StrongerBible

ḥeq

חֵיק

HebrewH2436bosom, lap, ...

Appears 38 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 16:5Exo 4:6 (2×)Exo 4:7 (3×)Num 11:12Deu 13:6(7)Deu 28:54Deu 28:56Rut 4:162Sa 12:32Sa 12:81Ki 1:21Ki 3:20 (2×)1Ki 17:191Ki 22:35Job 19:27Psa 35:13Psa 74:11Psa 79:12Psa 89:50(51)Pro 5:20Pro 6:27Pro 16:33Pro 17:23Pro 21:14Ecc 7:9Isa 40:11Isa 65:6Isa 65:7Jer 32:18Lam 2:12Ezk 43:13Ezk 43:14Ezk 43:17Mic 7:5
Word studykhake (rhymes with cake; the ḥ is a soft throaty h, as in Baḥ)noun

What ḥeq means

1

the bosom: the front of the chest and the enclosing arms (reaching down to the lap), where a person holds someone or something close, and the fold of the outer robe there used as a pocket

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

This is a body word before it is anything else. It names the warm hollow at the front of a person, the chest and the circle of the arms, the natural place to gather a child, a lamb, or a loved one and hold them safe against yourself. From that one concrete picture the whole range of the word unfolds.

Held close in this space, a person is cherished, so the word carries the warmth of family and marriage: a nursing father carries the people in his bosom, a poor man's pet lamb sleeps in his, and a cherished spouse is called the wife, or the husband, of one's bosom. The same fold at the chest, formed by the loose outer robe belted at the waist, doubles as a pocket. People kept coins, cast lots, and slipped bribes into it, and Scripture pictures God repaying a person by pouring the reward, good or bad, straight into that fold.

Because it is the innermost place a person keeps things close, the word also turns figurative: anger settles in the bosom of a fool, an unanswered prayer comes back into one's own bosom, and a man carries insult in his bosom the way he would carry a burden pressed to his chest.

Nuances

1athe arms and chest as the place of holding a child or a small animal tenderly
Num 11:12Rut 4:162Sa 12:31Ki 3:20 (2×)1Ki 17:19Isa 40:11Lam 2:12
1bthe bosom as the place of marital closeness; the wife, or husband, of one's bosom means a cherished spouse
Gen 16:5Deu 13:6(7)Deu 28:54Deu 28:562Sa 12:81Ki 1:2Pro 5:20Mic 7:5
1cthe fold of the outer robe at the chest, used as a pocket for money, lots, or a bribe, and the picture of repaying someone by pouring the reward into this fold
Exo 4:6 (2×)Exo 4:7 (3×)Psa 79:12Pro 6:27Pro 16:33Pro 17:23Pro 21:14Isa 65:6Isa 65:7Jer 32:18
1dthe bosom used figuratively for a person's innermost self, where feelings lodge and where a burden, or even a hand, is tucked away close
Job 19:27Psa 35:13Psa 74:11Psa 89:50(51)Ecc 7:9
2

the hollow base of an object: the recessed bottom or basin of the altar, and the hollow floor of a chariot

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong

The same word that names the hollow at the front of a body can name the hollow at the bottom of a thing. When a wounded king bleeds out, the blood runs down into the hollow floor of his chariot. When the prophet Ezekiel measures the great altar, its lowest recessed part, the wide base or basin the whole structure rises from, is called by this same word.

The sense is clear in outline, a low enclosing hollow, but the exact shape of the altar's base in Ezekiel's vision is worked out differently by different commentators, since the vision's measurements are compressed and hard to reconstruct.

1Ki 22:35Ezk 43:13Ezk 43:14Ezk 43:17

What scholars say about ḥeq

The lexica agree on a single polysemous noun for the bosom, the concave front of the body between the arms, extending to the lap, with a well developed spread of derived senses (BDB; HALOT; DCH). Central is the bosom as the place of tender holding and marital intimacy, hence the idiom "the wife or husband of one's bosom" (Deut 13:6; 28:54, 56; Mic 7:5). A second concrete use is the fold of the belted outer garment at the chest, functioning as a receptacle for money, lots, and bribes (Prov 6:27; 16:33; 17:23; 21:14), which generates the recompense idiom of pouring requital "into the bosom" (Ps 79:12; Isa 65:6, 7; Jer 32:18). A figurative extension locates emotion and burden in the bosom as the innermost self (Eccl 7:9; Job 19:27; Ps 35:13; 89:50). Distinct in referent is the architectural and mechanical sense, the hollow base or basin of the altar in Ezekiel 43:13, 14, 17 and the hollow floor of the chariot in 1 Kgs 22:35; the altar term is glossed as the base or the surrounding recess, though the precise reconstruction of the altar in the vision is debated in the commentary literature. TWOT treats the whole under one entry, taking the derived senses as extensions of the concrete bosom rather than as separate homonyms.

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. חֵיקlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. חֵיקlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. חֵיקlexicon
  • TWOT, s.v. חֵיקtheological-dictionary

All attested forms of חֵיק

m s construct

חֵיקֶךָ, חֵיקְךָ

Gen 16:5, Exo 4:6, Exo 4:7, Num 11:12, Deu 13:6, 2Sa 12:8, 1Ki 1:2, Mic 7:5

m s construct

חֵיק, חֵק

1Ki 22:35, Ecc 7:9, Jer 32:18, Lam 2:12, Ezk 43:13, Ezk 43:14, Pro 5:20

m s construct

חֵיקוֹ

Exo 4:6, Exo 4:7, Exo 4:7, Deu 28:54, 2Sa 12:3, Pro 6:27, Isa 40:11

m s absolute

חֵיק, חֵק

Pro 16:33, Pro 17:23, Ezk 43:17, Pro 21:14

m s construct

חֵיקִי, חֵקִי

1Ki 3:20, Psa 35:13, Psa 89:50, Job 19:27

m s construct

חֵיקָהּ

Deu 28:56, Rut 4:16, 1Ki 3:20, 1Ki 17:19

m s construct

חֵיקָם

Psa 79:12, Isa 65:6, Isa 65:7