Want to remove ads? Support Godless Engineer

חָרָה

to be angry

‘to be angry’ is one of 5 main senses fuller range ↓

H2734 Strong's Hebrew
chârâh Transliteration
/khaw-raw'/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 90 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.

חרה — transliterated chârâh — is a Hebrew verb carrying the sense “to be angry.” Its English rendering has broadened — “was kindled” classically, “burned” (Berean Standard Bible) in modern versions; see the renderings breakdown. Spanning 87 verses in 20 books, it ranks among the moderately common words of the Hebrew Bible. Its earliest occurrence is Genesis 4:5. As a verb its force shifts by stem, across 4 stems (Qal, Niphal, and more). See the sense tree, 87-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
be angry
Modern gloss
to be angry
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 H2734 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 →

87
distinct verses
The word appears in 87 distinct verses.
20 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 20 of 39 Old Testament books.
Genesis 4:5
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Genesis 4:5.
Zechariah 10:3
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Zechariah 10:3.
#462
by frequency
Top 500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 462 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 87 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 33 · 38%
  • Historical 33 · 38%
  • Wisdom 12 · 14%
  • Prophets 9 · 10%

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 87 distinct verses.

  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 34 verses · 39%
  • Torah (Pentateuch) 33 verses · 38%
  • Writings (Ketuvim) 20 verses · 23%

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: Was kindled 30×, Wroth 8×, Kindled 6×
  • American Standard Version: Was kindled 30×, Wroth 8×, Be angry 6×
  • Berean Standard Bible: Burned 22×, Be angry 7×, Was kindled 6×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: Burned 54×, And 29×, Do 10×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H2734 across 90 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Was kindled” 30×
  • “Wroth” 8×
  • “Kindled” 6×
  • “Be angry” 5×
  • “Be kindled” 4×
  • “Fret” 4×
  • “Was hot” 4×
  • “He was wroth” 3×
  • “Angry” 2×
  • “Is kindled” 2×
  • “Was displeased” 2×
  • “Wax hot” 2×

Plus 18 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 H2734 across 90 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Was kindled” 30×
  • “Wroth” 8×
  • “Be angry” 6×
  • “Kindled” 6×
  • “Be kindled” 5×
  • “Fret” 3×
  • “He was wroth” 3×
  • “Is kindled” 3×
  • “Angry” 2×
  • “Was displeased” 2×
  • “Was wroth” 2×
  • “Wax hot” 2×

Plus 18 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 H2734 across 89 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Burned” 22×
  • “Be angry” 7×
  • “Was kindled” 6×
  • “Burns” 4×
  • “He burned” 4×
  • “Angry” 3×
  • “Became angry” 3×
  • “Fret” 3×
  • “Will be kindled” 3×
  • “Will burn” 3×
  • “He burned with anger” 2×
  • “He was furious” 2×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 21 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 H2734 across 151 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Burned” 54×
  • “And” 29×
  • “Do” 10×
  • “Burns” 9×
  • “Burn” 7×
  • “Then” 6×
  • “Let” 5×
  • “Will burn” 5×
  • “Be angry” 4×
  • “So” 4×
  • “Let it burn” 2×
  • “Ones having been kindled” 2×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 12 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.


11 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 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 11 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. ח׳ Gn 4:6 + 20 times; Impf. יֶחֱרֶה Ex 32:11 + 2 times; יִ֫חַר Gn 18:30 + 7 times; וַיִּ֫חַר Gn 4:5 + 46 times; Inf. abs. חָרֹה 1 S 20:7; cstr. חֲרוֹת 2 S 24:1 ψ 124:3;— e.g. Genesis 4:6
  • 1. of man:
    • a. חרה אף (one’s) anger was kindled, burned Gn 39:19 Nu 22:27 (J), Ex 32:19, 22 (JE), Ju 9:30; 14:19 1 S 11:6 Jb 32:2, 5; c. בְּ against Gn 30:2 (E), 44:18 (J), 1 S 17:28; 20:30 2 S 12:5 2 Ch 25:10 ψ 124:3 Jb 32:2, 3; c. אֶל Nu 24:10 (E). e.g. Genesis 39:19
    • b. impers., אף omitted; חרה לְ it was kindled for (him) he burned with anger Gn 31:36 (E), 4:5, 6; 34:7 Nu 16:15 (J), 1 S 15:11 (read perhaps וַיֵּצֶר, Weir in Dr), 18:8; 20:7(×2) 2 S 3:8; 6:8 = 1 Ch 13:11, 2 S 13:21; 19:43 Ne 3:33; 4:1; 5:6 Jon 4:1, 4, 9(×2); ins. ויחר לדוד 2 S 11:22 𝔊 We Dr; ח׳ בְּעֵינֵי Gn 31:35; 45:5 (E). e.g. Genesis 31:36
  • 2. of God:
    • a. ח׳ אף Ex 22:23 Nu 22:22 (E), Nu 11:1, 10; 32:10 (J); c. בְּ Ex 4:14; 32:10 Nu 12:9 Dt 31:17 (J), 6:15; 7:4; 11:17; 29:26 Jos 23:16 (D), Ju 6:39 2 S 6:7 = 1 Ch 13:10, Ho 8:5 2 K 23:26 2 Ch 25:15 Jb 42:7; בְּעַם Ex 32:11 Nu 11:33 (J), Is 5:25 ψ 106:40; בישׂראל Nu 25:3; 32:13 (JE); Ju 2:14, 20; 3:8; 10:7 2 S 24:1 2 K 13:3; בבני ישׂראל Jos 7:1 (R); בנהרים, אף omitted, Hb 3:8; c. עַל Zc 10:3. e.g. Exodus 22:23
    • b. חרה לְ Gn 18:30, 32 (J) 2 S 22:8 = ψ 18:8.— e.g. Genesis 18:30
      • חרה not in HP (who use קצף); nor in Je Ez Is 2 Pr or poetry of Jb.

Niphal

  • Pf. נִחֲרוּ־ sq. בְּ Ct 1:6 (according to Bö ii. 379 De Köi. 551) be angry with; Pt. כֹּל הַנֶּחֱרִים בְּ׳ all that are incensed against (thee) Is 41:11, so 45:24. e.g. Song of Solomon 1:6

Hiphil

  • Pf. הֶחֱרָה הֶחֱזִיק Ne 3:20 burned with zeal (?) in repairing, but 𝔊 om. החרה; prob. dittogr.; Impf. וַיַּחַר עָלַי אַפּוֹ Jb 19:11 and kindled his anger against me. e.g. Nehemiah 3:20

Hithpael

  • Impf. אַל תִּתְחַר ψ 37:1, 7, 8 Pr 24:19 heat oneself in vexation.—The foll. forms are somewhat dub.: Impf. 2 ms. אֵיךְ תְּתַחֲרֶה אֶת־הַסּוּסִים Je 12:5 how canst thou hotly contend (in a race) with the horses? Pt. כִּי אַתָּה מְתַחֲרֶה בָאָ֑רֶז Je 22:15 because thou strivest eagerly (to excel) in cedar; expl. as Tiphʿēl by Thes Ges§ 55, 5 Ew§ 122 a Ol§ 255 a Sta§ 159 b Köi. p. 557 al., and regarded by most as a rare causative stem; but ag. existence of Tiphʿēl v. BaNB § 180 a; ZMG 1894, 20; Ba regards the form as denom. (from a noun formed by ת preform., cf. Aramaic ܬܰܚܪܘܽܬܳܐ contention); SS would point as Hithp. [cf. Syriac ܐܶܬܚܪܺܝ contend with, ܚܶܪܝܳܢ contention], although meaning of Hithp. is diff., v. supr. e.g. Psalms 37:1

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. burn, be kindled, of anger (Aramaic חרי Pa. cause fire to burn (rare); Zinj. חרא anger, NöZMG 1893, 98. 103; Arabic حَرْوَةٌ burning sensation, in throat, etc., from rage and pain)—

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

Derived from חרר (chârar) (H2787) — to burn.

Part of speech: Verb TWOT: 736


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.

חָרָה

  • , v. חרי

חֲרַהּ

  • , Pa. חָרֵהַּ, v. חֲרַח.

חרי

  • (b. h.) to be hot, to glow. Yalk. Sam. 158 ח׳ אפו וכ׳ His anger is enkindled &c., v. אַפִּילוֹן.
    • to ignite, stir. Midr. Till. to Ps. XVIII, 8 מְחָרֶה אפו He stirs up His anger.

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 37 distinct written forms H2734 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
וַ/יִּֽחַר Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Deuteronomy 29:27 25
וַ/יִּ֥חַר Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 31:36 7
וַ/יִּ֣חַר Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 Chronicles 13:11 5
חָרָ֣ה Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Habakkuk 3:8 5
וַ/יִּ֖חַר Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 39:19 3
וַ/יִּ֤חַר Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 4:5 3
חָ֥רָה Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 Samuel 22:8 3
יִ֤חַר Verb, Qal, Jussive, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 18:30 3
וְ/חָרָ֣ה Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Exodus 22:24 2
וְ/חָרָ֤ה Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Deuteronomy 7:4 2
וַ/יִּ֨חַר Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 Samuel 18:8 2
חָרָ֥ה Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Hosea 8:5 2
יִ֥חַר Verb, Qal, Jussive, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Exodus 32:22 2
יִ֨חַר֙ Verb, Qal, Jussive, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 31:35 2
תִּתְחַ֥ר Verb, Hithpael, Jussive, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Proverbs 24:19 2
בַּ/חֲר֖וֹת Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct Psalms 124:3 1
הֶחֱרָ֧ה Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Nehemiah 3:20 1
הַ/נֶּחֱרִ֣ים Verb, Niphal, Participle Active, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Isaiah 41:11 1
הַ/נֶּחֱרִ֥ים Verb, Niphal, Participle Active, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Isaiah 45:24 1
וְ/חָרָ֨ה Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Deuteronomy 11:17 1
וְ/יִֽחַר Verb, Qal, Jussive, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Exodus 32:10 1
וַ/יִּ֨חַר֙ Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 Samuel 15:11 1
וַ/יִּחַר֩ Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 Samuel 3:8 1
וַ/יַּ֣חַר Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 19:11 1
חָ֣רָה Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 4:6 1
חָֽרָה Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Jonah 4:9 1
חָרָ֨ה Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 42:7 1
חָרָ֪ה Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 32:3 1
חָרָֽה Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Jonah 4:9 1
חָרָה֩ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Isaiah 5:25 1
חָרֹ֤ה Verb, Qal, Infinitive Absolute 1 Samuel 20:7 1
יֶ֠חֱרֶה Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Deuteronomy 6:15 1
יֶֽחֱרֶה֙ Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 Samuel 20:7 1
יֶחֱרֶ֤ה Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Exodus 32:11 1
לַ/חֲר֖וֹת Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct 2 Samuel 24:1 1
תִּ֝תְחַ֗ר Verb, Hithpael, Jussive, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Psalms 37:8 1
תִּ֭תְחַר Verb, Hithpael, Jussive, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Psalms 37:7 1

Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H2734, 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 12 — not the complete family. 2 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 83 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 87 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).

Comparing translations? Open the Compare panel on any verse page to stack up to four side by side.