Y. Sot. VII, 21ᵈ bot. חנינן.—Y. Ber. IV, beg. 7ᵃ (ח׳ בר ווא) ח׳ בר אבא; Y. Pes. IV, 31ᵃ חנין; a. oth.—V. Frank. M’bo p. 86ᵃ
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 67 distinct written forms H2603 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.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 7 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H2603, 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
- חנות chânûwth H2588 cell
- חנית chănîyth H2595 spear
- מחנה machăneh H4264 camp
- תחנה tachănâh H8466 encampment
Derived from this word
- חן chên H2580 grace
- חנה chânâh H2583 to encamp
- חנון channûwn H2587 gracious
- חנות channôwth H2589 to be gracious
- חנינה chănîynâh H2594 compassion
- חנן chănan H2604 to show favour
- תחנה tᵉchinnâh H8467 supplication
- תחנון tachănûwn H8469 supplication
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
- תחן Tachan H8465 Tahan
- חנה Channâh H2584 Hannah
- חנון Chânûwn H2586 Hanun
- חניאל Channîyʼêl H2592 Hanniel
- חנן Chânân H2605 Hanan
- חננאל Chănanʼêl H2606 Hananeel
- חנני Chănânîy H2607 Hanani
- חנניה Chănanyâh H2608 Hananiah
- חנתן Channâthôn H2615 Hannathon
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 22 — not the complete family. 9 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 66 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 73 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 33:5
- Exodus 33:19
- Numbers 6:25
- Deuteronomy 3:23
- Judges 21:22
- 2 Samuel 12:22
- 1 Kings 8:33
- 2 Kings 1:13
- 2 Chronicles 6:24
- Esther 4:8
- Job 8:5
- Psalms 4:1
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.
