StrongerBible

hava

הֲוָא

AramaicH1934“be, become, ...”

Appears 71 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Ezr 4:12Ezr 4:13Ezr 4:20Ezr 4:22Ezr 4:24Ezr 5:5Ezr 5:8Ezr 5:11Ezr 6:6Ezr 6:8Ezr 6:9Ezr 6:10Ezr 7:23Ezr 7:25Ezr 7:26 (2×)Dan 2:20Dan 2:28Dan 2:29 (2×)Dan 2:31Dan 2:34Dan 2:35 (2×)Dan 2:40Dan 2:41 (2×)Dan 2:42 (2×)Dan 2:43 (2×)Dan 4:4(1)Dan 4:10(7)Dan 4:13(10)Dan 4:25(22)Dan 4:27(24)Dan 4:29(26)Dan 5:17Dan 5:19 (9×)Dan 6:1(2)Dan 6:2(3)Dan 6:3(4)Dan 6:4(5)Dan 6:10(11)Dan 6:14(15)Dan 6:26(27)Dan 7:2Dan 7:4Dan 7:6Dan 7:7Dan 7:8Dan 7:9Dan 7:11 (2×)Dan 7:13 (2×)Dan 7:19Dan 7:23
Word studyha-VAHverb

What hava means

to be, become, or come to pass: the Aramaic verb of existence that links a subject to what it is, marks something coming into being, and pairs with another verb to picture ongoing action

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This is the workhorse verb of being in the Aramaic sections of Daniel and Ezra. At its simplest it states that something is so, joining a subject to its description (the king was at ease) or declaring that something exists (the God of Daniel is the living God). The same verb steps forward in time to say that something becomes the case or happens: the great statue is smashed and its pieces become like chaff, the rebuilding of the temple comes to a halt.

A large share of its uses look to the future and carry the force of a command or decree. In the royal letters and proclamations of Ezra, and in the announcements that run through Daniel, the verb means let it be so or it shall be: be it known to the king, expenses shall be paid, whoever will not obey shall have judgment carried out on him. The word is doing official, binding work in those settings, not merely reporting.

Its most distinctive habit is to team up with another verb to stretch an action out in time. Paired with a describing verb, it turns a single act into a continuing scene: I was watching, I kept looking, he was praying, they were seeking. This is why so much of Daniel's night visions read as a slow unfolding rather than a list of events. All of these uses share one core idea, that something is, was, becomes, or goes on being the case, so they belong to one flexible verb rather than to separate words.

Nuances

1ato be or exist: to link a subject to what it is, or to assert that someone or something exists
Ezr 5:5Ezr 5:11Dan 2:20Dan 6:3(4)Dan 6:4(5)Dan 6:26(27)
1bto become, come to pass, or happen: to enter a new state or take place as an event
Ezr 4:20Ezr 4:24Dan 2:35 (2×)Dan 7:19
1clet it be, or it shall be: the decree or announcement that something is to happen, common in royal letters and proclamations
Ezr 4:12Ezr 4:13Ezr 6:8Ezr 6:9Ezr 7:23Ezr 7:26 (2×)Dan 2:28Dan 2:29 (2×)Dan 2:40Dan 2:41 (2×)Dan 2:42 (2×)Dan 2:45
1dwas doing or kept doing: paired with another verb to picture an action as ongoing or repeated rather than a single completed act
Dan 4:4(1)Dan 4:10(7)Dan 4:13(10)Dan 4:29(26)Dan 7:2Dan 7:4Dan 7:6Dan 7:7Dan 7:8Dan 7:9Dan 7:11 (2×)Dan 7:13 (2×)

What scholars say about hava

Standard treatments take הוה as the ordinary Biblical Aramaic verb of being, cognate with Hebrew היה, spanning existence, copula, and ingressive senses; HALOT and the Aramaic section of BDB catalog the existential, copulative, and become functions. Its most discussed feature is the periphrastic construction הוה plus participle, which expresses durative, iterative, or progressive past action (most densely in the visions of Daniel 4 and 7); Rosenthal's grammar and the standard Aramaic grammars (Bauer-Leander) describe this as the regular way Biblical Aramaic marks continuous or habitual aspect. The prefixed forms (להוא and the like) function as jussive or future, hence the decree force in the Ezra documents and the Daniel proclamations. The byform הוא is treated as orthographic, not a distinct lexeme. Comparative Aramaic data (Targumic, Syriac hwā) corroborate the same semantic spread.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. הוה (Aramaic)lexicon
  • BDB, s.v. הוה (Biblical Aramaic section)lexicon
  • Franz Rosenthal, A Grammar of Biblical Aramaicgrammar
  • Hans Bauer and Pontus Leander, Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramaischengrammar

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of הֲוָא

peal imperfect 3ms

לֶהֱוֵא, לֶהֱוֵה

Ezr 4:12, Ezr 4:13, Ezr 5:8, Ezr 6:9, Ezr 7:23, Ezr 7:26, Ezr 7:26, Dan 2:20

peal perfect 3ms

הֲוָה, הֲוָא

Dan 4:29, Dan 5:19, Dan 5:19, Dan 5:19, Dan 5:19, Dan 5:19, Dan 5:19, Dan 5:19

peal perfect 1cs

הֲוֵית

Dan 4:4, Dan 4:10, Dan 4:13, Dan 7:2, Dan 7:4, Dan 7:6, Dan 7:7, Dan 7:8

peal imperfect 3fs

תֶּהֱוֵא, תֶּהֱוֵה

Ezr 6:8, Dan 2:40, Dan 4:27, Dan 7:23, Dan 2:41, Dan 2:42, Dan 2:42

peal imperfect 3mp

לֶהֱוֹן

Ezr 6:10, Ezr 7:25, Dan 2:43, Dan 2:43, Dan 6:1, Dan 6:2, Dan 6:26

peal perfect 3fs

הֲוָת

Ezr 4:24, Ezr 5:5, Dan 2:35, Dan 7:19

peal perfect 3mp

הֲווֹ

Ezr 4:20, Dan 2:35, Dan 5:19, Dan 6:4

peal imperative 2mp

הֱווֹ, הֲווֹ

Ezr 4:22, Ezr 6:6

peal perfect 2ms

הֲוַיְתָ

Dan 2:31, Dan 2:34

peal imperfect 3fp

לֶהֶוְיָן

Dan 5:17