StrongerBible

ḥarad

חָרַד

HebrewH2729tremble, afraid, ...

Appears 39 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 27:33Gen 42:28Exo 19:16Exo 19:18Lev 26:6Deu 28:26Jdg 8:12Rut 3:81Sa 13:71Sa 14:151Sa 16:41Sa 21:1(2)1Sa 28:52Sa 17:21Ki 1:492Ki 4:13Job 11:19Job 37:1Isa 10:29Isa 17:2Isa 19:16Isa 32:11Isa 41:5Jer 7:33Jer 30:10Jer 46:27Ezk 26:16Ezk 26:18Ezk 30:9Ezk 32:10Ezk 34:28Ezk 39:26Hos 11:10Hos 11:11Amo 3:6Mic 4:4Nam 2:11(12)Zep 3:13Zec 1:21(2:4)
Root family
Names & words formed with this
Word studykha-RADverb

What ḥarad means

to tremble with sudden fear: the involuntary shudder of a startled or terrified person, and (in causative form) to make someone tremble like that

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

At its heart this word names a physical reaction, not a settled emotion. It is the body's jolt when danger or the unexpected breaks in: the shudder that runs through Isaac when he learns he has blessed the wrong son, the start that jerks Boaz awake at midnight, the pounding heart of a king who sees the enemy army massed against him. Fear is in it, but the picture is always the tremor itself rather than the calm dread we might call worry.

Because the core image is a tremble that something causes, the word moves easily between the person who shakes and the thing that shakes them. On its own a person or a whole camp trembles; in its causative form someone or something makes others tremble, frightens them, or drives them off. The two are one idea seen from opposite ends, which is why a single word covers both.

The causative side gives the Old Testament one of its favorite pictures of peace. To live with no one to make you tremble is to rest without a single threat left that could startle you, the security God promises a faithful people. The same phrase turned toward judgment is chilling: a dead body left in the open with no one to frighten off the birds and beasts that come to feed.

One stretched use rounds out the range. When a woman is said to have trembled on someone's behalf, the sense has softened from fright into anxious care: she has put herself out, gone to trouble, worried herself over another's needs.

Nuances

1ato tremble, be startled, be terrified: to shudder or shake in the moment fear or shock strikes, whether a single person or a whole crowd
Gen 27:33Gen 42:28Exo 19:16Exo 19:18Rut 3:81Sa 13:71Sa 14:151Sa 16:41Sa 21:1(2)1Sa 28:51Ki 1:49Isa 10:29
1bto make afraid, frighten, or drive off: to be the thing that causes others to tremble, often in the fixed phrase pictured as no one left to disturb a person at rest
Lev 26:6Deu 28:26Jdg 8:122Sa 17:2Job 11:19Isa 17:2Jer 7:33Jer 30:10Jer 46:27Ezk 30:9Ezk 34:28Ezk 39:26
1cto be anxiously careful for someone, to go to trouble on their behalf: a softened use in which the trembling has become worried, attentive care
2Ki 4:13

What scholars say about ḥarad

Standard lexica (BDB, HALOT, DCH) treat H2729 as a single root meaning "tremble, be terrified," with a qal that is intransitive (the person or group trembles) and a hiphil that is causative (frighten, drive away, disturb). The hiphil participle מחריד is idiomatic, especially in the recurring phrase ואין מחריד ("with none to make afraid"), which functions positively as a formula of secure rest (Lev 26:6; Jer 30:10; Mic 4:4; Zeph 3:13) and negatively in judgment oracles of exposed, undisturbed corpses (Deut 28:26; Jer 7:33; Isa 17:2). The construction with a following verb of motion (come or hasten trembling: 1 Sam 16:4; Hos 11:10-11) is widely noted as denoting agitated haste driven by fear. The softened qal in 2 Kgs 4:13 ("you have shown all this care" or "taken all this trouble for us") is recognized by the lexica as an extension from trembling to anxious solicitude. TWOT and TDOT note the semantic overlap with פָּחַד (dread) and רָגַז (quake), while stressing that חרד foregrounds the outward, bodily tremor.

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. חָרַדlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. חרדlexicon
  • DCH, s.v. חרדlexicon
  • TWOT, entry 735 (חָרַד)dictionary

All attested forms of חָרַד

hiphil participle m s absolute

מַחֲרִיד

Lev 26:6, Deu 28:26, Job 11:19, Isa 17:2, Jer 7:33, Jer 30:10, Jer 46:27, Ezk 34:28

qal consecutive-imperfect 3ms

וַיֶּחֱרַד

Gen 27:33, Exo 19:16, Exo 19:18, Rut 3:8, 1Sa 21:1, 1Sa 28:5

qal imperfect 3mp

יֶחֱרָדוּ, יֶחְרְדוּ, יֶחֶרְדוּ

Isa 41:5, Amo 3:6, Ezk 26:18, Hos 11:11

qal consecutive-imperfect 3mp

וַיֶּחֶרְדוּ

Gen 42:28, 1Sa 16:4, 1Ki 1:49

hiphil infinitive-construct construct

הַחֲרִיד

Ezk 30:9, Zec 1:21

qal consecutive-perfect 3cp

וְחָרְדוּ

Ezk 26:16, Ezk 32:10

qal perfect 3cp

חָרְדוּ

1Sa 13:7, 1Sa 14:15

hiphil consecutive-perfect 1cs

וְהַחֲרַדְתִּי

2Sa 17:2

hiphil perfect 3ms

הֶחֱרִיד

Jdg 8:12

qal conjunctive-imperfect 3mp

וְיֶחֶרְדוּ

Hos 11:10

qal consecutive-perfect 3ms

וְחָרַד

Isa 19:16

qal imperative 2mp

חִרְדוּ

Isa 32:11

qal imperfect 3ms

יֶחֱרַד

Job 37:1

qal perfect 2fs

חָרַדְתְּ

2Ki 4:13

qal perfect 3fs

חָרְדָה

Isa 10:29