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חֵ֫רֶם

devoted thing

‘devoted thing’ is one of 3 main senses fuller range ↓

H2764 Strong's Hebrew
chêrem Transliteration
/khay'-rem/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 38 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.

The Hebrew noun חרם centers on the idea of “devoted thing.” Where the King James Version says “accursed thing,” newer translations reach for “devoted thing” (unfoldingWord Literal Text); the renderings breakdown has the detail. It appears 31 verses across 14 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its moderately common vocabulary. The word gravitates to Joshua (26%), then Ezekiel and Leviticus. The lexicon spreads it across several senses; see its full sense range. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
curse
Modern gloss
devoted thing
Strong's 1890 sometimes compressed multiple senses — or homonymous roots — under one number, and used 19th-century English phrasing that no longer carries the same connotation. The modern gloss reflects current BDB scholarship; open the Lexicon Entry tab for the full sense breakdown. Download share card

About this word

Strong's H2764 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 →

31
distinct verses
The word appears in 31 distinct verses.
14 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 14 of 39 Old Testament books.
Leviticus 27:21
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Leviticus 27:21.
Malachi 4:6
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Malachi 4:6.
#947
by frequency
Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 947 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 31 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 6 · 19%
  • Historical 11 · 35%
  • Wisdom 1 · 3%
  • Prophets 13 · 42%

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 31 distinct verses.

  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 23 verses · 74%
  • Torah (Pentateuch) 6 verses · 19%
  • Writings (Ketuvim) 2 verses · 6%

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: Accursed thing 7×, Net 5×, Curse 4×
  • American Standard Version: Devoted thing 6×, Net 5×, Devoted 4×
  • Berean Standard Bible: Devoted 4×, Net 4×, Destruction 3×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: Devoted thing 19×, Net 4×, Devotion 3×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H2764 across 38 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Accursed thing” 7×
  • “Net” 5×
  • “Curse” 4×
  • “Nets” 4×

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 H2764 across 39 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Devoted thing” 6×
  • “Net” 5×
  • “Devoted” 4×
  • “Nets” 4×
  • “Curse” 3×
  • “Every devoted thing” 2×

Plus 15 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 H2764 across 35 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Devoted” 4×
  • “Net” 4×
  • “Destruction” 3×
  • “Things devoted to destruction” 3×
  • “Dragnet” 2×
  • “Nets” 2×

Plus 17 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.

unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Renders H2764 across 38 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Devoted thing” 19×
  • “Net” 4×
  • “Devotion” 3×
  • “Nets” 2×

Plus 10 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.


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 5 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.

חרם I

  • 1. thing hostile to theocracy, and therefore (in the strictest application) to be either destroyed, or, in the case of certain objects (e.g. silver and gold, vessels of brass and iron Jos 6:19, 24), set apart to sacred uses; especially e.g. Joshua 6:19
    • a. of a Canaan. city, as Jericho, incl. all inhab. (except Rahab’s family) and spoil Jos 6:17, 18(×2); 7:1, 11, 15; Achan by taking מִן־הַחֵרֶם made (camp of) Isr. ח׳ 7:12 cf. 6:18, and became himself ח׳, and was stoned and, with his family and possessions, incl. the spoil, was burnt 7:1, 11, 12, 13(×2) (all JE except 7:1 P; cf. v 15, 24, 25); מָעַל מַעַל בַּח׳ committed unfaithfulness in the matter of the devoted thing is term for the sin Jos 7:1 22:20 (both P), cf. מָעַל בַּח׳ 1 Ch 2:7; Saul and Isr. spared Agag king of Amalek and רֵאשִׁית הַח׳ i.e. of the spoil (sheep and oxen), wh. should have been utterly destroyed 1 S 15:21 (cf. v 3, 8; Saul rejected by י׳ for this v 11, 26); so an idolatr. city in Isr. should become ח׳, with all its contents, and be utterly destroyed Dt 13:17 (cf. v 13, 15, 16). e.g. Joshua 6:17
    • b. of individuals, one having relic of Canaanit. god in his house should become ח׳, the relic being ח׳ Dt 7:26(×2); every human being who became ח׳ should be killed Lv 27:29(×2) (P; v. Di). e.g. Deuteronomy 7:26
  • 2. appar. (so Di) anything devoted to sanctuary under specially stringent conditions Lv 27:28 (v. Di; and cf. Ezr 10:8); a field consecrated to י׳ becomes under certain conditions כִּשְׂדֵה הַח׳ Lv 27:21; every ח׳ is קֹדֶשׁ קָֽדָשִׁים ליהוה v 28, and no ח׳ that a man may devote, whether man, beast or field, may be sold or redeemed v 28; every such ח׳ (as in case of metals and metal objects Jos 6:17, 19) went to Aaron and his sons Nu 18:14 (P), to Zadokite priests Ez 44:29. e.g. Leviticus 27:28
  • 3. devotion, ban, involving destruction; אִישׁ חֶרְמִי 1 K 20:42 man under my (י׳’s) ban (of Benhadad); עַם חֶרְמִי Is 34:5 (of Edom); נתן לַח׳ Is 43:28 fig. of י׳’s giving over Jud. to Chald.; ח׳ not to be in future Zc 14:11; פֶּן־אָבוֹא וְהִכֵּיתִי אֶת־הָאָרֶץ ח׳ Mal 3:24 smite the land with a ban, i.e. utterly destroy it. e.g. 1 Kings 20:42

חרם II (as something perforated

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. n.m. Lv 27:28 1. devoted thing. 2. devotion, ban;—ח׳ abs. Jos 6:17 + 24 times (most read חֶרֶם Zc 14:11, Baer חֵרֶם); חֶ֑רֶם Jos 7:1; sf. חֶרְמִי 1 K 20:42 Is 34:5;—thing devoted to י׳:

II. n.m. net (as something perforated; cf. Arabic مُخَرَّمٌ perforated work, Fl in NHWBii. 208; NH חֵרֶם net; Ph. חרם maker of nets)—abs. ח׳ Mi 7:2; sf. חֶרְמִי Ez 32:3, חֶרְמוֹ Hb 1:15, 16, 17; pl. חֲרָמִים Ec 7:26 Ez 26:5, 14; 47:10;—hunter’s net Mi 7:2 Ec 7:26; fisherman’s net Ez 26:5, 14; 32:3; 47:10 Hb 1:15, 16, 17.

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

Derived from חרם (châram) (H2763) — to ban.

Part of speech: Noun Masculine TWOT: 744a , 745a


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.

חָרַם

  • (b. h.) [to perforate, break through (cmp. Arab. ḫaram, a. חֲרָךְ I),]
  • 1. to make a net. Men. 37ᵃ top ר׳ יוסי החוֹרֵם R. J. the net-maker (or fisher); [Rashi, reading החָרוּם, (v. Rabb. D. S. a. l., note 100), v. infra].
  • 2. to perforate. Part. pass. חָרוּם (b. h. חָרֻם) one whose nose is so flattened as to show its holes, flat-nosed. Bekh. VII, 3 איזהו ח׳ הכוחל וכ׳ a ḥarum is he who can paint both of his eyes with one movement. Ib. 43ᵇ ח׳ שחוטמו שקוע ḥ. is one whose nose is sunk.
  • 3. to cut off, to set outside (cmp. Arab. ḥaram), v. infra, a. חֵרֶם.—[
  • 4. to burn, cmp. חָרַךְ, חָרֵב; v. חוּרְמַן.]
    • (denom. of חֵרֶם) [to set outside, apart,]
    • 1. to dedicate for priestly or sacred use (Lev. XXVII, 28, sq.); to renounce private use. Arakh. VIII, 4 מַחֲרִים אדם וכ׳ a man may renounce a portion of his sheep &c.; ואם ה׳ את כולם אינן מוּחֲרָמִין but if he renounces all of them, they are not dedicated (his vow is invalid). Ib. מה אם לגבוה להַחֲרִים וכ׳ since man is not permitted to renounce all his property even for a sacred purpose &c. Ib. 7 מח׳ אדם את קדשיו וכ׳ one may declare ḥerem one’s own designated offerings (in which case he has to pay their value to the priest or the sanctuary); a. v. fr.—Part. pass. מוּחֳרָם, pl. מוּחֳרָמִין, מוּחֳרָמִים. Ib. 4, sq., v. supra; a. fr. e.g. Leviticus 27:28
    • 2. to excommunicate, to pronounce the higher ban (which includes the withdrawal of protection of property). M. Kat. 16ᵃ מנדין … ומַחֲרִימִין וכ׳ the smaller ban is pronounced (over one disregarding a legal summons) at once …, the great ban after sixty days.

חֲרַם

  • , to perforale. Part. pass. חֲרִים, חָרִים flat-nosed, v. preced. Targ. O. Lev. XXI, 18.
    • 1. to declare חֵרֶם. Targ. Josh. VI, 18 תְחַרְמוּן (Var. תַחַרְ׳, read: תַחְרְ׳). Targ. I Sam. XV, 21 די חַרְמוּן (ed. Lag. a. oth. דיַחְרְמוּן).—Targ. O. Lev. XXVII, 28.—Arakh. 28ᵃ כל דאית ליה לא לַחְרֵים … ליחַרְמֵיה כוליה one must not renounce (for sacred purposes) all his property, but of one kind he may renounce all he has.
    • 2. to excommunicate. M. Kat. 16ᵃ מנלן דמַחְרְמִינָן (or דמְחַרְמִי׳) whence is it proven that we (the court) have a right to excommunicate a recreant person?—Y. ib. III, 81ᵈ top אילולא דלא חַרְמִית … מְחַרֵם וכ׳ were it not that I never in my life excommunicated a person, I should have excommunicated that man; a. e.—Part. pass. מְחַרַם, pl. מְחַרְמִין. Ib. bot. ייא ההוא גברא מ׳ this man (thou) be excommunicated. Ib. ליהוון ההיא עמא מח׳ those people (you) be excommunicated.
    • to he declared חֵרֶם, to be dedicated. Targ. O. Lev. XXVII, 29 דיִתְחֲ׳ ed. Berl. (oth. דיִתַּחֲ׳).

חֵרֶם

  • preced.)
  • 1. net. Kel. XXIII, 5; XXVIII, 9, v. זֶוֶט; a. fr.—Ned. II, 5, v. infra.
  • 2. a place adapted for catching fish in nets, fishing coast, fishery. B. Kam. 81ᵇ מלא חבל ח׳ בדרומה a rope’s length (district) of fishing coast south of it (the Lake of Tiberias); Tosef. ib. VIII, 18 Var. ed. Zuck.—Erub. 47ᵇ ח׳ שבין וכ׳ a fishpond between two territories.
  • 3. [cut off, excluded, cmp. חוּלִּין, הֶפְקֵר,] ḥerem, property set apart for priest’s or Temple use; doomed to destruction. Ned. II, 4 אם כח׳ של שמים if (he said, This shall be to me) like the ḥerem consecrated to the Temple, opp. ח׳ של כהנים assigned to the private use of priests. Ib. 5 נדר בח׳ … בחֶרְמוֹ של ים if he made a vow of abstinence using the word ḥerem, and he says, I meant the ḥerem of the sea (fisher’s net). Ib. I, 2 כינויין לח׳ verbal substitutes for ḥerem (effecting prohibition); a. fr.
  • 4. excommunication. M. Kat. 17ᵃ.—Pl. חֲרָמִים, חֲרָמִין. Snh. 43ᵇ מעל עכן בג׳ ח׳ Akhan committed three sacrileges. Ned. II, 4 סתם ח׳ containing the expression ḥerem unqualified. Ib. חַרְמֵי הכהנים the dedications as priestly property. Arakh. VIII, 6 סתם ח׳ לבדק הבית unqualified dedications (this be ḥerem) go to the repair of the Temple; a. fr.—[Y. Kil. IX, 32ᵃ top שצבעה בחרם, read: בחֶרֶת.]—V. חֵירוּם.

חָרָם

  • (preced.)
  • 1. fisherman.—Pl. חָרָמִים, חָרָמִין, constr. חָרָמֵי. Y. M. Kat. II, end, 81ᵇ; Y. Pes. IV, 30ᵈ top ח׳ טבריה the net-fishers of Tiberias.
  • 2. confiscator, official oppressor, v. הָרָג.—Tosef. Ab. Zar. VII (VIII), 6; Ab. Zar. 58ᵃ. Tosef. B. Mets. III, 19; Y. ib. IV, end, 9ᵈ a defective coin must not be given לתגר … ולא לח׳ וכ׳ to a travelling merchant, to a highwayman, or to an oppressor, because they will cheat &c.—Pl. as ab. Ned. III, 4; B. Kam. 113ᵃ, v. נָדַר.

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 27 distinct written forms H2764 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
הַ/חֵ֑רֶם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Deuteronomy 13:17 4
הַ/חֵ֔רֶם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Joshua 6:18 3
חֵ֥רֶם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Deuteronomy 7:26 3
בַּ/חֵ֔רֶם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Joshua 7:15 2
הַ/חֵ֖רֶם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Joshua 7:12 2
חֵֽרֶם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Malachi 4:6 2
חֶרְמִ֖/י Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct 1 Kings 20:42 2
בְ/חֶרְמ֔/וֹ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Habakkuk 1:15 1
בְּ/חֶרְמִֽ/י Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Ezekiel 32:3 1
בַּ/חֵ֑רֶם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Joshua 7:1 1
בַּ/חֵֽרֶם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 1 Chronicles 2:7 1
וְ/חֵ֖רֶם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Zechariah 14:11 1
וַ/חֲרָמִ֛ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ecclesiastes 7:26 1
חֲרָמִ֤ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezekiel 26:5 1
חֲרָמִים֙ Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezekiel 26:14 1
חֵ֕רֶם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Leviticus 27:28 1
חֵ֖רֶם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Deuteronomy 7:26 1
חֵ֗רֶם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Leviticus 27:29 1
חֵ֛רֶם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Joshua 6:17 1
חֵ֡רֶם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Leviticus 27:28 1
חֵ֤רֶם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Joshua 7:13 1
חֶרְמ֑/וֹ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Habakkuk 1:17 1
לְ/חֵ֑רֶם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Joshua 7:12 1
לְ/חֵ֔רֶם Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Joshua 6:18 1
לְ/חֶרְמ֔/וֹ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct Habakkuk 1:16 1
לַ/חֵ֨רֶם֙ Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Isaiah 43:28 1
לַֽ/חֲרָמִ֖ים Noun, Common, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Ezekiel 47:10 1

Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H2764, 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

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 8 — not the complete family. 5 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 29 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 31 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

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